Antiquarian Art Co.
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #506201 (stock #161)
Original oil titled Holland Church measuring 12 x 16 inches framed in a fine hand made gold leaf frame overall approx. 20 x 24. Provenance: the estate of the artists and Karges gallery estate stamped signed and numbered and titled and labeled on the reverse. A fine painting by this renowned artist.

Biography

Painter, illustrator, printmaker and muralist, Jesse Arms was born in Chicago, IL on May 27, 1883. She began her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, and continued with J. C. Johansen and Charles Woodbury. In 1911 she obtained employment with Herter Looms in NYC and assisted Herter with the mural in the St Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Upon returning to Chicago in 1915, she married Cornelis Botke. The Botkes moved to Carmel CA in 1919. After an extended trip to Europe, in 1927 they settled on a ranch in Santa Paula, CA where she remained until her death on Oct. 2, 1971. She made a career of bold, decorative paintings of birds both in oil and watercolor, and often used gold leaf in her paintings. From about 1917 her work won many awards both in Chicago and Southern California. Member: Calif. Art Club; Calif. WC Society; Nat'l Ass'n of Women Artists; Carmen AA; Chicago Society of Etchers. Exhibited: AIC NAD; PAFA; LACMA; CPLH; Springville (Utah) High School, 1928; GGIE, 1939; Paris Salon. Awards: Cahn prize, AIC, 1918, Shaffer prize, 1926, Carpenter prize, Chicago Society for Sanity in Art, 1938. Works held: Art Institute of Chicago; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Municipal Gallery, Chicago; Mills College, Oakland; San Diego Museum. Murals: I Magnin Co. of Los Angeles; Woodrow Wilson High School in Oxnard, CA; Noyes Hall at the Univ. of Chicago; Kellogg Factory, Battle Creek, MI

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #1305096 (stock #720)
Original oil on canvas c.1932 "Portrait Schooner Danmark" By Christian Pedersen (1870-1950) renowned marine artist. The Danish Navy Schooner Danmark was visiting NY Worlds Fair in 1939. At the outbreak of World War II she was ordered to remain in US waters to avoid capture by the Germans. Loaned by Denmark she was used to train more than 5,000 US navy sailors. Returning to the US she was given a place of honor leading the NY 1964 Worlds Fair parade of tall ships. Canvas size 25"W x 17.5"H. framed 32.5" W x 24.5" H.
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Paintings : Oil : Pre 1940 item #1268464 (stock #652)
Connecticut landscape by Henry Hammond Ahl, signed lower right. Born in East Hartford, Connecticut, Henry Ahl was a portraitist, muralist and landscape painter whose work reflected his exposure to the Tonalist style of the Barbizon painters. He studied at the Royal Academy of Munich with Alexander Wagner and Franz Von Stuck, and in Paris with Jean Leon Gerome. He exhibited with the Munich Royal Academy. Image 25"L x 30"W. Displayed in original 24k Taos giltwood frame.
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #499912 (stock #157)
A beautiful semi antique still life of fruit and a basket. Oil on canvas signed lower right P. Themmen Antwerp 1931. Framed in a beautiful antique gold leaf frame the painting is in very good condition the frame has some losses to the edge but still presents nicely.
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #702639 (stock #274)
A W Best Navajo indian camp near bear mt. Arizona oil on canvas signed lower right measuring 8x10 inches framed in a hand carved 24k gold leaf frame approx. 16 x 18 overall. In excellent condition.

biography

Arthur William BEST 
1859 - 1935 Arthur William Best was born in Mount Pleasant, Canada on July 17, 1859. He and his brother Harry attended public school in Mount Pleasant and were members of a small band. Arthur played the cornet; Harry, the violin. When the band broke up in Oregon, the brothers learned to paint before moving to San Francisco in 1895. Arthur and his wife Alice established the Best Art School at 1625 California Street and a residence at 309 Broderick. He was a staff artist for the San Francisco Examiner (1904-06). Arthur was commissioned by Southern Pacific Railroad to paint pictures of the Southwest and Mexico for travel and tourist publicity in 1905. Many of his oils and watercolors were destroyed by the earthquake and fire of 1906. His landscapes include depictions of the Arizona desert, Grand Canyon and the Sierra Nevada. He died in Oakland on January 26, 1935. Member: San Francisco Art Ass'n; Berkeley League of Fine Arts; Bohemian Club. Exhibited: Oregon State Fair, 1891 (first prize); Mark Hopkins Art Institute, 1898, 1904; San Francisco Art Ass'n, 1904-16; San Francisco Artists Society, 1905; Berkeley Art Ass'n, 1908; California State Fairs (awards); Alaska-Yukon Expo (Seattle), 1909 (bronze medal); Del Monte Art Gallery, 1910, 1912; Sorosis Club, 1913. Works held: Oakland Museum; Phoenix Museum; University of Oregon; Charles M. Russell Gallery (Great Falls, MT); Santa Fe Railroad.

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #490725 (stock #138)
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.

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #1025681 (stock #359.00)
Original antique oil painting on art board signed lower right measuring 12 x 16 . Beautiful colors and impressionist mood.

