Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 11

Malcah Zeldis
Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Outsider Circus Trapeze Horse Acrobats
1982

$1,200List Price

About the Item

MALCAH ZELDIS Circus, Trapeze Artists, Horse rider and Acrobats gouache on paper Hand signed and dated bottom right. titled in pencil on paper verso. Framed to 15 X 16.5 sheet is 9 X 11 Malcah Zeldis (born Mildred Brightman; 1931) is an American folk art painter. She is known for work that draws from a mix of biblical, historical, and autobiographical themes. She is one of the leading self-taught contemporary artists, best known for her paintings depicting urban life, historical and religious events, her heroes, and her own life. Her paintings have been widely exhibited. Her work is in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and was used for the invitation and posters for the traveling exhibition: American Art on the Move which toured museums during 2001. She is categorized as an Outsider artist or a folk Artist. Of special note is the one-person show presented by the Museum of American Folk Art at New York University in 1988. It was the first time the museum had presented a one-person exhibition of the work of a living folk artist. Malcah Zeldis was born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in a Jewish ghetto in Detroit, Michigan. Her father faced work discrimination for his religion and the family was poor, but eventually moved to a middle-class neighborhood. However, Zeldis looks back on her years in Detroit fondly, stating that what she remembers best is the nature. She also remembers weekend visits to the Detroit Institute of Arts where she recalls being taken by brightly colored Flemish paintings full of small figures. These paintings would later inspire her colorful works with many small figures. As a non-devout Jew, Zeldis felt disconnected from her people and wanted to explore her heritage. She moved to Israel in 1949 at the age of eighteen, becoming a Zionist and working on a kibbutz. It was here that Zeldis met her future husband, Hiram Zeldis. The two went back to the US to marry, and then returned to the kibbutz. Zeldis began painting, yet as a self taught artist had little confidence in the quality of her work. However, Aaron Giladi, a well known Israeli artist visited the kibbutz and praised Zeldis’s oil paintings. His suggestion to paint larger intimidated Zeldis. After trying and failing to use larger canvases she stopped painting for a period of time, which was extended by childbirth and a permanent move to Brooklyn, New York. Zeldis finally resumed painting twenty-three years later, as her children grew older and her marriage ended. She enrolled in Brooklyn College as an Early Childhood Studies major in 1970. The college had a "life experience" policy, which prompted Zeldis to submit her paintings despite continued apprehension over whether they were good enough. Much to her surprise, Zeldis's paintings were well received and her teacher introduced her work to an art critic, who further suggested showing her work to dealers. This period was a turning point for Zeldis, as she realized that her lack of training was not a barrier to the art world. It was around this time that she observed Haitian folk art in a gallery. She found Haitian folk art very stylistically similar to her own, and finally believed that she was an artist. Zeldis began painting seriously and had a number of gallery shows. Her work also appeared in books such as the International Dictionary of Naive Art and Moments in Jewish Life: The Folk Art of Malcah Zeldis. Zeldis later worked in children's book illustration in collaboration with her daughter, Yona Zeldis. Her naive, whimsical images contain a number of storytelling devices and attempt to convey a narrative. She has worked in oils, acrylic and watercolor paintings. She is also fond of biblical themes. Israel, and the larger Jewish world, have had a Vibrant Folk Art, Naive art scene for a long time now, artists like Yisrael Paldi, Nahum Guttman, Reuven Rubin and even Yefim Ladyzhensky had naive periods. The most well know of the strict naive artists are Shalom of Safed, Irene Awret, Gabriel Cohen, Natan Heber, Michael Falk and Kopel Gurwin. Her work depicts a circus act (reminiscent of Alexander Calder) with fire eater, clowns, juggler, tiger and elephant acts. Zeldis and her daughter have written and illustrated Eve and Her Sisters: Women of the Old Testament, God Sent a Rainbow and Other Bible Stories, Anne Frank, Sisters in Strength: American Women Who Made a Difference, and Hammerin' Hank. Malcah Zeldis has also illustrated Honest Abe (President Abraham Lincoln) and African American civil rights icon Martin Luther King. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at Brooklyn College, New York in 1970. She has exhibited her works at American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland; Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, Michigan; The Bass Museum of Fine Art, Miami Beach, FL, Frederick Weisman Art Museum, MI; Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY; Terra Museum of Art, Chicago, IL; Stedman Art Gallery, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; Creative Heart Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC; Modern Primitive Gallery, Atlanta, GA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Jay Johnson Gallery, New York, NY; and the Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL. Her work is in the permanent collections of museums such as Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum, Williamsburg, VA; Akron Museum, Akron, OH; International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers Collection of Children’s Literature, New Brunswick, NJ; Jewish Museum, New York, NY; John Judson Memorial American Museum, Washington, DC; Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI; May Museum of Art, Lawrence NY; The Museum, Kresge Art Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; Musée D'Art Naif De Lille de France, Paris, France; The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY; Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ; St. Louis Mid-American Arts Alliance (Mulvane Art Center), St. Louis, MO; Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA; Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC; and the Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY. PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Museum, Williamsburg, VA Akron Museum, Akron, OH International Folk Art Museum, Santa Fe, NM Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers Collection of Children’s Literature, New Brunswick, NJ Jewish Museum, New York, NY John Judson Memorial American Museum, Bath, England Klutznick National Jewish Museum, Washington, DC Milwaukee Museum of Art, Milwaukee, WI May Museum of Art, Lawrence, NY Kresge Art Center Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Musée d’Art Naïf – Max Fourny, Paris, France The American Folk Art Museum, New York, NY New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY Noyes Museum, Oceanville, NJ Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Philadelphia, PA St. Louis Mid-America Arts Alliance (Mulvane Art Center), St. Louis, MO Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY

