Catalog: Sold Items: Fine Art (179)

Julian Walbridge Rix early California landscape oil on wood panel scene of Marin county landscape looking toward Mt. Tamalpias and San Francisco bay. Measuring approx. 10.5 in. by 13 in. framed in a ornate gilt frame 18 in. by 20 in. overall. A fine example of this renowned artists work.

biography

Known for poetic landscapes, often sunset, illuminated by atmospheric light, Julian Walbridge Rix was early in his career an active painter in California and then on the East Coast. He was born in Peacham, Vermont on December 30, 1850 and moved with his family to San Francisco in 1853. Because of his mother's death, he went back to Peacham four years later to live with his grandmother and graduating from Peacham Academy in 1868. He returned to San Francisco where he was apprenticed to a trading firm and later worked in a paint store painting signs and doing decorative work. Primarily self-taught, he was briefly a pupil of Virgil Williams at the School of Design. He became close friends with Amédée Joullin and Jules Tavernier, and when the latter established an art colony in Monterey in 1876, Rix was one of the "Bohemians" who followed him there. His studio in Monterey was in the French Hotel, but in 1879 he returned to San Francisco and shared a studio with Tavernier at 729 Montgomery Street. The art market in San Francisco during this period was not a healthy one which prompted Rix to move to Paterson, New Jersey in 1880 and subsequently establish a studio in New York City. This milieu was what he seemed to need to find artistic success. His work was exhibited at the National Academy of Design during the 1880s. He studied art briefly in Europe during 1889 and upon his return, he found that his watercolor and oil paintings were in great demand in the East. He maintained an active interest and participation in the San Francisco art scene and in 1883 sent back 200 paintings for a successful solo show. In 1888 his illustrations appeared in "Picturesque California." Rix returned to California for several months in 1901 and painted the valleys and mountains near Monterey and Santa Barbara. A handsome man with a New England accent and blond sideburns, he never married and was called the Adonis of the profession. Following a kidney operation, Rix died in New York City on November 24, 1903 and was buried in the cemetery plot of a patron-friend in Paterson, New Jersey. Source: "Artists in California, 1786 to 1940" by Edan Milton Hughes

Frank Montague Moore Carmel or Monterey evening nocturne oil on board signed lower right F.M. Moore. A beautiful painting with a amazing sense of light. In excellent condition measuring 12 x 16 inches approx. overall size 19 x 23 inches. A fine painting by this highly acclaimed artists would be a nice addition to any collection.

Biography

Born in Taunton, England on Nov. 24, 1877. Moore studied at the Liverpool Art School and Royal Institute. In 1903 he immigrated to America and further studied with Henry Ward Ranger. By 1910 he was an established artist in NYC; in that year moved to Hawaii where he was purchasing agent for Hawaii Plantations and later served as director of the Honolulu Academy of Arts. In 1928 he sailed for California and worked briefly in Pasadena where he painted the Picture Bridge, a series of 41 murals in the Huntington Hotel. After a few months in San Francisco, he settled on the Monterey Peninsula. There he specialized in poetic depictions of the coast and other local scenery. Moore died in Carmel, CA on March 5, 1967. Member: Salmagundi Club; NY WC Club; AFA; Pasadena Society of Artists. Exh: Calif. WC Society, 1928; Nicholson Gallery (Pasadena), 1928; CGA; PAFA; St Louis Museum; GGIE, 1939; LACMA, 1942; Salmagundi Club, 1943; Santa Cruz, 1944; Society for Sanity in Art, CPLH, 1944 (1st prize and Logan medal); Carmel AA, 1945-46; NAD. In: Orange Co. (CA) Museum; USMC Headquarters (SF); Auckland (NZ) Museum; Honolulu Academy of Art. Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"

WILLIAM MALHERBE 1884 - 1951 A beautiful impressionist oil painting of a nude woman holding a sphere one can easily see the influence of Renoir in this example of this fine French-American artist. Oil on canvas monogramed lower right measuring Approx. 26 x 30 inches. Born in France, William Malherbe was influenced by the great Post Impressionist painters of his time, particularly Renoir and Bonnard. He is known for his still lifes, landscapes and figural paintings. In 1939, Malherbe arrived in the United States. He lived in New York City and on a farm in Vermont. He returned to France in 1948 and died there in 1951. Works by William Malherbe are in the collection of the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris among other collections.