Artist Biography,

Landscape painter. Born on Aug. 26, 1865 in Stockton, CA when it was still a small frontier town. Mersfelder began drawing at an early age and in his teens moved to San Francisco where he studied for three years at the School of Design under Virgil Williams. While studying at that school, he often visited the nearby studio of William Keith who offered criticism. Mersfelder then moved to NYC where he had a studio for a few years. During his stay there, he exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of American Artists. He also enjoyed the hospitality and criticism of George Inness and A. H. Wyant. He later exhibited in Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, and Baltimore. He won a bronze medal at the Louisiana Purchase Expo (St Louis) of 1904 and was awarded the Klio Assn prize at the annual exhibition held at the AIC where 18 of his canvases were accepted by the jury. He had a studio in Portland, OR in 1889 before returning to San Francisco in 1891. He was active in the local art scene when not out on painting forays in northern California. The year 1915 was spent in San Diego. Mersfelder lived his final years in Berkeley, CA and died there on Oct. 23, 1937. Although he made no known European trips, his works bear evidence of strong influence by the French Barbizons. Many of his landscapes of the rugged, old oaks of California compare favorably with those painted by William Keith during his late period. Exh: Calif. State Fair, 1882; Mark Hopkins Inst., 1897; Gumps (SF), 1900. In: St Francis Hotel (mural, Mt Tamalpais); Oakland Museum; CHS. CSL; BC; Ber; AAA 1907; DR.

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #1296585 (stock #691)
Oil painting landscape with a creek. Signed lower right "Frederick Wagner" (1864-1940), a renowned American Impressionist who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1879 to 1884. He exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy, the Carnegie, and the Corcoran, as well as the National Academy of Design. Image, 6"H x 8"L. Framed in period frame overall size 10" x 12". Written provenance directly from the artist accompanies this painting.
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #484547 (stock #107)
Romona Valencia

A beautiful oil of an early California landscape of wild flowers lupine and poppies. Oil painting on canvas board signed lower right measuring approx. 12 x 16 inches. Framed in a contemporary gallery frame overall 20x24 inches. In excellent condition a fine early piece would be a fine addition to any collection.

Biography

Born in Oakland, California, Ramona Froyland, known as Mona, was a painter of still lifes, portraits, landscapes, marines and later in her life, Madonnas. Her parents were Mabel and Manuel Valencia, both artists who gave Ramona her early instruction. She later attended the California School of Fine Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. Ramona Valencia was a paternal descendant of General Gabriel Valencia, the first governor of Sonora, Mexico under Spanish rule, and the great granddaughter of a man who arrived in California in 1774 and became administrator of the Presidio in San Francisco where the family received many land grants. When she was six years old, in 1906, she and her family moved to San Jose because of the destruction of the San Francisco earthquake and fire. However, the family kept close ties to San Francisco where her father kept his studio. Beginning in the 1960s, Ramona Valencia taught art classes to children and adults from her studio in Castro Valley, California, and she died there on September 22, 1988. She was a member of the Hayward art Association and exhibited at Alameda County Fairs.

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #988839 (stock #308)
A fine California impressionist seascape by Paul Doughtery in oil on board signed lower right in excellent condition measuring 12 x 16 inches. Biography; Born in Brooklyn, New York, Paul Dougherty became a widely-known painter of dramatic marine scenes and desert landscapes although his family hoped he would become a lawyer. Following his father who was an attorney, he graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1896 and New York Law School in 1898. But he changed professions to art and studied with Robert Henri and in Europe for five years from 1900 to 1905. Paul Dougherty then painted along the coast of Maine, and his paintings were compared to those of Winslow Homer. Of his success, John Sloan said: "Everything came to him; all his pictures sold, he won all the prizes. The rich delighted to honor him, and his wives were glamorous" (Falk). In 1907, he was elected a Member to the National Academy of Design in New York. He experimented with sculpture but settled on marine paintings, primarily focused on the ocean. Arthritis forced him to seek a milder climate, and in 1928, he began spending his winters in Arizona where he painted desert landscapes and mountains. In 1931, he moved to the Monterey Peninsula in California. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Joslyn Museum in Omaha; and the Fort Worth Museum in Texas as well as many other museums. Sources: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #989005 (stock #312)
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
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #702636 (stock #273)
F Grayson Sayer California impressionist landscape near Palm Springs Ca. Oil on canvas board signed lower left corner in excellent condition measuring 8x10 inches framed in a quality gallery frame overall size approx. 16x18 inches.

