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1940s Figurative Paintings

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Period: 1940s
" D apres Delacroix" Impressionist Portrait, Signed Oil Painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
"D'apres Delacroix" Impressionist Portrait, Signed Oil Painting By French artist Claude Benard, (1926 - 2016) Signed and dated '47 by the artist on the lower left hand corner Oil pai...
Category

Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Jewel"
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Gershon Benjamin (1899 - 1985) An American Modernist of portraits, landscapes, still lives, and the urban scene, Gershon ...
Category

Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Charming, Diminutive 1945 Street Scene Painting of Navy Sailors in Hanover, NH
Located in Chicago, IL
A charming, diminutive 1945 city street scene painting of Navy sailors standing beside a store front in Hanover, NH by famed Chicago artist Harold Haydon. Image size: 4 1/2" x 6". ...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Antique American Impressionist Winter Town Snow Landscape Sledding Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American winter landscape oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 26 by 30 inches overall, and 20 by 24 painting alone.. In excellent original condition. Han...
Category

Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Young Love: Walking to School, Four Seasons Calendar Illustration
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Illustrated for the 1949 Four Seasons Calendar, published by Brown and Bigelow. A young girl holds a freshly-picked bouquet of flowers as she strolls alongside a boy who carries he...
Category

American Realist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

"Woodstock Landscape" Albert Heckman, WPA, Modernist, Farm, Barn, Rural Scene
Located in New York, NY
Albert Heckman Woodstock Landscape Oil on board 12 x 16 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to try his hand at the art...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Still Life with Calla Lily - Oil on canvas by Ugo Celada da Virgilio - 1940s
Located in Roma, IT
Still life with Calla Lily is an oil painting on masonite realized by Ugo Celada da Virgilio. Hand-signed on the lower left. Provenance: Galerie Sigfrid O...
Category

Contemporary 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Masonite

Poetry of the bird, surrealist drawing, 1948
Located in PARIS, FR
Joséphine Beaudouin (1909-2005) Poetry of the Bird, surrealist painting, 1948 Oil on canvas Signed "Joséphine Beaudouin" and dated "1948" lower left 13,7 x 10,6 inch Born in Albi in 1909, Josephine Beaudouin (née Cals) showed an early interest in drawing. At the age of twelve, she moved to Paris where her mother, Jeanne Ramel-Cals, ran a literary salon that was frequented by art world figures such as Ambroise Vollard. In 1925, while her first drawings appeared in the magazine Crapouillot, the young artist entered the School of Decorative Arts where she studied fresco painting. She married the architect Eugène Beaudouin in 1928, with whom she traveled throughout Europe. Beaudouin, a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, designed a series of buildings that were precursors of modern architecture in France (Clichy, Maison du Peuple; Antony, Résidence universitaire Jean Zay). Josephine Beaudouin exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants, the Salon des Tuileries, the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Artistes Décorateurs. The work of the one that Jean Cocteau described as "bewitching" is full of mystery. Her work bears the stamp of an extraordinary personality. Indeed, Josephine Beaudouin developed a penchant for dreams at a very early age and took refuge in the works illustrated by Gustave Doré. Her technical virtuosity and overflowing imagination were praised by the critics of her time who unanimously greeted her Marmorées (ill.1). Named by René Barotte, these are paintings made on marble slabs from 1955. The artist exploits the infinite resources of the veins of this support which inspires him poetic compositions with unusual subjects. Marked by surrealism, she returns to the fantastic by delivering a prodigious creation of the mind made of dreamed cities and trompe-l'oeil. The 1948 painting that we propose probably represents a red-billed chough. The bird is a recurring theme in the work of Josephine Beaudouin, as in her life. An avid ornithologist, she kept an aviary in her Parisian home where many island birds were kept. She also built up a collection of stuffed birds. Still on this theme, the writer Claude Aveline (1901-1992), author of the poem L'Oiseau-Qui-N'Existe-Pas, invited several visual artists to freely interpret what this bird could be. The first series of works was produced between 1956 and 1963. In 1957, Joséphine Beaudouin delivered a work with a pen of great finesse, now preserved at the Centre Pompidou (ill.2). Several renowned artists also responded to the invitation of the poet such as Jean Cocteau and Ossip Zadkine. The precision of the graphics of our painting testifies to an attentive observation of the anatomy of the birds. The artist paints with great delicacy: the technique is impeccable, the drawing is careful, the material is smooth, the details are represented with great finesse and mastery. Bibliography : Fernand Pouillon...
Category