Creator:
Malcah Zeldis (1931)
Creation Year:
1982
Dimensions:
Height: 15 in (38.1 cm)Width: 16.5 in (41.91 cm)
Medium:
Paper,Gouache
Movement Style:
Folk Art
Period:
1980-1989
Condition:
Good. frame has light wear. Minor wear. Please see photos.
Gallery Location:
Surfside, FL
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU38210793272

21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Figurative Drawings and Water...

Materials

Paper, Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor

Tracy Crump
"The People People 5, " Paint on Paper, 2006, 2006

$1,280

H 18 in W 24 in D 1 in

"The People People 4, " Acrylic Paint and Watercolor on Paper, 2006

Located in Chicago, IL

In this series entitled "The People People," Tracy Crump uses washes of grey, white and aqua to both conceal and reveal sensitively drawn figures. Each figure stands alone as an indi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Figurative Drawings and Water...

Materials

Paper, Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor

Tracy Crump
"The People People 4, " Acrylic Paint and Watercolor on Paper, 2006, 2006

$1,280

H 18 in W 24 in D 1 in

"The People People 6" by Tracy Crump

Located in Chicago, IL

In this series entitled "The People People," Tracy Crump uses washes of white, red and aqua to both conceal and reveal sensitively drawn figures. Each fig...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Figurative Drawings and Water...

Materials

Paper, Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor

Tracy Crump
"The People People 6" by Tracy Crump, 2006

$1,280

H 18 in W 24 in D 1 in

The People People 2, " Acrylic Paint on Canvas, 2006

Located in Chicago, IL

In this series entitled "The People People," Tracy Crump uses washes of grey, white and aqua to both conceal and reveal sensitively drawn figures. Each figure stands alone as an indi...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Outsider Art Figurative Drawings and Water...

Materials

Paper, Ink, Acrylic, Watercolor

Tracy Crump
The People People 2, " Acrylic Paint on Canvas, 2006, 2006

$1,280

H 18 in W 24 in D 1 in

French Watercolour and Gouache, The Harlequins

Located in Cotignac, FR

Pencil, chalk and watercolour on card depiction of a group of harlequins by French artist Jean Ducel. The work is signed and dated bottom right. This vivid artwork showcases an ener...

Category

Late 20th Century Outsider Art Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Crayon, Watercolor, Pencil

Jean Ducel
French Watercolour and Gouache, The Harlequins, 1992

$499

H 12.41 in W 18.71 in

Mid Century Watercolour of the Wild West, Here Come The Cavalry

Located in Cotignac, FR

Mid Century pencil, chalk, watercolour and gouache painting of an American cavalry officer riding his horse across the dessert. This artwork captures the dynamic energy of a lone c...

Category

Mid-20th Century Outsider Art Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Crayon, Watercolor, Cardboard, Pencil

Mid Century Watercolour of the Wild West, Here Come The Cavalry

$475

H 12.8 in W 155.52 in

Napoleon at the Head of His Grande Armée, His Generals and the Prussian Hussars

Located in Cotignac, FR

Pencil, chalk and watercolour depiction of Napoleon at the head of his generals by French artist Jean Ducel. The work is signed bottom right. A bold and graphic depiction of Napoleo...