An fine Equestrian portrait of a thoroughbred and original oil painting on canvas laid on archival art board signed lower right Thad Leland measuring 16 x 20 inches in good vintage condition framed in a quality wood frame overall 24 x 28 in.

Thad Emory Leland by John Hovard 
 ◦ The paintings of Thad Leland reflect his enduring association with the horse including the cultural spectacle of the Peruvian Paso, polo horses and racing thoroughbreds. Working in pastels, oils, acrylics, and watercolors, Thad Leland left a beautiful legacy of the spirit and tradition of the horse, its cultural harness and how man interacts with this spirit. 
It all started for Leland when he was a boy in Michigan, exercising the fine horses of Detroit millionaires. He went home and sketched these horses, which began the lifelong journey to recreate the spirit and beauty of the horse. 
Thad Emory Leland was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1914 and passed away in Pebble Beach, California, in 1987. He studied art at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, received a B.A. in fine art from the University of Michigan where he studied with Sarkis Sarkisian and John Carroll. 
Before the war, he exhibited throughout Wisconsin and Michigan, and was awarded a mural commission for the New York World's Fair. After World War II he received a masters degree in fine art from Stanford University. In the early 60s, his diligence to study equestrians continued with his painting and sketching of polo events at Pebble Beach, thoroughbred racing at Bay Meadows and Golden Gate tracks, and western riding events at the Salinas Rodeo and Monterey County Fair. He became sought after for commissioned portraiture.

A beautiful impressionist painting of a view from the Schuylhill river docks in Philadelphia Pa, showing ships moored in the foreground and factories in the background. Oil on board circa 1920 oil signed lower right. This painting just recently discovered is directly from a Great Grandfather who was a friend of Wagner and an artist himself the two shared a studio. Measuring 8x10 inches framed in a contemporary gallery frame. A great example of this artists work a fine addition to any collection.

Biography

Fred Wagner was born in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1864. He received a scholarship to study art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins and in 1884 was made chief Demonstrator of Anatomy there. In 1885, Wagner left the Academy to make a painting tour of San Antonio, Texas, and then went on to Los Angeles, California, where he painted a number of landscapes and portraits. He returned to Philadelphia as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press until 1902, and then moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania to paint full time. In 1912, Wagner opened a Philadelphia studio and taught classes in outdoor painting at Addingham, and later, at the Pennsylvania Academy's summer school in Chester Springs. His reputation grew, and he took on additional classes at his studio in the Fuller Building. In 1913, Wagner exhibited in the now famous Armory Show in New York City. He exhibited frequently at the Pennsylvania Academy's annual exhibitions, and in 1914, was awarded the Fellowship Prize. He was awarded Honorable Mentions from the Pittsburgh International, the Philadelphia Art Club, and the Carnegie Institute in 1922. His paintings are in the collections of the Cleveland Museum; St. Louis Museum, MO; Fort Wayne Museum, IN; Kalamazoo Museum, MI; Rochester Museum, NY; Worcester Art Museum, MA, and the Reading Museum, PA. Fred Wagner died in Philadelphia in 1940.