Surrealist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Pay Day" American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid 20th Century Modern Workers
Located in New York, NY
"Pay Day" American Scene Social Realism WPA Era Mid 20th Century Modern Workers Don Freeman (1908-1978) Pay Day 20 x 30 inches Oil on board, c. 1940s Signed lower right BIO Illustr...
Category

American Realist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

The Farmer
Located in West Hollywood, CA
Presenting a rare early oil painting from the, "WPA" period, 1941, by American artist Ron Blumberg, “The Farmer” After his classical training in Paris, Blu...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Huakai Hui - Mid Century Modern Surrealist Hawaiian Visionary Art
Located in Soquel, CA
Hawaiian Symbolism Figurative & Landscape Oil painting of Huakai Hui (Journey Together) Symbolic and surreal landscape of a female and male figure ascending stairway flanked by to...
Category

Futurist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Linen, Oil, Stretcher Bars

Soldiers Flirting in the Park oil on canvas painting spanish modernism
Located in Sitges, Barcelona
Ricard Opisso i Sala – “Soldiers Flirting in the Park” – Oil on Canvas, 75 × 101 cm (29.5 × 39.7 in) Artist: Ricard Opisso i Sala (1880–1966) Title: Soldiers Flirting in the Park Te...
Category

Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Na Kumuwaiwai Hohonu, Underwater Spirt - Hawaiian Symbolist Figurative
Located in Soquel, CA
Na Kumuwaiwai Hohonu, Underwater Spirt - Hawaiian Symbolist Figurative Hawaiian symbolist nocturnal figurative of glowing whispy figure underwater with mountains and red coral garden by Marguerite Louis Blasingame (American; 1906-1947), circa 1940-45. Marguerite and her husband Frank Blasingame...
Category

Abstract Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Modernist Judaica Jewish Ink Drawing Painting "New Immigrant" Off the Boat WPA
Located in Surfside, FL
An ink drawing Judaic painting by modern artist Ben-Zion Weinman. It depicts a portrait of an old Jewish man. Coming over from Europe on a ship crossing. The work is signed "Ben-Zion". Born in 1897, Ben-Zion Weinman celebrated his European Jewish heritage in his visual works as a sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Influenced by Spinoza, Knut Hamsun, and Wladyslaw Reymont, as well as Hebrew literature, Ben-Zion wrote poetry and essays that, like his visual work, attempt to reveal the deep “connection between man and the divine, and between man and earth.” An emigrant from the Ukraine, he came to the US in 1920. He wrote fairy tales and poems in Hebrew under the name Benzion Weinman, but when he began painting he dropped his last name and hyphenated his first, saying an artist needed only one name. In 1920 he settled in America, where he found little interest in his writing. He began teaching Hebrew to support himself and then in the early 1930s returned to painting. He used his art to comment on the rise of fascism in Europe, events he felt could not be adequately explored with words. Largely self-taught, Ben-Zion visited the museums of New York City to learn his new trade. His first painting on a large scale, Friday Evening (1933, Jewish Museum, New York), depicts a Sabbath dinner table as recalled from his family home. Ben-Zion supported himself by working odd jobs until the establishment of the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. Under the auspices of the wpa, Ben-Zion thrived and galleries began to show his work. In 1936, after his first one-man show at the Artists' Gallery in New York Ben-Zion was a founding member of “The Ten: An Independent Group” The Ten” a 1930’s...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

Portrait of Harriet Toby, Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo
Located in Dallas, TX
Donald Vogel’s paintings reflect his interest in seeking beauty in life and in sharing pleasure with his viewers. Vogel entreats us to "rejoice and celebrate each new day, knowing it...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Riders of Pigeon Hill
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Riders of Pigeon Hill, c. 1940s, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 24 x 36 inches, label verso with title, artist’s name and address; same information inscribed verso; ex-collection...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"St. Michael’s in Brooklyn", New York City Street Scene, Cityscape, Brick Church
Located in Yardley, PA
“St. Michael’s in Brooklyn, c. 1944” by Ernest Fiene (1894-1965) New York City served as an endless source of inspiration for Fiene, who often captured street scenes like this one i...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century
By Carlos Lopez
Located in New York, NY
Post Office WPA Mural Study American Scene Social Realism Modern 20th Century Carlos Lopez (1910-1953) "Bounty" WPA Mural Study for Michigan Post Office 19 ½ x 22 ½ inches Oil on B...
Category