Category

Late 20th Century Outsider Art Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Crayon, Cardboard, Pencil, Watercolor

Jean Ducel
Napoleon at the Head of His Grande Armée, His Generals and the Prussian Hussars, 1992

$142

H 13 in W 19.69 in

"Meridian Hotel Mural" Watercolor on Paper 20" x 22" inch by Salah Abdel Kerim

By Salah Abdel Kerim

Located in Culver City, CA

"Meridian Hotel Mural" Watercolor on Paper 20" x 22" inch by Salah Abdel Kerim Born in Fayoum to a big family of 5 brothers and sisters. In 1938 he meets the famous painter Hussein Bikar and he becomes his student in the Faculty of Arts in Qena. He remained much attached to his professor all through his life. In 1940 he meets Hussein Youssef Amin and the Group of Contemporary Art at the secondary school of Farouk First in Abasya district in Cairo when he was introduced to surrealism for the first time. In 1943 he becomes a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts and graduates with excellence and honors in 1947. In 1948 he becomes an assistant to the interior decoration section at the FFA. He is then sent to a mission in Paris in 1952 and he becomes a student to Paul Colin and A.Marie Cassandre for publicity and theatre design. He then moves to Rome in 1956 to study cinema design. In 1957 he received the international prize in painting from San Vito Romano, Italy, and obtains his Ph.D. from Centro Sperimental di Cinemato Grafia. Back in Egypt in 1958, he is appointed professor at the FFA where he started experimenting with his masterpieces sculptures in wrote iron...

Category

20th Century Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Salah Abdel Kerim
"Meridian Hotel Mural" Watercolor on Paper 20" x 22" inch by Salah Abdel Kerim, circa 1980

$5,850

H 20 in W 22 in

"Workers" Russian Constructivist 1920s Modern Social Realism Cubism Figurative

Located in New York, NY

"Workers" Russian Constructivist 1920s Modern Social Realism Cubism Figurative VLADIMIR VASIL’EVICH LEBEDEV (1891-1967) "Workers" Gouache on paper Monog...

Category

1920s Constructivist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

VLADIMIR VASIL’EVICH LEBEDEV
"Workers" Russian Constructivist 1920s Modern Social Realism Cubism Figurative, c. 1920s

$8,500

H 22 in W 17 in

Impressionist Portrait of a Woman Original Gouache Watercolor Style of Picasso

Located in Soquel, CA

Impressionist Portrait of a Woman Original Gouache and Watercolor Impressionist portrait in the style of Picasso and Matisse by Cali...

Category

1990s Abstract Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Watercolor, Gouache, Laid Paper

Mayumi Watanabe
Impressionist Portrait of a Woman Original Gouache Watercolor Style of Picasso, 1990s

$780 Sale Price

20% Off

H 27 in W 22.5 in D 1.25 in

More From This Seller

View All

Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Wine Cigarettes Woman Outsider Artist

Located in Surfside, FL

MALCAH ZELDIS Reclining Woman Wine and Cigarettes gouache on paper Hand signed and dated bottom right. titled in pencil on paper verso. Matted to 13 X 15.5...

Category

1980s Folk Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Malcah Zeldis
Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Wine Cigarettes Woman Outsider Artist, 1988

$1,600

Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Outsider Circus Trapeze Artist Acrobats

Located in Surfside, FL

MALCAH ZELDIS Circus, Trapeze Artists and Acrobats gouache on paper Hand signed and dated bottom right. titled in pencil on paper verso. Framed to 15 X 16.5 sheet is 9 X 12 Malcah ...

Category

1980s Folk Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Malcah Zeldis
Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Outsider Circus Trapeze Artist Acrobats, 1982

$1,600

Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Sports Basketball Arena Coca Cola Sign

Located in Surfside, FL

MALCAH ZELDIS ''Basketball'', 1988, gouache on paper Hand signed and dated bottom right, titled in pencil on paper verso Malcah Zeldis (born Mildred Brightman; 1931) is an Americ...

Category

1980s Folk Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Malcah Zeldis
Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Sports Basketball Arena Coca Cola Sign, 1988

$1,600

Malcah Zeldis Folk Art Gouache Painting Outsider Circus Trapeze Horse Acrobats

Located in Surfside, FL

MALCAH ZELDIS Circus, Trapeze Artists, Horse rider and Acrobats gouache on paper Hand signed and dated bottom right. titled in pencil on paper verso. Framed to 15 X 16.5 sheet is 9 ...

Category

1980s Folk Art Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache