Modern Abstract Paintings

Bay Area Abstract Geometric Painting with Red Circle by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This abstract composition features bold brushstrokes and highly contrasting colors. A lar...

Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Torso No. 3, 1967 Acrylic on paper Signed and dated lower right 13 x 9 inches 21 x 17 inches A mid-century figural abstract painting. Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that was nearly unprecedented among Cleveland School artists of his day, with representation by major New York dealers...

This superb oil on canvas painting of a nude study is dated 1970 and signed lower left. We have not been able to decipher the artist's signature (please check the pictures for inform...

Horse Riders by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) watercolour on artist paper, unframed painting : 15.5 x 19 inches stamped verso provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good...

Vintage American modernist landscape oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 15 by 14 inches overall. Handsomely framed i...

'Burmese Classical Dancers' by Aung Aung Taik, 1981. Kinnari and Kinnara, Myanmar, SFMA, San Francisco Art Institute, PFA ----- Signed lower left, 'Aung Aung Taik' (Burmese, born 1948) and dated 1981. Exhibited: San Francisco Cultural Center, 1981. A major painting by this celebrated Burmese Modernist, painted when the artist was 33 years old. This substantial work was prominently exhibited at the artist's inaugural one-man exhibition in the United States, held at the San Francisco Mission Cultural Center in 1981. A pioneer of modern art in Myanmar, Aung Aung Taik first attended the State Academy of Art in Rangoon where he studied under two of Burma's leading contemporary artists, U Ba Kyi and U Ngwe Gaing...

This abstract painting by little known Los Angeles artist is a fine example of color abstraction. The painting portrays an abstract ballerina dancer. The painting has been newly fram...

Green landscape Huguette Ginet-Lasnier (French 1927-2020) inscribed verso framed signed oil painting on canvas framed: 13 x 11 inches canvas: 11 x 9 inches. All the paintings we have...

Cubist acrylic and oil on board in the modern form of a stylised mannequin figure portrait by French artist Créqule. The painting is influenced by the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico...

"Allegro Barbaro " Homage to Bela Bartok the Famous Hungarian Composer. Painting with individual plastic Technique, Erika Baktay. Dimensions: with frame cm 150 x 150 Biography; ...

Abstract by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) oil on artist paper, unframed painting : 26 x 19.5 inches provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good ...

Signed lower left, 'J.da Silveira' for Jose Da Silveira (French-American, born 1965), titled, 'The Soul is Music' and painted circa 2002. Additionally...

"Blind Spot" Abstract Relief Sculpture Carved sculpture and painting by Mickey "Kano" Kane (American, 20th century). This large-scale relief sculpture features a central circular sh...

This vibrant oil painting by Henry Varnum Poor (American, 1888–1970) captures a blooming spring landscape with barns, budding trees, and bright skies rendered in expressive, textural...

Amanda Immurs, an artist hailing from Hamilton, Canada, creates enchanting oil and watercolor artworks that bring whimsical scenes of children, animals, and flora to life. Immurs' ar...

A dynamic, Mid-Century Modern horse race painting by noted Chicago artist, Rudolph Pen. Artwork size: 27" x 23"; Framed size: 27 1/2" x 23 1/2". Signed "Pen" lower right. Provenan...