A beautiful oil on board by Harold Christopher Davies of a a California impressionist landscape from his early days before he became a abstract modernist. Provenance the estate of the artist and Hoover Gallery of San Francisco. Measuring approx. 10 x 7 inches framed in a quality gallery frame overall size 9.5 x 12.5 inches. A fine example of this artists work. Harold Christopher Davies was a painter with whom art came first and commercialism last. Though he was a remarkably passionate and somewhat prolific artist, he resisted gallery representation until the age of eighty-four, just one year before his death. Davies began his formal art education at the age of fourteen, enrolling in the Corcoran Art Institute in Washington, D.C. Later he continued his studies at the San Francisco Institute of Art. An abstract expressionist, his style was directly influenced by Cezanne, Gorky and de Kooning. Being a man of intense dedication to his art, he kept extensive notebooks and sketchbooks in which he developed his own artistic and aesthetic philosophy, often through his candid critiques of other artist’s works. Painting, for Davies, was not a means of earning his living. Though he exhibited frequently at various local colleges and museums, he never sought public recognition of his talent. He believed fame compromised the integrity of an artist’s work. Davies earned his living as a businessman, eventually owning and operating his own chemical company. He lived a life of balancing his monetary obligations with the true love of his life: painting. After living in a variety of cities around the United States, Davies moved to Inverness, California in 1969 where he was free to devote all his time to his art. MEMBER: Oakland Art League San Francisco Art Association Huntsville (Ala.) Art Association EXHIBITED: San Francisco Art Association, 1921-1931 Oakland Art Gallery, 1931 Birmingham Museum, 1951 Southampton Museum, 1959 University of Long Island Museum, 1964 Parrish Art Museum, 1964, 1966, 1967 Hoover Gallery (San Francisco), 1975 Fresno Art Center, 1976 (Solo) Haggin Museum 1982 Huntsville Museum, 1982

An antique 19th century oil painting on tin depicting a European new world figure and a Native American Indian girl most likely John Smith and Pocahontas. Beautifully painted in excellent condition some age cracking and minor rubs on the extreme edges where frame would cover. Measuring approx. 10x8.5 inches a fine early American painting.

A fine oil on board by Dennis Henry Osborne a cubist style modernist feel to this depiction of a fishing trawler at dry dock. Signed lower left with gallery label on reverse.

biography

Born in Portsmouth, England in 1919, Dennis H. Osborne spent three and a half years as a prisoner of war in Italy and Germany. After the war he pursued his art studies in England and exhibited at the Royal Academy. In 1952 he emigrated to Canada but returned to the United Kingdom to take up the post of Head of the Art Department in Portadown Technical College. For many years prior to his retirement he was Head of the Art Department at Lisnagarvey High School, Lisburn.

Bruce Crane impressionist landscape oil on art board signed lower left Bruce Crane N.A. measuring 8x6 inches framed in a custom carved and gilt finished frame overall size 11x 9 inches. A beautiful gem of a painting by this highly regarded American impressionist painter would be a fine addition to any collection.

Biography

A popular landscape painter, especially of golden toned landscapes that conveyed fall and winter seasons, Bruce Crane was strongly influenced by the French Barbizon school of painting and had a studio for many years in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He also painted on Long Island, the Catskills, and the Adirondacks. In 1882, he was in France at the colony at Grez-sur-Loring with Birge Harrison, Kenyon Cox, and Alexander Wyant, but he maintained a studio in New York City until he moved to Bronxville in 1914. He took early art lessons from Alexander Wyant in New York City and then studied in Europe. He became a member of the National Academy of Design, the American Water Color Society, the Salmagundi Club, the Society of American Artists, and the Grand Central Art Galleries. One of his great admirers was J. Francis Murphy with whom his work has often been compared. Source: David Michael Zellman, "Three Hundred Years of American Art" Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"

