New York City - Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

This drawing depicts a moment from one of the longest trials in US history, when Jean Harris, a headmistress of a school for girls in Virginia, was tried f...

Pierre Bergian (Bruges, Belgium, b. 1965) explores the essence of space, depicting architectural interiors with an expressive line that renders them out of time. Bergian lives and wo...

Sandy Litchfield found peace and inspiration in regular solitary walks through nature throughout the pandemic. Her most recent body of work diaristically documents her constitutional...

Eugene Higgins In Foreign Parts, circa 1913 Signed lower right Watercolor on paper Sight 17 x 13 inches Born William Victor Higgins in 1884 to a Shelbyville, Indiana farm family where the only art Victor was aware of as a child was his father's love of flowers. "He loved their forms and their colors, and he tended his garden as a painter might work a canvas." At the age of nine, Victor met a young artist who traveled the Indiana countryside painting advertisements on the sides of barns. He purchased paints and brushes so the young Higgins could practice his own artwork on the inside of his father's barn. He also taught Victor about art museums and especially about the new Chicago Art Institute. This information never left the young artist, and he saved his allowance until his father allowed him at the age of fifteen to attend Chicago Art Institute. He worked a variety of jobs to finance his studies both there and at the Academy of Fine Arts. Victor Higgins traveled to New York in 1908, where he met Robert Henri, who became a significant influence by depicting every-day scenes and stressing the importance of the spirit and sense of place as important factors in painting. Higgins was also greatly affected by the New York Armory Modernism Show of Marsden Hartley in 1913. While Victor Higgins was in Chicago he met former mayor and avid collector Carter H. Harrison who was to prove instrumental in the growth of Higgins career for several years. Harrison agreed to support Higgins for four years to go to Paris and Munich and paint and study in the great museums in Europe. While at the Academie de la Grande Chaumier in Paris (1910-1914) he met Walter Ufer, who was another Chicago artist being sponsored by Carter Harrison. This meeting was not only a life-long friendship, but the beginning of a great change in the way Higgins looked at "American" art. He decided that America needed it's own authentic style rather than the 19th Century classic style he was taught in Europe. Very soon after returning to Chicago in 1914, Harrison sent him and Walter Ufer on a painting trip to Taos, New Mexico for a year in exchange for paintings. Higgins made other similar agreements and was able to support himself with his painting. This trip was a life-changing experience and introduced Higgins to the authentic America he had been looking for. In 1914 Taos was an isolated village about twelve hours from Santa Fe on an impossible dirt road. But the colorful life of the pueblo people and the natural beauty drew a collection of artists who became the Taos art colony, from which the Taos Society of Artists was founded in 1915. Victor Higgins became a permanent resident within a year of his arrival and a member of the society in 1917, exhibiting with Jane Peterson in 1925 and with Wayman Adams and Janet Scudder in 1927. The members would travel around the country introducing the Southwest scenes with great success. He remained a member until the Society's dissolution in 1927. Higgins was the youngest member of the group of seven. Other members were Joseph Henry Sharp, Bert Phillips...

abstract geometric black and white ink drawing on mylar framed in white frame For over twenty years now Patrick Carrara has lived in Brooklyn, where he has maintained a studio and s...

The latest watercolors from Ray Kass strike a balance between audacity and contemplation. Drawing from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of the Tsakli - sets of miniature...

Church in Prague by Kamil Kubik, Czech/American (1930–2011) Pastel on Paper, signed l.r. Size: 19.5 x 25.5 in. (49.53 x 64.77 cm)

A crowd of people that stretches into infinity, all tinged blue, huddle under umbrellas during a storm and face the viewer. Given the title, it is implied that the viewer stands in t...

“WRESTLING” is a watercolor by Joseph Golinkin created circa 1940. This piece is painted to the paper's edge and signed in red paint in the upper left. The watercolor paper size is 20 7/8 x 15 ¾ inches. Joseph Webster Golinkin...

This collotype featured in the pamphlet available at Galerie de Art Misrachi for an exhibition of works by Vlady. This specific example also bears a drawing by the artist in pen on t...

A city rendered almost entirely in red, with the water streaked across its surface separating out values of blue and purple. This unique watercolor is signed by the artist. Cityscap...

Domenick Capobianco (American, b. 1928), Group of 18 Preliminary Drawings, Mixed Media on Paper, one titled "The Great Gambini", signed lower right, each with artist's studio stamp t...