De Hirsh Margules (1899-1965). Christopher Street, 1939. Watercolor on Arches wove paper. Signed and dated in pencil by artist lower margin. Sheet measures 15.5 x 20 inches. Window in matting measures 15 x 19 inches. Framed measurement: 23 x 30 inched. Bears fragment of original label affixed on verso. Incredibly vibrant and saturated color with no fading or toning of sheet. Provenance: Babcock Galleries, NYC Exhibited: The American Federation of Arts Traveling Exhibition. From the facade of The Waverly at Christopher is depicted One Christopher Street, the 16-story Art Deco residential building erected in 1931. It is not a casual coincidence that the structure appears in this cityscape: 1 Christopher Street is the subject. The original intention of this project was to transform the neighborhood, bring a bit of affluence and make a bid to rival the Upper West Side. Margules, a sensitive aesthete, understood how a massive piece of architecture such as One changes a neighborhood. Sound, scale and focal points are forever altered. A pedestrian's sense of depth and distance becomes pronounced. All of these factors contribute to the intent behind this image. Tall buildings disrupt the human scale, change the skyline and carve up space. In this piece, negative space conforms to the man-made geometries. Clouds become gems fixed in settings. De Hirsh Margules (1899–1965) was a Romanian-American "abstract realist" painter who crossed paths with many major American artistic and intellectual figures of the first half of the 20th century. Elaine de Kooning said that he was "[w]idely recognized as one of the most gifted and erudite watercolorists in the country". The New York Times critic Howard Devree stated in 1938 that "Margules uses color in a breath-taking manner. A keen observer, he eliminates scrupulously without distortion of his material." Devree later called Margules "one of our most daring experimentalists in the medium" Margules was also a well-known participant in the bohemian culture of New York City's Greenwich Village, where he was widely known as the "Baron" of Greenwich Village.[1] The New York Times described him as "one of Greenwich Village's best-known personalities" and "one of the best known and most buoyant characters about Greenwich Village. Early Life De Hirsh Margules was born in 1899 in the Romanian city of Iași (also known as Iasse, Jassy, or Jasse). When Margules was 10 weeks old, his family immigrated to New York City. Both of his parents were active in the Yiddish theater, His father was Yekutiel "Edward" Margules, a "renowned Jewish actor-impresario and founder of the Yiddish stage." Margules' mother, Rosa, thirty-nine years younger than his father, was an actress in the Yiddish theater and later in vaudeville. Although Margules appeared as a child actor with the Adler Family[11] and Bertha Kalich, his sister, Annette Margules, somewhat dubiously continued in family theater and vaudeville tradition, creating the blackface role of the lightly-clad Tondelayo (a part later played on film Hedy Lamarr) in Earl Carroll's 1924 Broadway exoticist hit, White Cargo. Annette herself faced stereotyping as an exotic flower: writing about her publicist Charles Bouchert stated that "Romania produces a stormy, temperamental type of woman---a type admirably fitted to portray emotion." His brother Samuel became a noted magician who appeared under the name "Rami-Sami." Samuel later became a lawyer, representing magician Horace Goldin, among others. A family portrait including a young De Hirsh, a portrait of Rosa and Annette together, and individual photos of Rosa and Edward can be found on the Museum of the City of New York website. At around age 9 or 10, Margules took art classes with the Boys Club on East Tenth Street, and his first taste of exhibition was at a student art show presented by the club. By age 11, he had won a city-wide prize (a box camera) at a children's art show presented by the department store Wanamakers. As a young teenager, Margules was already displaying a characteristic kindness and loyalty. Upon hearing that two friends (one of them was author Alexander King), were in trouble for breaking a school microscope, the nearly broke Margules gave them five dollars to repair the microscope . Margules had to approach a wealthy man that Margules had once saved on the subway from a heart attack. Margules didn't reveal the source of the five dollars to King until twenty-five years later. In his late teens, Margules studied for a couple of months in Pittsburgh with Edwin Randby, a follower of Western painter Frederic Remington. Thereafter he pursued a two-year course of studies in architecture, design and decoration at the New York Evening School of Art and Design, while working as a clerk during the day at Stern's Department Store. He was encouraged in these artistic pursuits by his neighbor, the painter Benno Greenstein (who later went by the name of Benjamin Benno). Artistic career In 1922, Margules began work as a police reporter for the City News Association of New York .Margules then considered himself something of an expert on art, and the painter Myron Lechay is said to have responded to some unsolicited analysis of his work with the remark "Since you seem to know so much about it, why don't you paint yourself?" This led to study with Lechay and a flurry of painting. Margules' first show was in 1922 at Jane Heap's Little Review Gallery. Thereafter Margules began to participate in shows with a group including Stuart Davis, Jan Matulka, Buckminster Fuller (exhibiting depictions of his "Dymaxion house") in a gallery run by art-lover and restaurateur Romany Marie on the floor above her cafe. Jane Heap, left, with Mina Loy and Ezra Pound During the 1920s, Margules traveled outside of the country a number of times. In 1922, with the intent of reaching Bali, he took a job as a "'wiper on a tramp steamer where [he] played nursemaid to the engine." He reached Rotterdam before he turned back. He would return to Rotterdam shortly thereafter. In 1927, Margules took a lengthy leave of absence from his day job as a police reporter in order to travel to Paris, where he "set up a studio in Montmartre's Place du Tertre, on the top floor of an almost deserted hotel, a shabby establishment, lacking both heat and