1940s Figurative Paintings

The Runner is an original artwork realized by Maurice Rouzée in the 1940s. Signed by the artist on the upper left margin. Good conditions, except for a sma...

Graphis International Poster Design Gouache 31 x 24 cm Provenance: The family of A. E. Halliwell Graphis is a renowned international journal of visual communication and graphic arts...

Signed upper left

Babies are falling from the sky and not bombs. British female artist and illustrator Noel Laura Nisbet makes a passionate twist to the reality of En...

Medium: Gouache on Paper Dimensions: 19.50" x 21.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right "There's Two Kinds of Heroes," by Maurice Beam and illustrated by Peter Helck for the Saturday Eve...

Artwork measures 48" x 30" and framed 56 ¼" x 38 ¼" x 3" Provenance: John Heller Gallery, NYC, circa 1975 (label verso) The artist's daughter Corbino Galleries, Sarasota, FL (1990)...

Saturday Evening Post Cover, August 5, 1944 Framed Measurements: 36.00" x 29.50" Signature: Signed Lower Left

Signature: Signed

“Graduation Day” is emblematic of mid-century American Illustration. But the real story of this storytelling work is that it embodies the lost art of portrait painting and graphic design. Alex Ross borrows on the classical tradition and flaunts his skills as a narrative painter. In “Graduation Day”, he paints a complex composition involving at least thirteen portraits. The subjects are beautifully rendered and lit. They are set against a dark grey background and jump off the surface at the viewer. The composition is complexly designed. The future graduate in the red jacket engaging with a girl photographer is a compositional device that leads the viewer's eye to the main subject - a father congratulating his son on graduating from medical school. Creating art that relies on facial expressions and body gestures is a talent absent in contemporary art. Why? It’s very hard to do and takes years and training and practice to get it right. Despite Alex Ross's folksy subject matter, this work is a high example of naturalism and representation by an important member of the Golden Age of American Illustration. Signed lower right Born in the town of Dunfermline, Scotland, Alexander Sharpe Ross (1908-1990) moved with his family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1911. After attending Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), Ross moved to New York and joined the Charles E. Cooper Studio, where he worked among such notable illustrators as Ward Brackett, Stevan Dohanos, J. Frederick Smith...

Burlesque Clown Bert Lahr is dipicted in a bowler hat with a wry grin. Lahr shined in the role of The Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of OZ. Here he is de...

Magazine story illustration for “Hero Come Home” by Ruth Burr Sanborn for The Saturday Evening Post, published September 12, 1942, page 24. This sentimental illustration, accompany...

"Swinging Harmony," is an oil painting on canvas by Edgar O'Kiechle. It transports viewers into a lively dance scene featuring a couple of black dancers swinging at the heart of the...

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.” Bibliography Art in America, April 1951, p.78 About this artists: 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...

Original story illustration for “Judge Abbey and the Four Elves” By Cecily Teague Crowe for the Ladies’ Home Journal, published October 1948 The full caption reads: "'You'd think,' ...

Italian painting from the first half of the 20th century. Framework oil on board depicting a wooded landscape with a character of good pictorial quality. Modern frame in carved and g...

Original watercolor on paper. Hand signed and dated lower right by Rolph Scarlett. Artwork size 7.5 x 9.5 inches. Frame size 17.5 x 21.5 inches. Artwork is in excellent conditio...

Le Cirque is a rare and most sought after image by the artist of the circus by collectors of Bombois. This painting shows the circus ring where the performers would perform, the audience of spectators, the ring master & the clown holding a bomb behind his back. It is a painting of GREAT detail. Bombois was a self taught artist and a strongman with the circus. Painting is in a 23 K. hand carved frame, linen mat & 23 K. gold leaf bevel & hand painted 23K. name plate. The painting & frame are in pristine condition. Photo certificate of Perls Gallery...

Medium: Oil on Canvas Approximate Date: 1943 Dimensions: 35.00 x 22.00" Signature: Signed Lower Left American Junior Red Cross, Poster Illustration

WILLEM VAN DE BERG Den Haag 1886-1970 Amsterdam Portrait of a fisherman, Volendam 1940 Oil on canvas 70 x 55 cm. Signed and dated: lower left ‘Willem van den Berg...

A sadistic laughing Devil grinning a big smile is pictured hovering over a Hellfire. He is reveling while witnessing tiny ant-like sinners engage in eternal torture, torment, and co...

BALTASAR LOBO Abstract Seated Nude Female Figure 1946 Gouache & Ink on Paper Provenance: Ivan Boesky Collection, La Jolla, California Signed & Dated "Lobo '46 Bruxelles" Baltasar...