Tully Filmus (1903 - 1998) was a Russian/American artist who was known for his realist drawings of Jewish life. This pastel drawing on paper is signed low...

Betty Parsons Untitled, 1977 Signed and dated lower right Gouache on paper 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches Renowned as an esteemed and legendary art dealer who for more than three decades was...

This exquisite graphite drawing by Mary Reilly captures the delicate beauty of cherry blossoms with striking realism and atmospheric depth. Known for her masterful pencil work, Reill...

Anne Youkeles' work blurs the line between painting and sculpture. Her works on paper, like this one, are made with several folded pieces of paper, cut, colored, and placed together ...

Simon Samsonian (1912 - 2003) Colorful Geometric Abstraction, 1981 Oil on paper 16 x 22 inches Signed and dated lower right Provenance: Estate of the artist This survivor of the Armenian genocide wound up in a Cairo orphanage in 1927. He rose to fame as one of Egypt’s great modernists, but after moving to Long Island late in life he withdrew into anonymity. Now his compelling story is being told. Art historians are finally beginning to realize that the power of abstraction in its early years was a zeitgeist not limited to the major European centers of the avant-garde — Paris, Munich, and Moscow — but one that quickly rippled to major cities throughout the world. Within a few decades that original shock of a new vision had inspired thousands of artists from different cultures — particularly those the Middle East — whose translations were not slavish imitations of works by seminal figures like Picasso, Braque, Malevich, and Kandinsky but creative variants colored by their respective cultures. This essay focuses on an extraordinary Armenian artist, his harrowing survival of the genocide, his rise to fame in Cairo, and his creation of a unique style of abstraction. Art historians have typically formed a chorus that teaches the history of abstraction like this: Just before and during the World War I era, several avant-garde artists emerged to create shockingly different new forms by which artists could express themselves. In Paris, Picasso and Braque broke out with cubism, quickly followed by Mondrian. In Moscow, Malevich created Suprematism, the ultimate hard-edge geometric abstraction. And in Munich, Kandinsky emerged as the father of Abstract Expressionism. Within these few short years a zeitgeist was sensed throughout the art world. American pioneers, too — particularly Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Morgan Russell — felt this explosive freedom of expression. When Europe was recovering after World War I it became clear that Paris would retain its title as capitol of the art world, lasting through the Roaring Twenties and even through the Great Depression. But the end of World War II changed everything. A parallel war had been won by a group of irascible young Abstract Expressionists in New York — led by Pollock, Rothko, DeKooning, and Kline. No sooner had Paris been liberated from the Germans than Picasso, Matisse, Breton, and Duchamp surrendered to the Americans. From that point on New York would be the epicenter of the art world. But a lens that focuses myopically on the war between the avant-garde of Paris and New York misses the wider narrative of multiple aesthetic modernities that developed in the several decades following World War I. For Armenian artists the matter is even more complex owing to the genocide of 1915 where more than 1.5 million people — seventy-five percent of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire — were massacred. Those not shot on the spot were sent on death marches through the Mesopotamian desert without food or water. Frequently, the marchers were stripped and forced to walk naked under the scorching sun until they dropped dead. As a child Samsonian witnessed the murder of his parents and most of the members of his family. Soon thereafter, his older sister, Anahid, quickly shepherded him into a line of children being rescued by Greek nuns. But they became separated and he lost her, too. He was sent to a Greek orphanage in Smyrna (now Izmir), on Turkey’s west coast. Because he only knew his first name, the orphanage gave him a last name based on the place where they found him — Samsun — a major port on Turkey’s north coast on the Black Sea. His birth date was unknown, too. According to Samsonian’s vague recollections he assumed he was about three or four years old at the onset of the genocide, which would place his birth year in 1911 or 1912. In 1922, when Samsonian was about 10, the Turks ended their war with the Greeks by putting Smyrna to the torch in what has been called the “Catastrophe of Smyrna.” Once again, the child was on the run, escaping the fire and slaughter. He found temporary refuge in Constantinople, but within a year that major port would fall to the Turks, too, and become renamed as Istanbul. This time, Samsonian was whisked away to an orphanage in Greece founded by the American charity, Near East Relief — which is credited with saving so many Armenian orphans that the American historian Howard M. Sachar said it “quite literally kept an entire nation alive. Any understanding of Samsonian’s approach to modernism requires careful consideration of the impact of his early years because his art is inseparable from the anguish he experienced. In 1927, when he was a teenager, he was transferred to Cairo, Egypt, then a cosmopolitan city hosting a sizable portion of the Armenian diaspora. There he lived with thirty-two other children on the top floor of the Kalousdian Armenian School. Upon graduating in 1932 he won a scholarship to attend the Leonardo da Vinci Art Institute — an Italian art school in Cairo — where he won first prize in final examinations among one hundred students. He found work with an Armenian lithographic printer and he returned to the Kalousdian Armenian School to teach drawing. In 1939 he married one of his students, Lucy Guendimian. The Cairo in which Samsonian matured as an artist was home to many prominent art collectors after World War I. In this receptive environment Samsonian exhibited widely and won many awards. Beginning in 1937 and for the next thirty years he exhibited annually at the prestigious Le Salon du Caire hosted by the Société les Amis de l’Art (founded in 1921). After World War II he hit his stride as a modernist in Cairo, counting among his peers other artists of the Armenian diaspora such as Onnig Avedissian, Achod Zorian, Gregoire Meguerdichian, Hagop Hagopian...