running water." He studied at the Louvre and traveled to paint landscapes in provincial France and North Africa. Margules also joined the "Noctambulist" movement and experimented with painting and showing his artwork in low light.Jonathan Cott wrote that: the painter De Hirsch Margulies sat on the quays of the Seine and painted pictures in the dark. In fact, the first exhibition of these paintings, which could be seen only in a darkened room, took place in [ Walter Lowenfels'] Paris apartment. Elaine de Kooning remarked that studying the works of the Noctambulists confirmed Margules' "direction toward the use of primary colors for perverse effects of heavy shadow." It was also in Paris that Margules initially conceived his idea of "Time Painting", where a painting is divided into sectors, each representing a different time of day, with color choices meant to evoke that time of day. In Paris, his social circle included Lowenfels, photographer Berenice Abbott, publisher Jane Heap, composer George Anthiel, sculptor Thelma Wood, painter André Favory, writer Norman Douglas, writer and editor George Davis, composer and writer Max Ewing, and writer Michael Fraenkel. Upon his return to New York in 1929, Margules attended an exhibition of John Marin's paintings. While at the exhibition, he "launched into an eloquent explanation of Marin to two nearby women", and was overheard by an impressed Alfred Stieglitz. The famous photographer and art promoter invited Margules to dine with his wife, the artist Georgia O'Keeffe, and his assistant, painter Emil Zoler. Stieglitz thereafter became a friend and mentor to Margules, becoming for him "what Socrates was to his friends." Alfred Stieglitz Stieglitz introduced Margules to John Marin, who quickly became the most important painterly influence upon Margules. Elaine de Kooning later noted that Margules was "indebted to Marin and through Marin to Cézanne for his initial conceptual approach - for his constructions of scenes with no negative elements, for skies that loom with the impact of mountains." Margules himself said that Marin was his "father and ... academy." The admiration was by no means unreciprocated: Marin said that Margules was "an art lover with abounding faith and sincerity, with much intelligence and quick seeing." Stieglitz also introduced Margules to many other artistic and intellectual figures in New York. With the encouragement of Alfred Stieglitz, Margules in 1936 opened a two-room gallery at 43 West 8th Street called "Another Place." Over the following two years there were fourteen solo exhibitions by Margules and others, and the gallery was well-respected by the press. It was in this gallery that the painter James Lechay, Myron's brother, exhibited his first painting. In 1936, Margules first saw recognition by major art museums when both the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston purchased his works. In 1942, Margules gave up working as a police reporter, and apparently dedicated himself thereafter solely to an artistic vocation. "The Baron of Greenwich Village"[edit] Margules made his mark not only as an artist, but also as an outsized personality known throughout Greenwich Village and beyond. To local residents, Margules was known as the "Baron", after Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a prominent German Jewish philanthropist. Margules was easily recognizable by the beret he routinely wore over his long hair. Writer Charles Norman said that he "dressed with a flair for sloppiness." He was said to "know everybody" in Greenwich Village, to the extent that when the novelist and poet Maxwell Bodenheim was murdered, Margules was the first one the police sought to identify the body. Margules' letters show him interacting with art world figures such as Sacha Kolin, John Marin and Alfred Stieglitz, as well as with prominent figures outside the art world such as polymath Buckminster Fuller and writer Henry Miller. Most of his friends and acquaintances found Margules a generous and voluble man, given to broadly emotionally expressive gestures and acts of kindness and loyalty. In 1929, he exhibited an example of this loyalty and fellow-feeling when he appeared in court to fight what the wrongful commitment of his friend, writer and sculptor Alfred Dreyfuss, who appeared to have been a victim of an illicit attempt to block an inheritance. The Greenwich Village chronicler Charles Norman described the bone-crushing hugs that Margules would routinely bestow on his friends and acquaintances, and speaks of the "persuasive theatricality" that Margules seemed to have inherited from his actor parents. Norman also wrote about Margules' routine acts of kindness, taking in homeless artists, constantly feeding his friends and providing the salvatory loan where needed. Norman also notes that Margules was blessed with a loud and good voice, and was apt to sing an operatic air without provocation. The writer and television personality Alexander King said I think the outstanding characteristics of my friend's personality are affirmation, emphasis, and overemphasis. He chooses to express himself predominantly in superlatives and the gestures which accompany his utterances are sometimes dangerous to life and limb. Of the bystanders, I mean. King also spoke with affectionate amusement about Margules' pride in his cooking, speaking of how "if he should ever invite you to dinner, he may serve you a hamburger with onions, in his kitchen-living room, with such an air of gastronomic protocol, such mysterious hints and ogliing innuendoes, as if César Ritz and Brillat-Savarin had sneaked out, only a moment before, with his secret recipe in their pockets." Margules was such a memorable New York personality that comic book writer Alvin Schwartz imagined him at the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria in a risible yet poignant debate with Clark Kent about whether Superman had the ability to stop Hitler. Margules' entrenchment in the Greenwich Village milieu can be seen in a photograph from Fred McDarrah's "Beat Generation Album" of a January 13, 1961 writers' and poets' meeting to discuss "The Funeral of the Beat Generation", in Robert Cordier [fr]'s railroad flat at 85 Christopher Street. Among the people in the same photograph are Shel Silverstein...