American Realist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

The Old World
By Russell Cowles
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Old World, by 1943, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 43 ½ x 30 ½ inches, artist’s name and title inscribed verso; exhibited 1) Romantic Painting in America, Museum of Modern Art, N...
Category

Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"Mother and Daughter" Expressionist Portrait in Oil on Cardstock
Located in Soquel, CA
"Mother and Daughter" Expressionist Portrait in Oil on Cardstock Mid Century expressionist portrait by unknown artist Jane W. Grace (American, 20th C...
Category

Expressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Cardboard

Dreamy Vintage Watercolor of Two Figures by Artist Gertrude Klares Bedell
Located in Chicago, IL
A dreamy watercolor of two figures in repose Gertrude Klares Bedell. Artwork size: 18" x 13 1/2". Framed size: 26 1/2" x 22". Biography from Askart: An Austrian countess born i...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

1940s English Country Cottage Landscape
By Henry T. Harvey
Located in Soquel, CA
Wonderful 1940s genre landscape of traditional English cottage painted in the European style by Henry T. Harvey (English/American, 1908-2000). Signed lower right corner. Presented in...
Category

Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Cannes et le vieux port - Post Impressionist Oil, Landscape by Marcel Dyf
Located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Signed figures in landscape oil on canvas circa 1940 by sought after French post impressionist painter Marcel Dyf. The piece depicts people enjoying a sunny winter's day at the port ...
Category

Post-Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Figurative Cubist Surrealist Abstraction Mid 20th Century American Modern Large
Located in New York, NY
Figurative Cubist Surrealist Abstraction Mid 20th Century American Modern Large O. Louis Guglielmi (1906 - 1956) OBSESSIVE THEME 44 x 33 inches Oil on canvas Signed and dated '48 lo...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Natale in Sicilia
Located in Genève, GE
Work on wood Beige wooden frame 50 x 53 x 3.5 cm
Category

Italian School 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

French Parisian Can Can Dancer 1945
Located in Douglas Manor, NY
5042 French Can Can dancer Oil on artist board Framed Signed on Jean Galmett
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Artists Sketching, California, 1940s Large Modernist Gouache Painting, Landscape
Located in Denver, CO
This original 1940s American Modernist gouache on archival paper painting, "Artists Sketching (California)," captures a dynamic scene of three artists at work against a majestic mountain backdrop. With expressive brushwork and a rich color palette, the piece embodies Frederick E. Shane’s signature blend of realism and modernist abstraction. Signed, titled, and dated by the artist in the lower margin, this remarkable artwork reflects the era’s Regionalist influence and the artist’s keen eye for capturing creative moments in the natural landscape. The painting is professionally housed in a custom archival frame, ensuring long-term preservation. Frame dimensions: 25.5 x 37.5 x 1.5 inches. Image size: 20.25 x 29.75 inches. Provenance: Estate of the Artist, Frederick Shane About the Artist: Frederick E. Shane (1906-1992) A celebrated Missouri Regionalist painter and printmaker, Frederick E. Shane was known for his compelling genre scenes, landscapes, seascapes, and portraits in a variety of media, including oil, watercolor, gouache, tempera, and lithography. While fundamentally a realist, Shane often incorporated elements of abstraction, expressionism, and surrealism, adding depth and emotion to his compositions. During the summers of 1925-26, Shane studied under Randall Davey at the Broadmoor Academy in Colorado Springs, an institution founded in 1919 by philanthropists Spencer and Julie Penrose. Shane remained closely connected to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, the Academy’s successor, throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, participating in Artists West of the Mississippi exhibitions and forming lasting friendships with key figures like Boardman Robinson and Adolph Dehn...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Fiocchetto - Oil Pastels on Paper by Elica Balla - 1940s
Located in Roma, IT
Fiocchetto is an artwork realized by Elica Balla (Rome,1914 - 1993) Hand signed lower right. Hand signed and titled o rear. Good conditions!
Category

Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Oil Pastel

Afternoon Swim, Mid Century Figurative Landscape
By H. Milton Snyder
Located in Soquel, CA
Afternoon swim, a lovely mid century figurative landscape, by California artist, Henry Milton Snyder (American, 1915-1966). Presented in a giltwood frame. Signed "H. Milton Snyder" l...
Category

American Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Óleo sobre tablero - Bañistas
Located in Sant Celoni, ES
Firmado en la parte inferior por el autor Estado de conservación aceptable Se presenta enmarcada la obra Medidas de la obra: 50 x 65 cm. Medidas del marco: 59 x 73 cm. :::::::::...
Category

Symbolist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Spanish Beauty (Portrait of the Artist s Wife)
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Spanish Beauty (Portrait of the Artist's Wife) Oil on canvas, c. 1940's Signed upper right "A.G. Warshawsky" (see photo) According to the daughter-in-law of the artist, this painting...
Category

Abstract Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

UNION SQUARE Depression Era Oil Painting WPA Realism American Scene Realism NYC
Located in New York, NY
UNION SQUARE Depression Era Oil Painting WPA Realism American Scene Realism NYC Jo Cain (1904 – 2003) "Union Square" 24 x 36 inches Oil on canvas, c.1940s S...
Category

American Realist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

St. Atomic oil and tempera painting by Julio de Diego
Located in Hudson, NY
Julio De Diego’s Atomic Series paintings made an extraordinary statement regarding the shock and fear that accompanied the dawn of the nuclear age. In the artist’s own words, “Scientists were working secretly to develop formidable powers taken from the mysterious depths of the earth - with the power to make the earth useless! Then, the EXPLOSION! . . . we entered the Atomic Age, and from there the neo-Atomic war begins. Explosions fell everywhere and man kept on fighting, discovering he could fight without flesh.” To execute these works, De Diego developed a technique of using tempera underpainting before applying layer upon layer of pigmented oil glazes. The result is paintings with surfaces which were described as “bonelike” in quality. The forms seem to float freely, creating a three-dimensional visual effect. In the 1954 book The Modern Renaissance in American Art, author Ralph Pearson summarizes the series as “a fantastic interpretation of a weighty theme. Perhaps it is well to let fantasy and irony appear to lighten the devastating impact. By inverse action, they may in fact increase its weight.” Exhibited 1950 University of Illinois at Urbana "Contemporary American Painting" 1964 Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas This work retains its original frame which measures 54" x 36" x 2". About this artist: Julio De Diego crafted a formidable persona within the artistic developments and political struggles of his time. The artist characterized his own work as “lyrical,” explaining, “through the years, the surrealists, the social-conscious painters and the others tried to adopt me, but I went my own way, good, bad or indifferent.” [1] His independence manifested early in life when de Diego left his parent’s home in Madrid, Spain, in adolescence following his father’s attempts to curtail his artistic aspirations. At the age of fifteen he held his first exhibition, set up within a gambling casino. He managed to acquire an apprenticeship in a studio producing scenery for Madrid’s operas, but moved from behind the curtains to the stage, trying his hand at acting and performing as an extra in the Ballet Russes’ Petrouchka with Nijinsky. He spent several years in the Spanish army, including a six-month stretch in the Rif War of 1920 in Northern Africa. His artistic career pushed ahead as he set off for Paris and became familiar with modernism’s forays into abstraction, surrealism, and cubism. The artist arrived in the U.S. in 1924 and settled in Chicago two years later. He established himself with a commission for the decoration of two chapels in St. Gregory’s Church. He also worked in fashion illustration, designed magazine covers and developed a popular laundry bag for the Hotel Sherman. De Diego began exhibiting through the Art Institute of Chicago in 1929, and participated in the annual Chicago Artists Exhibitions, Annual American Exhibitions, and International Water Color Exhibitions. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the summer of 1935. Though the artist’s career was advancing, his family life had deteriorated. In 1932 his first marriage dissolved, and the couple’s young daughter Kiriki was sent to live with friend Paul Hoffman. De Diego continued to develop his artistic vocabulary with a growing interest in Mexican art. He traveled throughout the country acquainting himself with the works of muralists such as Carlos Merida, and also began a collection of small native artifacts...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil, Tempera

Ponte Garibaldi, Rome - Oil on Canvas by A. Vangelli - 1941
Located in Roma, IT
Ponte Garibaldi is an original oil on canvas realized by the Italian artist Antonio Vangelli (Rome, 1917 – Rome, 2003) in 1941. Hand-signed and dated by the artist on the lower righ...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Sitting by the Lake, Mid Century Figurative Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Tranquil figurative landscape of two people sitting on a dock by a lake near Medina, Ohio by Joseph Yeager (American, 20th Century). Unsigned, but was purchased with a collection of ...
Category

American Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

"High School Dance" WPA Mid-20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism
Located in New York, NY
"High School Dance" WPA Mid-20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism Heusing (20th Century) "High School Dance" 27 x 32 inches Oil on canvas Signed and dated '47 Lower Righ...
Category

American Realist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Four women with puppets. 1947, paper, mixed media, 16.3x11 cm
Located in Riga, LV
Four women with puppets. 1947, paper, mixed media, 16.3x11 cm Adolfs Zardins (1890 08 II Riga, Latvia – 1967 07 II Jurmala, Latvia), painter. Only in 1990 his relatives give his art...
Category

Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Watercolor

Mid Century Paris Street Scene
Located in Soquel, CA
Charming mid century watercolor painting of late 19th Century Paris street scene circa 1950. Signed lower left "Julius" , attributed to Julius Rosenbaum...
Category

Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Boy with Doves, Modern Art Oil Painting by Ben Benn
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Ben Benn, Polish/American (1884 - 1983) Title: Boy with Doves Year: 1946 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed and dated l.r. Size: 30 x 36 in. (76.2 x 91.44 cm) Benn Benn was a pio...
Category

Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Embracing Couple on Sailboat , Art Deco Style Romantic
Located in Miami, FL
Love at sea. A nautical romance is captured as a handsome couple embrace. The big splash of water at the peak moment of drama symbolizes passion and defines Falter's creativity in communicating a romantic narrative. This is a companion piece to a romance story. Most likely done on assignment for a major newsstand magazine. Hand-signed by artist, sticker label, Magazine Illustration circa 1940 Oil on board Signed lower right h: 28.5 x w: 30 in / h: 72.4 x w: 76.2 cm Morris Weiss collection...
Category

Art Deco 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

The Air Show, Original illustration for Goodyear Promotional Calendar
Located in Fort Washington, PA
A father and son watch a World War II era air show as a man in military uniform looks on. Original promotional calendar illustration for Goodyear, published 1941 Medium: Oil on Can...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Figurative Abstract Gouache on Paper - Woman
Located in Phoenix, AZ
Abstract Gouache on Paper by Minnesota/Chicago artist Richard Koppe (1916-1073). Simply titled “Woman,” the work is an excellent composition by the artist created 1941. The painting ...
Category

Abstract 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Gouache

French Fauvist Post Impressionist Oil Painting Frederick Serger Ecole de Paris
Located in Surfside, FL
Frederick Serger Genre: Post Impressionist Subject: Flowers, Poppies Medium: Oil Surface: Panel Frederick Serger (given name Frederick Bedrick Sinaberger) was born in 1889 to a family of Jewish manufacturers in the village of Ivancice near Brno Moravia, a province of Czechoslovakia. Showing artistic talent at a young age, he attended art schools in Brno, Czech, Vienna, Austria and Munich, Germany. During World War I, Serger joined the Austrian Army and served in the Balkans. Once his service ended, he traveled to Paris where he resumed his art training and eagerly joined the Ecole de Paris (School of Paris) artists’ movement. During this period, he was greatly influenced by the Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Expressionist movements. While living in Paris, he met and married Helen Spitzer. Serger and his young wife moved from Paris to Scoczow, a city on the Polish-Czech border. They remained in Scoczow for 12 years and he continued to work as an artist, exhibiting in museums in Cracow and Warsaw, Poland. He also showed at the Paris Salon de Tuilleries and the Salon d’Automne. He was part of the generation of expat artists, mostly jewish known as the School of Paris. They created art in the styles of Post-Impressionism, Cubism and Fauvism. The group included artists Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani and Piet Mondrian. Associated French artists included Pierre Bonnard, Henri Matisse, Jean Metzinger and Albert Gleizes. Many École de Paris artists lived in the iconic La Ruche, a complex of studio apartments and other facilities in Montparnasse on the Left Bank, at 2 Passage Dantzig, built by a successful sculptor, Alfred Boucher, who wanted to develop a creative hub where struggling artists could live, work and interact. A significant subset, the Jewish artists, came to be known as the Jewish School of Paris or the School of Montparnasse. The core members were almost all Jews, included Emmanuel Mane-Katz, Abraham Mintchine...
Category

Expressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel

Adolf Dehn 1940s Kresge s at Christmas Time
Located in San Francisco, CA
Adolf Dehn: 1895-1968. Well listed American artist with a high auction record of $20,000 which was achieved this year. He was born in Minnesota and studied at Minneapolis School of F...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Mixed Media

Couple Dancing , American Folk Art Figural Oil, WPA era
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed indistinctly, lower right, and painted circa 1935. A strongly animated, vertically stacked figurative painting filled with compressed energy and an atmosphere of psychologic...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Pin Up Girl in Red Dress, Mid-Century, Female Artist
Located in Miami, FL
The Pin-Up of ravishing young beauties in mid-century America was a widely popular art form. The assumption that Pin-Up art was the exclusive domain of men is a misnomer. Female illu...
Category

American Realist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Illustration Board

Antique American Impressionist New England Beach Bathers Landscape Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Nicely painted mid century impressionist bather scene by John Edward Costigan (1888 - 1972). Oil on board. Framed. Signed verso.
Category

Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Captivating 1940s Modern Painting of a Seated Female Nude by Francis Chapin
Located in Chicago, IL
A captivating, 1940s Modern painting of a seated nude on a garden bench by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A sensitive, skilled portrait of a young female mode...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

"There is No Love, " Saturday Evening Post Magazine Illustration
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Oil on Canvas The oil on canvas illustration is bearing a Saturday Evening Post label verso, used to illustrate the short story There Is No Love, in the October 18th, 1941 i...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

How Sure Can You Be? McCall s Magazine Illustration of Loving Couple
Located in Miami, FL
Alexander Sharpe Ross - or Alex Ross. This mid-century masterpiece is a perfect artistic statement with every formal element in perfect harmo...
Category

Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Portrait of a Girl in Nature - Mid 20th Century Oil by Michael D Aguilar
Located in Watford, Hertfordshire
Baron Michael D`Aguilar was born on May 15, 1922 in London to Spanish parents. He was brother of the artist Paul D`Aguilar. He spent much of his early life in Spain. He studied at...
Category

Post-Impressionist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

"Union Square" NYC American Scene Social Realism Modernism WPA Mid-20th Century
Located in New York, NY
"Union Square" NYC American Scene Social Realism Modernism WPA Mid-20th Century Agnes Hart (American, 1912-1979) "Union Square, New York City" Sight: 14 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches Gouache...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Board

A Stylish Vintage 1940s Fashion Study, Design for Women s Lounge Wear Pajamas
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s fashion study featuring a colorful design for women's lounge wear & pajamas. Artwork size: 11 x 8 1/4 inches. Archivally matted to 16 x 12 inches. Prov...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

"Glassblowers" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City WPA
Located in New York, NY
"Glassblowers" American Scene Social Realism Mid-20th Century New York City WPA Ernest Fiene (1894-1965) Glass Blowers 28 x 23 inches Oil on canvas board Signed and dated 1944 lower...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

At the Winery - Hungarian Art
Located in London, GB
This original painting is hand signed by the artist "Scheiber H" in the lower left corner, and dated "1940" below the signature. Exhibited: Hugo Scheiber - Bela Kadar, Galerie Le Mi...
Category

1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Tempera, Gouache

WWII Aircraft Factory Workers Industrial 20th Century American Scene WPA Modern
Located in New York, NY
WWII Aircraft Factory Workers Industrial 20th Century American Scene WPA Modern Frederick Buchholz (1901-1983) WW2 Aircraft Factory 18 x 24 inches Oil ...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Cotton Canvas, Oil

A Stylish Vintage 1940s Fashion Study, "Personal Choice of Gertrude Lawrence"
Located in Chicago, IL
A stylish, vintage, 1940s woman's fashion study featuring an elegant, colorful design titled "Personal Choice of Gertrude Lawrence, Star of Lady in the Dark". Gertrude Lawrence, fam...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

Howard Schleeter 1949 Original Gouache Wax Painting – Abstract Southwest Art
By Howard Schleeter
Located in Denver, CO
This striking original 1949 gouache and wax painting, titled "Fetishes", is a powerful work by acclaimed New Mexico modernist Howard Schleeter (1903–1976). Rich with symbolic abstrac...
Category

American Modern 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Wax, Gouache