Artist: Joseph Barber, American (1915 - 1998) Title: Dining Room Interior Year: circa 1945 Medium: Watercolor and Pastel on Paper, signed l.l. Size: 15 x 21 inches (38 x 53.5 cm) Fra...

Self Portrait in Underwear John Hardy, American (1923–2014) Date: 1962 Pastels on Watercolor paper, signed and dated Image Size: 23.5 x 18 inches Size: 32 x 27 in. (81.28 x 68.58 cm)

In this detailed, hand-drawn and drafted work in ink on paper by Polish artist Wojtek Kowalczyk, a stampede of horses runs down the center of the composition. Markedly though, the ho...

Joseph Kalinger Trial Marilyn Church, American Date: 1981 Pencil, Marker, and Ink on Paper, signed lower right Size: 19.5 x 25 in. (49.53 x 63.5 cm) Frame Size: 28.5 x 34 inches

A detailed and hand-drawn work on paper by Polish artist Wojtek Kowalczyk of scorpions in sand dunes. The scorpions, however, are made of twining rope...

This unique work is a watercolor by American artist Chris Ritter. The painting depicts a landscape of rolling green hills with a red barn centered in the ...

Gale John Hardy, American (1923–2014) Date: 2009 Watercolor and Ink on Paper, signed Image Size: 3.75 x 6.75 inches Size: 6.5 in. x 8.25 in. (16.51 cm x 20.96 cm) Frame Size: 13 x 15...

Two Into One (Passage Series) John Hardy, American (1923–2014) Date: 1982 Pastel on Paper, signed Size: 39 x 27 in. (99.06 x 68.58 cm)

ABOUT Stephen Basso Stephen Basso's highly original pastels and oil paintings are romantic, yet thought provoking fantasies. His whimsical works are alive with boundless imaginat...

Artist: Carroll Dunham (1949 - ) Title: Study after Big Bang Date: 2016 Medium: Pencil on paper, signed and dated upper left Size: 18.25 x 13.87 in. (46.36 x 35.23 cm) Frame Size: 27...

An Abstract expressionist gouache painting by American artist, Sid Gross. Date: 1959 Gouache on paper, signed and dated lower right Image Size: 18.5 x 12 inches Frame Size: 28 x 22 ...

Bridge (Abstract painting) Acrylic and Ink on Arches Paper — Unframed. Laura Newman's paintings combine geometric delineations of space, ephemeral color fields, dynamic lines and or...

The location of this early oil pastel drawing was identified by other pieces from the same drawing book. The oil pastel was a new invention - just on the market in 1921 and it appea...

An early painting by Omar Rayo from 1955. An abstract geometric work with multi-colored shapes on a surrealist horizon. Artist: Omar Rayo, Colombian (1928 - ) Title: Mountains Year:...

Artist: Osvald Timmas, Canadian (1915 - 2005) Title: Mussel Meadow Year: 1971 Medium: Watercolor on paper, signed and dated lower right Size: 19 x 12.5 in. (48.26 x 31.75 cm)

Bruno Lassalle Untitled, 1993 18.75 x 15.75 inches; framed in natural wood color 21.6 x 19.6 inches oil pastels on board signed 'LASSALLE' and dated recto; stamped verso Bruno Lassa...