Medium: Watercolor Painting Signature: Signed Lower Right Cover of The Saturday Evenign Post, May 25th, 1940

Bryon Browne was an important American modernist painter. Signed upper right; signed, dated and situated 'New York' on reverse

This is an original oil on velvet painting created c. 1942. Syd Cockell was an accomplished American illustrator during World War II.

Signed Lower Left

Byron Browne was an important American modernist painter. Ink, tempera, and crayon on paper Signed and dated lower right.

Medium: Oil on Board Signature: Signed Lower Left Cosmopolitan Magazine, 1940

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left This work was featured on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, June 11, 1949 The Post described the cover as follows: "Having found the setting he wanted for his circus-theme cover painting - on the Brotherton farm near Westport, Connecticut- Stevan Dohanos began rigging up a beam for the farm boy...

There is a reason why there are few contemporary painters who can paint a portrait this good. It's hard to do. It's easy to throw some paint or spray a mess of graffiti on canvas. That's easy art. Executing a portrait with a great depth of anatomy and structure takes years of academic training. In Riggs's time, there were teachers who knew how to pass on this knowledge. He studied at the Art Students League and the Académie Julian . Today, they are very few and far between. Tempera mixed with gum arabic and alcohol on Renaissance Panel - Robert Riggs was a Gay Artist...

Robert Alexander Darrah “R.A.D.” Miller (1905 - 1966) Robert Alexander Darrah Miller, called “RAD” by his friends, was born in Philadelphia. He enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1923 to 1927 under the tutelage of Daniel Garber. In 1928, Miller moved to Bucks County where he would meet and marry Celia Belden Marshall, daughter of Dr. George M. Marshall, who at that time owned the Phillips Mill property. Nearly a year later, in 1929, a committee headed by artist, William Lathrop, negotiated to purchase the Mill property from Dr. Marshall for the purpose of holding art exhibitions. Thus, the Phillips Mill Art Association was formed. RAD Miller was a regular exhibitor at the Phillips Mill with the traditional New Hope Impressionists. Many of the original founders of the New Hope Art Colony, set in their ways, frowned upon the concept of modernist painting. A decision was made by the Association to not include the growing group of modernist painters in the area to exhibit with them at Phillips Mill. Although clearly not a traditional impressionist, Miller was not being excluded with the others, largely because his father-in-law formerly owned the mill and was one of the Association’s board of directors. RAD was sympathetic to his fellow modernists. In 1933, he was one of the original members of the Independents, a group formed for modernist artists who chose to embark on a more non-traditional creative path. They would exhibit in tandem with the Impressionists but at different locations. Around the time of his arrival to New Hope in 1928, Miller struck up a friendship with Thomas Hart Benton, and in 1932 he worked under Benton on a mural project. RAD’s paintings...

Medium: Gouache on Board Signature: Signed Lower Right

Paul Shimon (American, 1919-2011), "The Three Hebrew Lads Going into the Furnace", Gouache on Paper, 1948, depicting a scene from the Book of Daniel, signed and dated lower right, ti...

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Left Sight Size 26.00" x 19.50;" Framed 61.60" x 26.00" "The Fantastic Armada" by Dorothy Black and illustrated by Rico Tomaso for Ladies Home Journal...

Date: December, 1946 Medium: Gouache and Graphite on Board Dimensions: 17.50" x 26.75" Signature: Unsigned "The Clever Sister." Illustration for the first part of the story of the s...

Medium: Gouache on Board Signature: Signed Lower Right Saturday Evening Post magazine cover, October 25, 1941

Original Christmas cover for Judge magazine, published December 22, 1917. Santa is dressed as a World War I soldier with a sack of toys holding a drum and toy soldiers. Orson Byro...

Julia (Elsie Julia Miller) Schleicher (Canadian/American, 1916-1988) she was an important female illustrator Woman Tennis Player Pastel and gouache on boa...

Jerusalem by Ludwig Blum Oil on canvas 25.6 x 32 inches / 65 x 81cm Signed Painted circa 1940

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Right

Date: 1940s Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 33.00" x 37.00", Framed 42.00" x 38.00" Signature: Signed Presumably Advertising for Maxwell House Coffee ...

Klett was an in-demand illustrator in the post-war period of the late 1940's and 1950's. and . His work appeared in many of the newsstand magazines at the time. This work is a pers...

Signed with initials Tempera on hand-made paper laid on panel 6 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches

Meticulously rendered account of three prospectors trying to rustle up some water before they can dig up some gold. Magazine Illustration of the Old West, American West, Cowboys Casein on board, Western / Frontier Art...

