Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
American, 1904-2000
Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that was nearly unprecedented among Cleveland School artists of his day, with representation by major New York dealers, scores of awards and solo exhibits, and streams of praise flowing from pens of the top art critics. Over the course of his 60+ year career Carter evolved from an exceptionally fine American Scene painter capable of evoking deep reservoirs of mood, into an abstractionist with a strongly surrealist bent.
While his two bodies of work seem at first to be worlds apart, owing to their different formal vocabularies, they, in fact, explore virtually the same subject: the nexus between life and death and the transition from earth to spirit. The early work finds its expressive power through specific people, events, and landscapes—most of which are drawn from his experiences growing up in the river town of Portsmouth, Ohio—while the later work from the 1960s on evokes potent states of being through pure flat shape, color and form that read as universals. As his primary form he adopted the ovoid or egg shape, endowing it with varying degrees of transparency. Alone or in multiples, the egg moves through Carter’s landscapes and architectural settings like a sentient spirit on a restless quest.
Born and raised in southern Ohio along the banks of the mercurial Ohio River and its treacherous floods, Carter developed a love of drawing as a child, and was encouraged by both his parents. He was self-directed, found inspiration all around him, and was strongly encouraged by the fact that his teenage work consistently captured art prizes in county and state fairs. Carter studied at the Cleveland School of Art from 1923-27, where he trained under painters Henry Keller, Frank Wilcox and Paul Travis.
Returning to Cleveland in 1929, Carter had his first solo show, and through Milliken taught studio classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1930-37. In 1938, he moved to Pittsburgh to teach at the Carnegie Institute of Technology until 1944. Carter’s American Scene paintings of the ’30s and ’40s, which launched his artistic star, are the works for which the artist remains best known.
During and immediately after World War II, Clarence Carter realized his attraction to bold pattern, dramatic perspective and eye-catching hard-edged design was a poor fit with the prevailing style of Abstract Expressionism. Fortunately, these same hallmarks of his style were prized within the realm of commercial art.
Around 1964 Carter acknowledged a need to break from the confines of representational painting. Once Carter had found a potent symbol in the egg, he used it to create an astounding body of imagery for the rest of his life. Among the most ambitious of all his later paintings were his Transections, a theological term meaning to cross, specifically between life and death.to
2
2
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
4
1
2
3
3
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
4
1
1
110
128
78
74
69
3
4
Artist: Clarence Holbrook Carter
Portrait of Woman with Fuchsia, Early 20th Century Still Life
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000)
Woman with FUCHSIA, 1935
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right
31.75 x 27 inches
37 x 32.25 inches, framed
Untitled Still Life ver...
Category
1930s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil
Hospitalities Long Past, 1940s Oil Painting of Store Front
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000)
Hospitalities Long Past, 1941
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right
37 x 27 inches
"Looking into store front windows has always i...
Category
1940s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil
Still Life with Apples and Skull, Figurative Oil Painting by Ohio Artist
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in Beachwood, OH
Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000)
Still Life with Apples, 1940
Oil on canvas
Signed and dated upper right
18 x 24 inches
Clarence Holbrook Carter achieved a level of national artistic success that was nearly unprecedented among Cleveland School artists of his day, with representation by major New York dealers...
Category
1940s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil
Yellow Calla Lily
By Clarence Holbrook Carter
Located in New York, NY
In his long and productive career, Clarence Holbrook Carter followed an independent course. He incorporated an unlikely mixture of stylistic influences, drawing from such disparate s...
Category
Early 20th Century American Realist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Related Items
Les Gros Prunes, plums still life
By Adam Lehr
Located in New York, NY
This still life of Plums is a top notch example of 19th century still life painting! Beautiful quality and striking but also spare and honest in nature which is what typified Americ...
Category
Early 1900s American Realist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Shovel Handles, 1950s Framed American Modernist Oil Painting, Green Bronze Blue
By Paul Kauvar Smith
Located in Denver, CO
"Shovel Handles" is an original 1953 semi-abstract modernist oil painting on board by renowned Denver artist Paul K. Smith (1893-1977). This captivating piece showcases Smith’s signa...
Category
1950s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil
$5,750
H 30 in W 24 in D 1.5 in
Native American Still Life. Ashcan Painter - New Mexico Early 20th Century.