Dana Piazza's creates abstract black and white drawings, full of the illusion of depth, movement, and three-dimensionality. His highl...

Dana Piazza's creates abstract black and white drawings, full of the illusion of depth, movement, and three-dimensionality. His highl...

Dana Piazza's creates abstract black and white drawings, full of the illusion of depth, movement, and three-dimensionality. His highl...

Dana Piazza's creates abstract black and white drawings, full of the illusion of depth, movement, and three-dimensionality. His highl...

James Minden Fringe Holographic drawing- Hand incised plastic and acrylic on panel 36 x 36 inches 2013 To get a sense of the holographic effect look at the video on that vimeo's sit...

A painting of the Luxor Obelisk and fountain at Le Place de la Concorde in Paris by Charles Cobelle. This piece features more muted and neutral colors th...

James Minden Place Holographic drawing- Hand incised plastic and acrylic on panel 24 x 24 inches 2013 To get a sense of the holographic effect look at the video on that vimeo's site...

James Minden Verge Holographic drawing- engraved anodized aluminum and enamel paint 24 x 24 inches 2017 To get a sense of the holographic effect look at the video on that vimeo's si...

James Minden Incidence Holographic drawing- engraved anodized aluminum and enamel paint 24 x 24 inches 2017 To get a sense of the holographic effect...

This unique abstract work is a watercolor by American artist Chris Ritter. The use of broad gestural movement and bold colors creates an engaging composit...

Samantha Haring Crystal Clear, 2024 Chalk pastel on paper 15 x 15 in. (hari026)

Dennis Magdich is one of America's leading illustrators and artists. His work has been published around the world in PLAYBOY and OUI magazines since 1975....

David Morrison has extended his brand of hyperrealism to the artificial, capturing the intricate lithography that decorates his collection of vintage Kohler wind-up birds. His drawin...

"Feel the Beat" is a dynamic artwork features three figures caught in a moment of rhythmic movement, exuding an ethereal energy. Each figure is rendered in a monochromatic palette, e...

Chairs in the Park by Kamil Kubik, Czech/American (1930–2011) Pastel on Paper, signed l.r. Size: 19.5 x 25.5 in. (49.53 x 64.77 cm)

This abstract composition by William Schwedler includes several geometric forms and shapes that are placed alongside straight, angled lines. Untitled 2 Artist: William Schwedler, A...

Dina introduces a sense of movement to her gouache Bird by Bird series with her miniature portrait, Red-Winged Blackbirds. Wings spread, beaks open wide, and legs hover in the air. T...

Alice Baber Across the Wide, Tokyo, 1964 Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse Watercolor and leaf collage on paperboard 10 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches Alice Baber once famously describe...

abstract geometric black and white ink drawing on mylar framed in white frame For over twenty years now Patrick Carrara has lived in Brooklyn, where he has maintained a studio and s...

Abstract geometric black and white ink drawing on mylar framed in white wood frame with UV Plexiglass. For over twenty years now Patrick Carrara has lived in Brooklyn, where he has m...

This drawing reveals the artist's mastery of the medium and her connection to her subjects. In this one, we peek at a soft horizon line as we gaze though a patch of wildflowers near ...

Sandy Litchfield finds the consummate marriage of medium and subject in her latest enchanted landscapes. She narrows her focus to lake scenes, creating an almost palindrome-like comp...

Love Affair 6 (Abstract drawing) Colour pencil on two layers of Mylar — Unframed. Love Affairs" is a series of drawings on two layers of thin, translucent paper resembling ice. Each...

Artist: Ben Hancocks Title: 31st of March Year: 1982 Medium: Oil Pastel on Paper, signed and dated Paper Size: 34 x 15 inches [86.36 x 38.1 cm] Image Size: 27.5 x 10 in. [69.85 x 25....

This drawing depicts a moment from one of the longest trials in US history, when Jean Harris, a headmistress of a school for girls in Virginia, was tried f...

Artist: John Chamberlain, American (1927 - 2011) Title: Yellow Coconut Year: 1981 Medium: Marker and pencil on newsprint, signed 'JC' l.r. Image Size: 19.25 x 8.5 inches Size: 19.25 ...