Claude Buck self portrait of the artist c.1940 oil on board 16 x 20 inches. Provenance: the wife of the artist Leslie Buck. Biography. A leading member of the avant-garde Symbolism* artists movement in Chicago, Claude Buck moved there from his birth place of New York City in 1919. He was known for his "fantastic, sometimes disturbing images with allegorical and literary themes" (Kennedy 97) drawn from writings of Edgar Allen Poe, operas by Richard Wagner, classical mythology and "New Testament" writings from the Bible. Some of these early paintings had nude figures rendered in Classical* style to express abstract themes developed through dream-like landscapes and disregard of relative scale or relatedness between the figures. These paintings had Luminist* elements achieved with light-toned paints worked with transparent glazes. In the 1920s to earn money by gaining public favor and also expressing his increasing disdain for modernism, Buck did a number of hyperrealist* portraits, figures and still lifes. These proved popular and aligned him with the opponents of abstraction and their Society for Sanity in Art* movement whose headquarters were in Chicago. Buck taught drawing and painting at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art from 1921 to 1926, and at the Art Institute, where he took over classes of George Bellows. In New York City before coming to Chicago, Buck had a reputation as a radical artist. He took his first art training from his father, William R. Buck, from the time he was ages three to fourteen, and then until he was twenty-two, he studied at the National Academy of Design* where he was nicknamed "Kid Hassam" because his painting reminded viewers of that of Claude Hassam. Buck worked as a scene painter in the theatre and at the Willet Stained Glass company, and in 1914 began portrait commissions to earn money. In New York, he founded a group named the Introspectives, which reflected his own problems with melancholy during that period. Members, holding their first exhibition at the Whitney Studio in 1917, were artists who expressed their personal feelings and experiences and included Raymond Jonson and Emil Armin. In this phase of his career, Buck was focused on Old World styles of Leonardo da Vinci, Ralph Blakelock and Albert Pinkham Ryder. In 1929, the Arts Council of New York voted him one of the top one-hundred painters in the United States.

A Beautiful original oil painting Robert William Wood of a Texas landscape with bluebonnet flowers and old homestead and oak trees. Oil on canvas measuring approx. 25x30 inches. Condition is excellent the canvas has been relined due to age cracking overall a fine example of this artists work ready to hang. Biography A painter of realistic landscapes reflecting a vanishing wilderness in America, Robert Wood (not to be confused with Robert E. Wood) is reportedly one of the most mass-produced artists in the United States. His painting became so popular he was unable to meet all of the demands, and many of his works were reproduced in lithographs and mass distributed as prints, place mats, and wall murals by companies including Sears, Roebuck. He was born in Sandgate, Kent on the south coast of England near Dover, the son of W.L. Wood, a famous home and church painter who recognized and supported his son's talent. In fact, he forced his son to paint by keeping him inside to paint rather than playing with his friends. At age 12, Wood entered the South Kensington School of Art. As a youth, he came to the United States in 1910, having served in the Royal Army, and he never returned to England. He traveled extensively all over the United States, especially in the West, often in freight cars, and also painted in Mexico and Canada. His itinerant existence took him to Illinois where he worked as a farmhand, to Pensacola, Florida where he married, briefly in Ohio, Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. In 1912, he was in Los Angeles, and In the late 1920s and early 1930s, in San Antonio, Texas, where he lived and in 1928 exhibited in the "Texas Wildflower Competition." From San Antonio, he gained a national reputation for his strong colored, dramatic paintings. Some of that prestige has been credited to his asssociation with Jose Arpa, prominent Texas artist. Wood also gave art lessons, and one of his students was Porfirio Salinas. During this period, Wood sometimes signed his paintings G. Day or Trebor, which is Robert spelled backwards. In 1941 he went to California and painted numerous desert and mountain landscapes and coastal scenes. He lived in Carmel for seven years, and then moved to Woodstock, New York, but he soon returned to California, settling first in Laguna Beach, then San Diego, and finally in the High Sierras, where he and his wife built a home and studio near Bishop and lived until his death in 1979.

A beautiful quality original watercolor marine painting of ships off the coast and braking waves by george howell gay signed lower right. Painted on a heavy watercolor paper laid on matte board measuring approx. 14 x24 inches framed in a quality gold leafed frame. In very good condition no tears or creases some areas of age discoloration and fading typical with watercolors of this age please view pictures.

biography

george h. Gay was well known for his watercolor landscapes, seascapes and paintings of rivers and ships, mostly along the shores of new england. Gay also painted snowscapes, but these are scarcer. It is unusual to find an oil painting by this artist, as he worked mainly in watercolor. Some of his works display a tonalist aesthetic. He was born in milwaukee, wisconsin on july 2, 1858, and lived in chicago and then in 1889, settled in bronxville, new york. Gay was a pupil of paul brown and henry elkins in chicago. He is known to have exhibited at the national academy of design in 1890; boston art club, 1890-1900; and boston art club, 1897. Shortly before his death in 1931, george gay's address in 1929 was known to be 100 kraft ave., bronxville, ny.