'Expressions in Bloom: Portraits from the 20th Century XIV', oil on canvas mounted on board, Florentine School (circa 1980s-90s). This gallery has acquired a number of paintings thro...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Seeing Egg, c. 1960s Acrylic on textured paper 30 x 22 inches 38.5 x 30.5 inches, framed A surrealist mid-century figural abstract pai...

Man in Boat by Raymond Guidot (French, 1935 - 2021) artists studio stamp verso oil painting on board, unframed board: 10.75 x 9 inches stamped verso condition: very good provenance:...

The Market French School, indistinctly signed late 20th century oil on canvas, unframed canvas: 19.75 x 19.75 inches Provenance: private collection, Paris Condition: very good cond...

Under The Sea Series Nº 26. Oil on paper. Fantasy underwater abstract landscape. Green-blue-red color. Transparencies effect. Measurements: (H) 40 cm. / 15.75 in. (W) 27 cm. / 10....

Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...

Vintage mixed media painting signed JJ PERL. Mixed media painting on linen strips. Framed. Signed. Measuring 17 by 16 inches overall and 15 3/4 by 14 3/4 painting alone. In excellen...

"Tesserae 6". Úbeda. Mixed media on panel, 30 x 30 cm. Small-format painting with intense chromaticism and texture, with relief marking the different planes. The dense brushstrokes...

Artist: Elisabeth Hahn (German 1924-2021), Elisabeth Hahn was born in Dortmund, Germany, where she began her artistic studies. In 1953, she moved to Paris. She continued her studie...

Nude in Interior by Maurice Delavier (French mid 20th century) signed and dated 1944 oil on board, unframed board: 18.5 x 14.5 inches inscribed verso provenance: private collection, ...

Original oil paint on heavy archival paper abstract by the American artist, Martin Rosenthal. Bold, vibrant colors. Signed lower right by the artist and dated 1964. Condition is goo...

Vintage American modernist seascape oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 14 by 17 inches overall. Handsomely framed in...

Colorful Samurai, Large-Scale Modern Figural Geometric Abstract Colorful modern figural abstract of a samurai figure fractured into fields of color and pattern by S. Baker (Susan Baker...

Charles Elmer Harris (Beni E. Kosh), Untitled (Central Railroad), watercolor, c. 1945. Estate stamped verso, 'Beni E Kosh COLLECTION' and numbered '697' in ink. A fine, modernist re...

Vintage American modernist still life oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Measuring: 19 by 16 inches overall. Handsomely framed ...

This Modern Abstract Expressionist painting by Stanley Bate is made with oil paint and 3-dimensional wooden shapes on canvas. The warm metal grey paint is highly textured, while the ...

Abstract Composition by Jack Penouel (French 1936-2018) oil on canvas, framed framed: 32.5 x 26 inches canvas : 32 x 25.5 inches provenance: the artists e...

A striking, bold colourist painting by Vietnamese artist Ngoc Dung (1931-2000), dating from circa 1960. His highly individualistic art is hard to categorise. In the artist"s own wor...

Abstract Composition by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) watercolour on artist paper, unframed painting : 20 x 14 inches provenance: artists estate, France condition: very good and sou...