By Robert Henri
Located in Marco Island, FL
A still life of Native American pottery, moccasins, and fur, that was likely arranged during one of the artist's many trips to New Mexico and California. This painting embraces th...
Category
1910s American Realist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
A Quirky 1940s Mid-Century Modern Still Life by Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon
By Harold Haydon
Located in Chicago, IL
A charming, colorful and quirky 1940s Mid-Century Modern Still Life, "Elephant and Red Pillow" by notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon Artwork size: 8 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches; Framed...
Category
1940s American Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil, Board
$850
H 11.5 in W 13.5 in D 1 in
“Daffodils” oil painting, impressionist, still life of yellow flowers in glass
By Amy Florence
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An oil painting by Amy Florence (b. 1989, London) of yellow dandelions in a glass vase. The wildflowers glow against a blue backdrop. Painted from direct observation, each flower is ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Post-Impressionist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil, Panel
$3,000
H 15.74 in W 11.81 in
Flower Still-life Virgin Trevisani Stanchi Paint Oil on canvas 17/18th Century
By Francesco Trevisani (Capodistria 1656 - Rome 1746)
Located in Riva del Garda, IT
Flower garland with a portrait of the Virgin
Francesco Trevisani (Capodistria 1656 - Rome 1746) and Niccolò Stanchi (Rome 1623 - 1690), attributable
Oil on canvas
66 x 49 cm. - In f...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil
$5,563 Sale Price
20% Off
H 29.93 in W 23.63 in
An American Still Life of an Apple, Pear and Grapes circa 1880s
Located in SANTA FE, NM
An American Still Life of an Apple, Pear and Grapes
Oil on canvas on board
Signed illegibly
circa late 1800s
9 3/4 x 5 7/8 (16 x 12 3/4 frame) inches
This is an example of late 19...
Category
Late 19th Century American Realist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Board
$5,700
H 12.75 in W 16 in
Young Girl with a Jug
by Léon Gérard Crépy (Lille 1872 – 1944) French
Located in Knokke, BE
Léon Gérard Crépy
Lille 1872 – 1944
French Painter
'Young Girl with a Jug'
Signature: signed top left 'LG. Crepy'
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: image size 46,5 x 38,5 cm, frame...
Category
Early 20th Century Realist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$2,852
H 22.05 in W 18.9 in D 2.37 in
"Testing the Water" American Modernist Interior Scene Still Life Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Incredible and rare early American modernist interior scene still life. So finely painted and a very rare and provocative subject for its time. Signed lower left. Handsomely fram...
Category
1940s Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$11,800 Sale Price
20% Off
H 25 in W 31 in D 2 in
Antique American Impressionist Italian Woman Grape Farmer Portrait Oil Painting
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American impressionist portrait oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Measuring 15 by 19 inches overall and 10.5 by 15 painting alone.
Category
Early 1900s Impressionist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$1,020 Sale Price
20% Off
H 19 in W 15 in D 2 in
Still Life - Oil Paint by Cristianus - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Still life is a modern artwork realized by Cristianus in the mid-20th Century.
Mixed colored oil painting on canvas.
Includes frame.
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Oil
$534
H 12.21 in W 18.51 in D 0.04 in
The Artist
s Garden
, Munich Academy, Art Institute of Chicago, PAFA, Corcoran
By Julius Moessel
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
'The Artist's Garden' by Julius Moessel, 1943.
Munich Academy, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, Corcoran
-----
Signed lower left 'Moessel' for Julius Moe...
Category
1940s American Realist Clarence Holbrook Carter Still-life Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$5,000
H 30 in W 26 in D 0.75 in
Clarence Holbrook Carter still-life paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Clarence Holbrook Carter still-life paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of still-life paintings to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Clarence Holbrook Carter in oil paint, paint, canvas and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Clarence Holbrook Carter still-life paintings, so small editions measuring 18 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Aaron Bohrod, Andrew S. Conklin, and Nicolai Cikovsky. Clarence Holbrook Carter still-life paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $5,500 and tops out at $65,000, while the average work can sell for $9,000.
Artists Similar to Clarence Holbrook Carter
Still Thinking About These?
All Recently ViewedMore Clarence Holbrook Carter Art
Clarence Holbrook Carter Figurative Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Abstract Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Landscape Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Animal Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Prints and Multiples
Clarence Holbrook Carter Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Clarence Holbrook Carter Mixed Media





