American Modern Paintings

It is infrequent, to say the least, that a diagnosis of tuberculosis proves fortuitous, but that was the event, in 1921, that set Paul Starrett Sample on the road to becoming a professional artist. (The best source for an overview of Sample’s life and oeuvre remains Paul Sample: Painter of the American Scene, exhib. cat., [Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, 1988] with a detailed and definitive chronology by Sample scholar, Paula F. Glick, and an essay by Robert L. McGrath. It is the source for this essay unless otherwise indicated.) Sample, born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1896 to a construction engineer and his wife, spent his childhood moving with his family to the various locations that his father’s work took them. By 1911, the family had landed in Glencoe, Illinois, settling long enough for Paul to graduate from New Trier High School in 1916. Sample enrolled at Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, where his interests were anything but academic. His enthusiasms included the football and basketball teams, boxing, pledging at a fraternity, and learning to play the saxophone. After the United States entered World War I, Sample, to his family’s dismay, signed on for the Naval Reserve, leading directly to a hiatus from Dartmouth. In 1918 and 1919, Sample served in the U.S. Merchant Marine where he earned a third mate’s license and seriously contemplated life as a sailor. Acceding to parental pressure, he returned to Dartmouth, graduating in 1921. Sample’s undergraduate life revolved around sports and a jazz band he formed with his brother, Donald, two years younger and also a Dartmouth student. In November 1933, Sample summarized his life in a letter he wrote introducing himself to Frederick Newlin Price, founder of Ferargil Galleries, who would become his New York art dealer. The artist characterized his undergraduate years as spent “wasting my time intensively.” He told Price that that “I took an art appreciation course and slept thru it every day” (Ferargil Galleries Records, circa 1900–63, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, available on line). In 1920, Donald Sample contracted tuberculosis. He went for treatment to the world-famous Trudeau Sanitorium at Saranac Lake, in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains for the prescribed regimen of rest, healthful food, and fresh air. Visiting his brother in 1921, Paul also contracted the disease. Tuberculosis is highly contagious, and had no certain cure before the development of streptomycin in 1946. Even for patients who appeared to have recovered, there was a significant rate of recurrence. Thus, in his letter to Price, Sample avoided the stigma conjured by naming the disease, but wrote “I had a relapse with a bad lung and spent the next four years hospitalized in Saranac Lake.” The stringent physical restrictions imposed by adherence to “the cure” required Sample to cultivate an alternate set of interests. He read voraciously and, at the suggestion of his physician, contacted the husband of a fellow patient for instruction in art. That artist, then living in Saranac, was Jonas Lie (1880–1940), a prominent Norwegian-American painter and an associate academician at the National Academy of Design. Lie had gained renown for his dramatic 1913 series of paintings documenting the construction of the Panama Canal (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; United States Military Academy, West Point, New York). Primarily a landscape artist, Lie had a particular affinity for scenes with water. His paintings, impressionistic, atmospheric, and brushy, never strayed from a realistic rendering of his subject. Sample regarded Lie as a mentor and retained a lifelong reverence for his teacher. Sample’s early paintings very much reflect Lie’s influence. ` In 1925, “cured,” Sample left Saranac Lake for what proved to be a brief stay in New York City, where his veteran’s benefits financed a commercial art course. The family, however, had moved to California, in the futile hope that the climate would benefit Donald. Sample joined them and after Donald’s death, remained in California, taking classes at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. In Sample’s account to Price, “I couldn’t stomach the practice of painting a lot of High Sierras and desert flowers which seemed to be the only kind of pictures that were sold here so I got a job teaching drawing and painting at the art school of the University of Southern California.” Initially hired as a part-time instructor, Sample progressed to full-time status and ultimately, by the mid-1930s, to the post of Chairman of the Fine Art Department. Sample, however, did not want to wind up as a professor. “Teaching is all right in small doses,” he wrote, “but I have a horror of drifting into being a college professor and nothing more.” At the same time as he taught, Sample began to exhibit his work in a variety of venues at first locally, then nationally. Though he confessed himself “a terrible salesman,” and though occupied with continued learning and teaching, Sample was nonetheless, ambitious. In 1927, he wrote in his diary, “I am eventually going to be a painter and a damned good one. And what is more, I am going to make money at it” (as quoted by Glick, p. 15). In 1928, Sample felt sufficiently solvent to marry his long-time love, Sylvia Howland, who had also been a patient at Saranac Lake. The Howland family were rooted New Englanders and in summertime the Samples regularly traveled East for family reunion vacations. While the 1930s brought serious hardship to many artists, for Paul Sample it was a decade of success. Buttressed by the financial safety net of his teacher’s salary, he painted realist depictions of the American scene. While his work addressed depression-era conditions with a sympathetic eye, Sample avoided the anger and tinge of bitterness that characterized much contemporary realist art. Beginning in 1930, Sample began to exhibit regularly in juried exhibitions at important national venues, garnering prizes along the way. In 1930, Inner Harbor won an honorable mention in the Annual Exhibition of the Art Institute of Chicago. That same year Sample was also represented in a show at the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo and at the Biennial Exhibition of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. In 1931, Dairy Ranch won the second Hallgarten Prize at the Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, in New York. Sample also made his first appearances at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. In 1936, Miner’s Resting won the Temple Gold Medal at the Pennsylvania Academy’s Annual Exhibition. Always interested in watercolor, in 1936, Sample began to send works on paper to exhibitions at the Whitney Museum, New York. While participating in juried exhibitions, Sample also cultivated commercial possibilities. His first New York art dealer was the prestigious Macbeth Gallery in New York, which included his work in a November 1931 exhibition. In 1934, Sample joined the Ferargil Galleries in New York, after Fred Price arranged the sale of Sample’s Church Supper to the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1937, The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased Sample’s Janitor’s Holiday from the annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design, a notable honor. As prestigious as this exhibition schedule may have been, by far Sample’s most visible presence in the 1930s and 1940s was the result of his relationship with Henry Luce’s burgeoning publishing empire, Time, Inc. Sample’s first contribution to a Luce publication appears to have been another San Pedro...