A fine vintage bronze bust of a boy with green marble base signed G. Martin and with foundry mark genuine bronze. In excellent condition some minor chips to marble base measuring 8 inches or 20 centimeters tall without base. A quality art work would make a fine addition to any collection.

California Impressionist landscape path with trees by Karl Eugen Neuhaus original oil on canvas signed lower left. Measuring approx. 28 x 30 inches. A fine example of this highly regarded artists work. Biography

Known as a California Impressionist influenced by Tonalism and also an early modernist painter, Karl Neuhaus was also an active lecturer and teacher. Neuhaus was born in Barmen (Wuppertal), Germany, in 1879. He apprenticed with a house painter while studying at the Royal Art School in Kassel, graduating in 1899. He proceeded to the Berlin Royal Institute for Applied Arts where he studied under Otto Eckmann, Max Koch and Carl Brunner. Neuhaus moved to San Francisco, California, in 1904 where he established a studio across a hallway from William Keith. While living in San Francisco he exhibited with the San Francisco Art Association and became a member of the Bohemian Club. After the San Francisco Earthquake in 1906 he relocated to the Monterey peninsula, in the town of Pacific Grove. There he was one of the founders of the Del Monte Art Gallery, which was the first gallery in the United States to show exclusively work by California artists. Between 1907 and 1909 he taught at the San Francisco Institute of Art, and from 1908 to 1949 he taught at the University of California, Berkeley. At the University of California, Berkeley he also served as the first chairman of the Department of Art between 1923 and 1925. During the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition Neuhaus served as Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the West and was also an exhibitor. As a California landscapist he was known for his painted scenes of Mendocino, the Sacramento Valley, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo. He contributed to the art community by lecturing all over the state and was also known as a writer. During his career his work was exhibited at the Oakland Museum in 1981, and the Del Monte Gallery from 1907-14. Karl Neuhaus died in Berkeley, California in 1963.

A beautiful impressionist painting of a winter view of German Town Pennsylvania circa 1920 oil on board signed lower left. This painting just recently discovered is directly from a Great Grandfather who was a friend of the Wagner and an artist himself who shared a studio with Wagner. Measuring 8x10 inches framed in a contemporary gallery frame. A great example of this artists work a fine addition to any collection.

Biography

Fredrick Wagner was born in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1864. He received a scholarship to study art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Eakins and in 1884 was made chief Demonstrator of Anatomy there. In 1885, Wagner left the Academy to make a painting tour of San Antonio, Texas, and then went on to Los Angeles, California, where he painted a number of landscapes and portraits. He returned to Philadelphia as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Press until 1902, and then moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania to paint full time. In 1912, Wagner opened a Philadelphia studio and taught classes in outdoor painting at Addingham, and later, at the Pennsylvania Academy's summer school in Chester Springs. His reputation grew, and he took on additional classes at his studio in the Fuller Building. In 1913, Wagner exhibited in the now famous Armory Show in New York City. He exhibited frequently at the Pennsylvania Academy's annual exhibitions, and in 1914, was awarded the Fellowship Prize. He was awarded Honorable Mentions from the Pittsburgh International, the Philadelphia Art Club, and the Carnegie Institute in 1922. His paintings are in the collections of the Cleveland Museum; St. Louis Museum, MO; Fort Wayne Museum, IN; Kalamazoo Museum, MI; Rochester Museum, NY; Worcester Art Museum, MA, and the Reading Museum, PA. Fred Wagner died in Philadelphia in 1940.

August Ludecke-Cleve (1868-1957): A beautiful antique German impressionist Landscape of cows in a meadow with a view through the trees. Bold brush work and bright colors. This is a very good and large example of this artists work. Measuring approx. 32 x 43 inches in excellent condition. Provenance: Stanford Museum Sale. Artist Biography: August Ludecke-Cleve first studied at the Art Academy in Dusseldorf then at the Munich Academy. Before the second world war (his studio was bombed) he had exhibitions in Dusseldorf. Ludecke-Cleve was better known for his landscape paintings before the war but from the 1930's onwards cows and tulips became his trade mark.