Bay Area Cubist Figure in Oil on Canvas by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This vibrant cubist-inspired composition depicts a seated figure abstracted into interlocking planes o...

Artist: Elisabeth Hahn (German 1924-2021), Elisabeth Hahn was born in Dortmund, Germany, where she began her artistic studies. In 1953, she moved to Paris. She continued her studie...

Ricky Hunt’s mixed media minimalist wall art is influenced by his tumultuous past that led to a paradigm shift in creativity and life. He covers the wood panel with layers of acrylic...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) People, 1964 Ink and crayon on paper Signed and dated upper right 36.5 x 24 inches Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of nation...

Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) King Tut No. 2, 1968 Gouache on paper Signed and dated upper right 11.25 x 8.25 inches 25.5 x 20.5 inches A surrealist mid-century fig...

Amitabh Sengupta - Changing Rock II - 60 x 60 inches (unframed size) Oil on canvas ** This work will be shipped in roll form to save on shipping cost. Mythscape Series : This serie...

Oil on plywood realized in 1977. Titled, dated and signed on rear. Very good condition.

Bright Abstract by Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) oil on artist paper, unframed painting : 18 x 24 inches provenance: artists estate, France condition: very ...

Woman and Child in the Woods - Midcentury Abstracted Landscape in Oil on Canvas Dramatic abstracted painting of a woman holding a child in the woods by Maley (20th Century). This pi...

Early modern warm toned landscape watercolor painting by Texas artist E.M. "Buck" Schiwetz. The work features an oil refinery on a platform in the background with a bald cypress fram...

Colorful Modernist Still Life with Jug and Plant by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This bold still life depicts pieces of fruit resting on a table with a large green jug and po...

Charles Evans (1907-1992) Mediterranean Costal Town, 1932. Gouache and watercolor on paper. Sheet measures 8.5 x 10 inches; mounted in frame measuring 8.5 x 10 inches. Signed and dated lower left. Charles Evans was a modernist known for his abstract style of painting. He studied at New York's Art Students League and Parsons School of Design, and later in Paris with Fernand Lger at the Acadmie Moderne. In 1930, Evans and his wife spent a year living in what was Paul Cezanne's studio in Aix-en-Provence, France. The following year, Evans purchased the old silk mill in New Hope and became involved in the area's modernist movement, joining the Independents in 1932. By 1935, he began to work collaboratively with Louis Stone, whom he had met in 1929 while studying with Hans Hofman in Saint Tropez, and with Charles F. Ramsey, teaching art classes and working on the Cooperative Painting Project. Every week, the three were joined by the abstract painter, Lee Gatch, in discussions at Ledger's Inn in Lambertville. In 1948 Evans co-founded the New Hope Gazette with Walter M. Teller. The same year he created set designs for St. John Terrell's Lambertville Music Circus. He also designed sets for the Bucks County Playhouse and Philadelphia's Playhouse in the Park. He later served as Set Designer for the Fred Miller...

Artist

Title: French Modernist Portrait of a Man with Blue Motorcycle Street Scene Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 23 x 19 inches (height x width) Pr...

Title: Dynamic French Modernist Carnival Procession with Figures and Red Sun Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.25 inches (height x width...

Title: Lush French Modernist Still Life with Bottle Lemons Cabbage Leaves Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.75 x 24 inches (height x width) P...

"Translucent Teal Kidney Pools" is a hand-painted acrylic painting on high-quality 300g paper by artist Ryan Rivadeneyra. These painting, influenced by modernist artists of the 50's...

Title: Still Life with Yellow Flowers Bottle and Autumn Leaves French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 24 x 19.75 inches (hei...

Title: Still Life with Artist Workbench Yellow Vase and Hat on Wall French Modernist Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 15.75 x 22.5 inches (heig...

Title: Still Life with Lemons Chestnuts and Yellow Jug French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.25 x 22.5 inches (height x ...

Title: Abstract Still Life with Lemons Table and Blue Cloth French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 22.5 x 19.25 inches (heig...

Title: Still Life with White Drapery Jugs and Green Accents French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 15.5 x 22.5 inches (heigh...

Title: Still Life with Fish Shells and Fishing Net French Modernist Gouache Guy Nicod (French 1923 - 2021) Gouache on artist paper, unframed Size: 19.25 x 22.25 inches (height x wid...