Martin Mull is a singular artist whose iconography directly translate the American culture.

From the estate of Jerry Opper & Ruth Friedman Opper Too Much c. 1940-1950's Gouache on Paper 15" x 18", framed wood gallery frame float mount 21.5"x19.5" From the estate of Ruth Friedmann Opper & Jerry Opper. Ruth was the daughter of Bauhaus artist, Gustav Friedmann. San Francisco Abstract Expression A free-spirited wave of creative energy swept through the San Francisco art community after World War II. Challenging accepted modes of painting, Abstract Expressionists produced highly experimental works that jolted the public out of its postwar complacency. Abstract Expressionism resulted from a broad collective impulse rather than the inspiration of a small band of New York artists. Documenting the interchanges between the East and West Coasts, she cites areas of mutual influence and shows the impact of San Francisco on the New York School, including artists such as Mark Rothko and Ad Reinhardt. San Francisco's Beat poets...

Artist: Ben Benn, Polish/American (1884 - 1983) Title: 23rd and 2nd Ave, New York City Year: 1924 Medium: Oil on board, signed l.r. Size: 14 x 11.5 in. (35.56 x 29.21 cm) Frame Size:...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY Yaeger was an American Modernist painter from Detroit, Michigan, who is credited with being one of the first painters in this style. The portrait “Untitled” easil...

The Railway Station, c. 1934, oil on canvas, signed lower right, titled verso and noted "34"; illustrated Kaufman, Jeffrey, Brush with Life: The Art of Being Edward Biberman...

"The Faces We Wore" WPA Family American Scene Figurative Abstract Woman Artist Juanita Guccione (1904 - 1999) The Faces We Wore 20 x 16 inches Oil on...

Artist: Leo Meiersdorff – German/American (1934-1994) Title: Bass and Trumpet Year: ca 1965-70 Medium: Watercolor and ink Sight size: 14.25 x 17.5 inches. Matted size: 22 x 24 inch...

This painting is part of our exhibition Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness. Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 inches, Signed lower right Exhibited: 1) [Solo E...

My Only Working Tool, 1949, oil on panel, signed and dated lower right, 16 x 12 inches, remnant of exhibition label verso, exhibited at the Art News Second Annual National Amateur Competition, National Academy of Design, New York, NY, December, 1950 (see The Best Amateurs, Art News, volume 49, issue 8, December 6 to 20, 1950, p. 65 – 66), presented in a period frame Fausto Sansone...

Oil on thick card stock, 1960. Signed by the artist in oil, lower right recto. Provenance: the artist, Montclair, NJ; Margaret Kelly, Bloomsburg, PA; private collection; Illinois, ...

The flow of botanical splendor bursts in lavish color in the foreground while the palms and trees open the view to distant mountains in this tropical painting. Jungle Fantasy #2 - ...

A lovely scene of the canals in Annecy, France by renowned American artist Emma Fordyce MacRae (1887-1974). This work highlights the geometric nature of the historic architecture al...