A beautiful original watercolor painting of a New York landscape by Harry Roseland signed lower right in excellent condition in quality frame site approx. 10x 14 inches. An investment quality work. Harry Roseland 1868-1950 Genre painting enjoyed tremendous popularity in nineteenth-century America. It was a style that allowed a painter to tell a story, evoke an emotion, tell a joke, or educate. Largely superseded in the twentieth century by changes in popular taste and improvements in photographic technology, genre painting nevertheless remains a strong sub current in popular taste. One of the most notable painters in this mode was Harry Roseland. Roseland, born in Brooklyn, New York in 1868, matured as an artist while waves of change were sweeping over the art world. Largely self-taught, he chose to paint what he saw. He received some education in art under J.B. Whittaker in Brooklyn, and at first painted some landscapes and still lifes, but his natural flair was for telling a story in his paintings. His subject matter was at first highly sentimental and heavily influenced by fashionable taste: smartly turned-out young women, old folks, and idealized farm scenes. He abandoned the mawkishness that is the downfall of so many self-educated artists when he found a topic that was close to home and yet largely unnoticed: the post-Civil War blacks who formed the underpinning of Northeastern society. Roseland's clever, skillful scenes of homely activities - such as checkers or letter-reading, were remarkably dispassionate and candid for the time, though to modern eyes they may seem condescending and dated. They capture with gentle humor of a way of life that existed through the first half of the twentieth century and has now vanished. Harry Roseland never left his native Brooklyn, dying in New York in 1950, but enjoyed a remarkable success as an artist in his chosen specialty, improving and maturing continually. The archetype of the independent American artist, he never traveled to Europe to study or observe, choosing to carve his own path. During his career as an artist he exhibited:Brooklyn Art Club, 1888 (gold),Boston, Mass., 1900 (medal), 1904 (gold),Charleston Expo, 1902 (medal), National Academy of Design, 1898 (prize),Brooklyn Society of Artists, 1930 (prize), American Art Society, Philadelphia, 1902 (medal), 1907 (gold),Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Art Institute of Chicago. His memberships include: Brooklyn Arts Club,Brooklyn Society of Artists, Brooklyn Painters Society, Salmagundi Club. Public Collections representing the work of Harry Roseland: Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Science, Brooklyn Museums,Charleston Art Museum,Heckscher Museum, Long Island, New York.

Charles Harmon California impressionist redwoods. A bold impressionist painting of California redwood country titled Gateway to Glendale Humbolt County. Oil on canvas board signed lower right. In excellent condition measuring approx. 10x12 inches. A fine example would be a nice addition to any collection.

Biography

Charles Henry Harmon (1859-1936) was born on December 23, 1859 in Mansfield, Ohio. He moved to San Jose, California with his family in 1874 and at an early age was apprenticed to local portrait painter Louis Lussier. He later spent one year working in a local photography studio re-touching negatives. His youth was spent visiting the art galleries of San Francisco and, with no formal training, he began sketching and painting in 1883 in the beautiful Santa Clara Valley. He painted many landscapes of that area and made trips to the remotest parts of the Sierra and the Monterey Peninsula where he painted many coastal scenes. He began exhibiting in San Jose in the 1880s. By the turn of the century, his works were handled exclusively by Gump's and he was recognized as one of California's foremost painters. In 1905 he established a studio in Denver and for seven years concentrated on the rugged landscape of the Rocky Mountains. While there, the Santa Fe, Western Pacific, and Colorado Midland railroads commissioned him to paint scenes along their routes. After his time in Colorado, he returned to San Jose where he remained for the rest of his life. Harmon died there on October 14, 1936 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. Exhibited: Mark Hopkins Institute, 1897-98; Gump's (San Francisco), 1899; Berkeley League of Fine Arts; California Artists, Golden Gate Park Museum, 1915; Stanford Art Gallery, 1923; Rosicrucian Art Gallery, 1949 and Triton Museum, 1971 (retrospectives). Works held: San Jose Civic Auditorium; Clarke Museum (Eureka); California State Library; Denver Public Library; Santa Fe Railway. Source : Edan Hughes Artists in California.