Mid Century Young Blonde Girl Portrait Egg Tempera - Style of Thomas Hart Benton
By Robert Collins
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous pointillist egg tempera portrait of young blonde girl by Robert Joseph Collins (American, 1922-2011), 1947. Signed "Collins" and dated "'47." U...
Category

Photorealist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Egg Tempera, Illustration Board

Small Nude / - Abstract Figurativity -
Located in Berlin, DE
Gustl Stark (1917 Mainz - 2009 ibid.), Small Nude, 1946. Oil on canvas, marouflaged, 54 x 25 cm (picture), 30 x 60 cm (frame), signed "Stark" top left, verso twice signed "Gustav Stark", inscribed by hand as "Small Nude" and dated by hand "1946". With label of the exhibition of the Bundeshaus Bonn from 1956. - Rubbed area in the lower third of the body, at the same level a retouch in the ochre background. I provisional frame. - Abstract Figurativity - About the artwork During the war, Gustl Stark suffered a particularly severe blow for an artist: he lost his right arm. Nevertheless, he continued to devote himself to art, and the painting, created in 1946, immediately after the end of the Nazi reign of terror, testifies to the dawn of a new era. At the same time, the work is a rare example of the artist's early figurative work, as Stark turned entirely to abstract painting as early as 1950. And even this painting is by no means purely figurative; rather, it already illustrates Stark's turn toward abstraction. We see a female nude, but one that remains faceless. This can be read symbolically and in relation to the immediate past epoch, which, in the face of horrors, silences and blinds - literally renders faceless. In this sense, the figure is positioned to 'look back'. But she does not look. While this meaning may resonate and make the painting an important work of the immediate postwar period, Gustl Stark is primarily concerned with something else here, namely art itself. The absence of the face leads to the body becoming something flat. Due to the de-individualization, we do not see a concrete person with his individual features, but a body surface. And indeed, the body is constructed through an extremely planar design. Even the contour lines that form the corporeality have a planar rather than a linear character, especially where they merge into shadow zones of almost the same color. And the surfaces themselves are not modeled. The incarnate parts do not show any plastic gradations; the corporeality is completely withdrawn into the plane, which is also true for the hair. In addition, there is no uniform background against which the figure could appear; rather, the area next to the hair is kept bluish, creating a succession of earth-toned colored areas, which again binds the figure to the surface. Last but not least, the flatness is also forced by the painting technique. Gustl Stark paints directly, a la prima, onto the coarse canvas, whereby the structure of the painting support remains visible in the picture, and in places - around the hair, for example - the canvas itself can be seen. This structural all-over lends the picture a certain flatness. Gustl Stark thus uses the very motif that stands for the corporeality of art par excellence - the female nude - to transform the spatiality of the traditional picture into a flatness characteristic of modern art. And yet, a strong impression of corporeality is created, without being produced by a painterly modeling of the body. The oscillation between flatness and corporeality creates the intense tension of this groundbreaking painting. In Gustl Stark's oeuvre, as a consequence of the abstraction we see here, the figurative is completely stripped away in a further step, which is also a loss when looking at this early key work. About the artist Gustl Stark was the son of a woodcarver and, after an apprenticeship as a decorative painter, attended the State School of Arts and Crafts in Mainz from 1936 to 1937. Although he was severely wounded in the war and lost his right arm, he studied at the Würzburg School of Painting and Drawing from 1943-1944 and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg from 1944-1948. He won a state scholarship at the state art competition in Bad Ischl. Numerous study trips to Sylt, Paris, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Holland and Belgium followed. Gustl Stark worked in Mainz and was the first artist there to focus on abstract painting. His work quickly gained international recognition, including the Salon Réaliés Nouvelles in Paris. From 1963-1970 he taught at the State University Institute for Art and Work Education in Mainz and from 1970-1975 at the Johannes Gutenberg University. Gustl Stark became particularly famous for his color embossed prints, for which he invented his own technique. Gustl Stark received numerous awards for his work. He received the Art Prize for Painting of the City of Mainz in 1962, the State Prize of Rhineland-Palatinate in 1984, and the Gutenberg Bust of the City of Mainz in 1987. Selected Bibliography Hans Vollmer (Hrsg.): Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler des XX. Jahrhunderts, Vierter Band, Leipzig 1958, S. 344. Hans H...
Category

Realist 1940s Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas

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