Lou's Landing - Original Watercolor On Paper Original watercolor on paper by Ray Skelton (American 20th c.), depicting a boat harbor with numerous boats tied up, some sailing. Lou's...

Provenance Private Collection (acquired directly from the artist); Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Sale #2326, 27 January 1965, Lot 168; Private Collection (acquired from the abo...

Michael Frary (1918 - 2005) Austin Artist Image Size: 16 x 12.5 Medium: Oil "The Clown" Biography Michael Frary (1918 - 2005) Michael Frary was born in Santa Monica, California on Ma...

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...

Donald Stacy "Pink Floor" c.1950s Gouache paint on paper 17.25" x 17.25" unframed Signed in pencil lower right Came from artist's estate *Custom framing av...

Unfinished Problem, by 1953, oil on canvas, signed lower right, signed and inscribed verso on stretcher “Charles Goeller/1272 Clinton Place, Elizabeth, NJ...

A large, delightful, Mid-Century Modern 1950s Martha's Vineyard street scene painting by famed Chicago artist, Francis Chapin. Depicting a picturesque view of the historic Main Stre...

Expressive portrait, a caricature of a man with bowtie by Michael Pauker (American, b. 1957). Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Another version of th...

Subject: American Family Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Country: United States In this painting, Joseph Wolins uses vibrant and complimentary colors and broken brushwork. Joseph Wo...

George Deem (American, 1932-2008) Oil painting on wood board Depicting a still life arrangement with grapes, pears, and a pomegranate alongside a white ceramic pitcher and wine gla...

Yvonne Jacquette (American, b. 1935) Tokyo Diptych, 1985 Pastel on paper Overall 17 1/4 x 28 1/2 inches Signed lower center Provenance: Carey Ellis Company, Houston, Texas Brooke Alexander, New York Collection of an American Corporation Exhibited: New York, Brooke Alexander, Yvonne Jacquette: Tokyo Nightviews, April 5 - May 3, 1986, n.p., illustrated; this exhibition later traveled to Brunswick, Maine, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Yvonne Jacquette: Tokyo Nightviews, June 27 - August 24, 1986. Yvonne Jacquette has a preference for high places, a circling plane, a penthouse window, an aerie from which to watch the world. Her work has often depicted the city and man-made landscape from the vantage of angels. It is a privileged perspective, long loved by photographers, who were perhaps the first to recognize the geometric grandeur of the city below. That grandeur structures Jacquette's images but is not its full content. Her work attempts to resolve the visual and emotional pardoxes of the modern metropolis. Only from the tower is there the possibility of order and context. And unlaced beauty. Jacquette first visited Japan in 1982. Nighttime Tokyo, its cars and crowds and canyons of loud Vegas neon, made a vivid and bewildering impression on her. The neon signs, pulsing, scaling the walls of high rises, fascinated the artist, "like Times Square spread over miles." Her fascination was equal parts marvel, confusion, and curiosity—the sparks of art. She returned to Tokyo in May of 1985, choosing hotel rooms with expansive vistas. From these views Jacquette excerpted images for a series of pastel night scenes. The basic forms and colors of each drawing were blocked in during night sessions by the window. She worked in the dark, selecting colors by flashlight. In daylight, she sharpened the geometry and corrected ambiguous passages. She refined the drawings further in the studio until the images read clearly. Photographic correctness was not important. The finished drawings are complete statements, not simply preparatory sketches for paintings. They have the authority of expert witness. In clear, discreet jots of pastel they record the performance of seeing, each touch of color attesting to a moment's close scrutiny. Yvonne Jacquette was born on December 15, 1934 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence from 1952 to 1955, when she moved to New York City. Her late husband was photographer Rudy Burckhardt, and the couple were part of a circle of artist friends that included Fairfield Porter, Alex Katz, Red Grooms, and Mimi Gross. She continues to live and work in New York City, as well as in Searsmont, Maine. A flight to San Diego in 1969 sparked Jacquette’s interest in aerial views, after which she began flying in commercial airliners to study cloud formations and weather patterns. She soon started sketching and painting the landscape as seen from above, beginning a process that has developed into a defining element of her art. Her first nocturnal painting...