A fine figural oil painting of a mother and three children with worried looks on their faces as military planes fly overhead by American artist Hope Shipee Bunin (1908-1970). Bunin w...

Signed by Artist Lower Right Amoco Oil Advertisements

Journalist Portraiture. Gouache on board Signed Lower Right matted to 17.75 x 16.75 inches. Archivally Matted Not Framed 
 He illustrated more than 300 covers for Time magazine a...

Story illustration for “Abbé Doret’s Secret” by Manuel Komroff for Cosmopolitan, published February 1942. The full caption reads: “As the gardener passed he lifted his cap twice ‘Do...

Caption: "He proposed this morning right after the alarm clock went off." From the Estate of Charles Martignette Signed lower center unframed

Date: 1941 Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions; 30.00" x 45.00" Signature: Signed Lower Left Illustration for Look magazine

Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Right

The setting reminds us of a Rear Window by Alfred Hickcock but Evergood did it 8 years before. It's most likely Greenwich Village since Evergood lived there. This is a very big and heavy to lift painting Signed lower left Framed 56 x 51 in a period very heavy rustic wood frame. Exhibited Center Gallery, Bucknell University, PA, among others venus. gallery label remnants on verso - The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis The Whitney Museum of American Art Annual 1949 - Label Provenance: Naomi and Walter Rosenblum Best Viewed with a top gallery light...

Heavy impasto pained in alla prima ( Wet-on-wet ) technique. Layer of damar varnish. Frame burn, On Masonite. Unframed Signature: Signed Max Weber upper left.

Medium: Watercolor on Paper Signature: Unsigned

Medium: Oil on Canvas Dimensions: 28.00" x 40.00" Signature: Signed Lower Right Image of colonists with ships in background. Frank J. Reilly (1906-1967) was noted as "the number 1 art teacher in America." Reilly is noted for developing a means of organizing the palette. His value studies and chroma organization are still taught as the primary methods of oil paint organization. Reilly studied with Frank DuMond at the Art Students League of New York. He taught at the Grand Central School of Art, The Art Students League of New York and other art schools as well as establishing his own art school. Reilly was the main influence on George Passantino. He is credited with the mosaic mural in The Bronx High School of Science's front lobby. Reilly's influence continues today through the teaching and art of Michael Aviano and Jack Faragasso as well as their students Jon deMartin...

Date: 1940 Medium: Oil on Canvas Signature: Signed Lower Right Dimensions: 26.00" x 26.00" Fertilizer advertisement, image of a man, girl, boy and dog. This illustration was also a...

Date: 1945 Medium: Gouache Dimensions: 23.50" x 35.50" Signature: Signed Lower Left Story illustration, older man leading horse, concerned kids. "Don't sell him, Uncle Pete' Ba...

FRANCISCO BORES Spanish, 1898 - 1972 SANS TITRE signed and dated "Borès 42" (lower left) oil on panel 13-3/4 x 10-5/8 inches (35 x 27 cm.) framed: 19 x 15-3/4 inches (48 x 40 cm.) BIBLIOGRAPHY: Francisco Bores, Reasoned Catalogue, Volume I - Painting 1917-1944, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2003, nº 1942 / 63, reproduced in p. 494 PROVENANCE Carmen Bores Collection, Francisco Bores daughter Private Collection, Madrid Francisco Bores López (Madrid, May 5, 1898 - Paris, May 10, 1972) was a Spanish painter of the so-called New School of Paris. His artistic training originated both in the Cecilio Pla painting academy, where he met Pancho Cossío, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz or Joaquín Peinado, and in the literary gatherings in Madrid related to ultraism. At this time he made engravings and woodcuts for a large number of magazines such as Horizonte, Cruz y Raya, Index, Revista de Occidente. In 1922 he participated in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts. In 1925 he participated in the first exhibition of the Iberian Artists Society. The limited success of this exhibition pushes him to go to Paris. In this city he shared a studio with the Spanish painter Pancho Cossío and also met Picasso and Juan Gris. In 1927 he held his first solo exhibition in Paris. From this moment on, Bores integrates himself into the Parisian artistic environment where he will live practically his entire life. In 1928, his first exhibition in a gallery in the United States, in 1930 he exhibited again, within a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the following years, he continued exhibiting in different galleries in Paris, such as the Georges Petit Gallery, the Bernheim Gallery and the Vavin Raspail Gallery. He also participates in several group exhibitions, highlighting the Exhibition of Contemporary Spanish Art...

Amoco Gas Advertisement

This work is meticulously and brilliantly rendered to capture not only the likeness of the sitter but spirit as well. The image is pushed to the forefront of the composition and s...

Signed & Dated