This rare 1950s oil painting by Colorado abstract expressionist George Cecil Carter presents an abstracted figurative portrait of a couple—believed to represent Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. Rendered with bold brushwork and a dynamic modernist palette, the piece reflects Carter’s distinctive ability to merge abstraction with figuration, capturing both movement and emotional depth. Housed in a custom frame, the painting comes from a private collection in Denver, Colorado. Carter (1908–1993) was a central figure in Colorado’s mid-century modernist movement. A self-taught artist influenced by modernist painter Charles Ragland Bunnell, Carter developed a uniquely expressive style that drew upon his working-class background as a miner and machinist. He exhibited nationally and worked alongside artists including Al Wynne, Mary Chenoweth...

Standing Male Nude (42) John F. Leonard American (1921–1987) Date: circa 1965 Oil on Board Size: 16 in. x 10.5 in. (40.64 cm x 26.67 cm)

Delle Miller On the Upper Mississippi, circa 1926 Signed lower left Oil on canvas 26 1/8 x 29 1/8 inches By 1909, Miller was an instructor at the Kansas...

Beautiful American realist view of Pack River in Sandpoint, Idaho by Laura Lindberg (American, 1904-1976). Signed lower right corner "64 L Lindberg". 26 Pack River Laura Lindberg and...

Nude In Lavender NOT framed Neo Cubism About the Artist: Kenneth B Walsh (1922-1980) In the 1950s, Kenneth Bonar Walsh came to Montauk from New York City to paint seascapes, catch ...

(Note: This work is part of our exhibition Connected by Creativity: WPA Era Works from the Collection of Leata and Edward Beatty Rowan) Fresco, 20 x 16 inches unframed, 22 x 18 inch...

Joseph Wolins 1915-1999 Subject: Jewish, Dancing with the Torah (New Torah, Simchat Torah) Hand signed oil painting In this painting, Joseph Wolins uses vibrant and complimentary co...

From the estate of Jerry Opper & Ruth Friedmann Opper Slit c. 1940-1950's Gouache on Paper 15" x 18", Unframed *Custom framing available for additional charge. Please expect framing...

Pablita Velarde The Deer Herd, circa 1965 Signed lower right Earth pigments on sand board 9 3/4 x 19 1/2 inches Provenance Private Collection, New Mexico Santa Fe Auction Private Co...

About the artist: Susan Cohen’s paintings are exhibited with New York City galleries: George Billis, Garvey Simon, First Street,The Painting Center; and the Cynthia Winings Gallery...

Lower East Side, New York City Tenement shops Hand signed lower right Abram Tromka was born May 1, 1896 in Poland. At the age of seven he immigrated with his family to the United States, settling in New York City. It was on the boat coming to New York where Tromka first became interested in art. Fascinated by a woman who was painting, he decided that he wanted to become an artist. Upon arrival at immigration headquarters, Tromka’s family adopted the surname “Phillips,” which he kept until 1930. Hence the artist’s early works bear the signature — ‘Phillips.’ Having a rough childhood, Tromka left home at 15 and spent the remainder of his teenage years living at the Henry Street...

Wonderful mid century landscape of an old Monterey Cypress tree in Carmel background in teal hues by Jeanne Manget (American, b. 1913 - 1988), c.1960....

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...

Artist: David Azuz, Israeli/French (1942 - 2014) Title: Garcon in Cafe Year: circa 1979 Medium: Oil on Paper, signed l.l. Size: 24.5 x 19 in. (62.23 x 48.26 cm) Frame Size: 36 x 30 i...

Cubist Style Mid Century Color Blue Watusi The Watusi /wɑːtuːsi/ is a solo dance that enjoyed brief popularity during the early 1960s. It was one of the most popular dance crazes of...

August Frederick Biehle (American, 1885-1979) Abstract Floral Still Life Watercolor and pencil on paper Signed lower right 24 x 19 inches 29.5 x 24.5 inches, framed A versatile pain...

Paul Jenkins American, 1923–2012 Paul Jenkins’s intuitive, chance-based painting techniques helped pioneer new approaches to Abstract Expressionism. Jenkins made his vibrant composi...

This 20th-century watercolor painting, “New Mexico,” by Polish-American artist Pawel Kontny, captures the enduring architecture and serene spirit of the American Southwest. The work ...

Self-Portrait with Angel (2) by John F. Leonard, American (1921–1987) Date: circa 1970 Oil on Board Size: 22 in. x 18 in. (55.88 cm x 45.72 cm)

Abstract oil on wood panel depicting the beginnings of the ascendancy of the Earth by Julie R. Fudge (American, 20th Century). Signed "Julie Fudge" on verso. Unframed. Image, 42"H x ...

Oil on canvas, 18 x 20 inches, Signed lower right This painting is part of our exhibition Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness. Exhibited: 1) (likel...

This mid-20th-century abstract landscape by American modernist Henriette “Yetti” Stolz beautifully blends stylized natural forms with expressive color fields. Painted in rich, earthy tones of gold, brown, orange, and blue, the composition presents a rhythmic forest scene where trees are distilled into bold vertical shapes and layered hues. Stolz’s modernist approach emphasizes structure and emotion over realism, creating a landscape that feels both grounded and dreamlike. Executed in oil on canvas and signed on the back, the painting reflects Stolz’s deep engagement with modernist ideas circulating through Colorado in the 1950s and 1960s. Influenced by artists such as Mary Chenoweth...

Neon Lighting WPA Mid 20th Century Social Realism American Scene Modern Figures MAURICE BECKER (1889-1975) 'Neon Lighting 17 1/4 x 13 3/4 inches Oil on masonite Signed, dated 1936 and titled on verso BIO Maurice Becker, painter, political cartoonist and social reformer, was born in 1889 either in Gorky or Niznij Novgorod, in Russia. His family came to the United States in 1892, to New York City. After high school, Becker worked in a clothing factory. He studied with Ash Can School artist Robert Henri in 1908, and exhibited in the famous 1913 Armory Show in New York City when he was only twenty-four years of age. At the Armory show, Becker showed a drawing of a dog's head...

Jacquard weaving is at once simple and complex. The language used to set up weave structures is straightforward and binary: the warp is either up or down. With the Jacquard loom, h...

Edwin Dickinson (1891-1978) View Of Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 1942 Oil on canvas, 10 x 12 inches (25.4 x 30.5 cm) Framed dimensions: 15 1/4 x 17 1/4 in Signed in the wet, vertically ...

Buffalo, NY Steel Mill American Scene Modernism WPA Era Industrial 20th Century Ruth A. Haven Gay (1911-1992) “Buffalo, NY Steel Mill”, c. 1935 23 x 28 inches Oil on canvas Signed G...

An original oil on canvas painting by American artist James Koenig created in 1944.

Unique modernist depiction of an abstracted bull by California artist Dick Crispo (American, b.1945), 1981. The earthtoned animal is outlined in bold strokes of black, and is rendered in an interesting fractured geometric style evocative of cubism's handling of perspective. Signed and dated lower left "D. Crispo '81", and on label on verso. Presented in a dark copper metal frame. Image size; 22.5"H x 28.75"L. An award winning artist, Crispo has studied at the Carmel Art Institute under John Cunningham and Sam Colburn...

NYC Subway Mid 20th Century Modern American Scene Social Realism Contemporary David Atkins (1910 – 2012) Subway Train Departure 24 x 30 inches Oil on can...

WWII Aircraft Factory Workers Industrial 20th Century American Scene WPA Modern Frederick Buchholz (1901-1983) WW2 Aircraft Factory 18 x 24 inches Oil ...

This painting is part of our exhibition Charles Goeller: A Wistful Loneliness. Oil on canvas, 29 x 24 inches, Signed lower left Price Upon Request

Interieur No. II Oil on canvas, 1937 Signed on verso (see photo) nscribed on reverse: Benno 1937 "Interieur" (No. II) 35 x 27 cm 9 rue Compagne Premiere Paris 14e Provenance: Estate of the artist Ruth O'Hara, Lang & O'Hara, New York...

“Evening, 1971” by Robert Dash (American, 1931-2013) In 1967, Dash purchased an old barn on a small field in Sagaponack, NY. Over the next several decades, he turned the feral groun...

What a Life, c. 1930, mixed media on board, 18 x 24 inches, signed lower left; titled on label; exhibited at The San Francisco Art Association Fifty-Second Annual Exhibition at the P...

Canvas Only Size: 24 x 36 inches Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, New York c. 1960 Illustrated: Treasures of the American West SELECTIONS FROM THE COLLECTION OF Harrison Eiteljorg B...

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY “Vernors and Oreos” is a clever colorful piece by Richard Wilson that is full of significant meaning for native Detroiters. The beverage and cookies are specific treats for many people in Detroit and Michigan, but for Stevie Wonder in particular who is also a native Detroiter. The soda is produced and has been manufactured in the city of Detroit since 1862 by the Vernors Co. The story goes that prior to his concerts, Stevie Wonder, always requested that Vernors' Ginger Ale and Oreos be provided in his dressing room. Wilson has a great admiration for Stevie Wonder and as a gift to the city of Detroit he painted a mural of Stevie Wonder on an outside wall of the Music Hall. The “Ginger Ale and Oreos” painting...