Biography

Landscape painter, illustrator. Born in Medoc, MO on January 9, 1879, Sayre worked in the lead and zinc mines and manufactured leather goods before settling on an art career. He remained a self-taught artist except for two months with J. Laurie Wallace in Omaha. His first creative job as an artist was an employee of and engraving company in Houston, TX. Ill with diphtheria, he moved to California in 1917. Traveling to California by train, he was enchanted with the Southwest desert and vowed to return which he did in 1919. For three years he lived in Arizona working for a mining company as a bookkeeper while painting in his leisure. Upon returning to California in 1922, he held his first art exhibition of 64 watercolors in San Francisco; later that year he exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In that year he moved to Los Angeles and two years later built a home and studio in Glendale where he remained for the rest of his life. Sayre is one of California’s best known painters of the deserts and the Southwest. Member: Pallete & Chisel Club of Chicago; Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles (cofounder and President, 1929) Exhibited: Bohemian Club, 1922; Glendale Chamber of Commerce, 1922 (solo); Glendale Public Library, 1962 (retrospective) Works Held: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Source: Hughes, Edan Milton, "Artists in California: 1786-1940," San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989.)

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #1052806 (stock #283)
Antiquarian Art Co.
Inquire for Price

Ida Sedgwick Proper (1873 - 1957)

Rare original oil on canvas by signed lower right measuring 20 x 24 inches in good all original condition. Provenance: The Grandson of the artist.

Biography

Born in Bonaparte, Iowa, into a Baptist minister family, she attended Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. Then at the Art Student's League in New York, she trained with William Merritt Chase, John Twachtmann, and Frank DuMond. In 1897, she began art studies in Munich and exhibited in European salons. From 1907 to 1911, she had a studio in New York. She is known for her Impressionist palette and diffused compositional elements.

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #1089944 (stock #423)
A original oil painting of the The Copenhagen (København) was a Danish sailtraining vessel rigged as a five-masted steel auxiliary barque(1921–1929). It was, according to Alan Villiers, the largest and finest sailing vessel in the world at the time it vanished. Oil on canvas signed lower right indistinctly and titled measuring 17 X 25 image framed size approx. 23 X 31. In good antique condition some age cracking. A nice historical decorative painting.
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1940 item #994100 (stock #317)
A beautiful original oil painting by renowned California impressionist Angel Espoy oil on canvas signed lower right.In very good condition. An investment quality art work. Biography Known for paintings that evidence his great love of the sea, Angel Espoy did work that includes seascapes and maritime subjects; however, he was also an accomplished painter of California's rolling hills of poppies and lupines. He was born in Villa Nueva, Spain on October 2, 1879. He left home at age eighteen to work as a first mate in the Spanish merchant marines. While in that capacity, he acquainted himself with every detail of the clipper ships he later painted. His desire to paint took him to Barcelona where he studied with Joaquin Sorolla. Following his father's tobacco interests in the Philippines, he made many trips there at the turn of the century. Two years were spent in Havana where he began to earn his living as an artist by painting designs on furniture. Destitute, he made his way to New York City in 1904. After a return to his native land, he moved to San Francisco in 1914. There he supported himself for seven years making cartoons for movies while painting on weekends with Manuel Valencia, Carl Jonnevold, and John Califano. In 1922 he moved to southern California and from that time was able to subsist by the sale of his paintings. Espoy died in Seal Beach, CA on January 31, 1963. He was a member of the Los Angeles Art Association and exhibited at Barker Bros Galleries in Los Angeles. Works held: Los Angeles City Hall; Oakland Museum; Loyola University. Source: "Artists in California, 1786-1940" by Edan Milton Hughes
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1930 item #485825 (stock #113)
A beautiful landscape of a clearing storm over the French country side. A fine impressionist painting contrasting the storm clouds with the sunlight on the landscape. Oil on board signed lower right measuring approx 13 x 19 inches framed in a quality gallery frame 17 x 23 inches overall. A fine painting by a listed and highly regarded French and Belgian painter.

Biography

Painter of landscapes and marines. inspired by the landscapes of Brabant Wallon. Deceased about 1945. Exhibited at the Triennial "Exposition of Antwerp "in 1901 ("Mill in Dordrecht"). Lived in Saint-Gilles at that time. Listed in BOTTOM II and "Two Centuries of Signatures of Artists of Belgium". ...

All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1930 item #987247 (stock #304)
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.
All Items : Archives : Fine Art : Pre 1930 item #444835 (stock #019)
Anna Althea Hills California Impressionist view of Laguna Beach sunset oil on canvas c. 1925. A beautiful plein air painting by this highly regarded California artist. Oil on canvas signed lower left measuring 10x14 inches framed in a hand carved and 24k gold leaf quality frame overall size 16x20 inches. Provenance; From the estate of Anna Hills stamped on reverse stretcher with the estate stamp and catalogue number in addition attached is an accompanying letter from the Robert Beck Gallery as to the provenance of this painting. The condition is excellent the painting has been relined and cleaned and is in fine condition. A quality investment piece of California art. An Anna Hills 10x14 painting of Laguna sold for $23,000 at John Moran auction on 6/21/05.

Biography

Anna Althea Hills was born January 28, 1882 in Ravenna, Ohio. She studied at the Chicago Art Institute; Cooper Union Art School in New York City; she worked with Arthur Dow (1857-1922) and later studied at the Academie Julian in Paris. While in Europe she studied with John Noble Barlow (1861-1917). In 1912 she moved to Laguna Beach, California becoming a leading member of the Laguna Beach art community. She was an active member of the California Art Club, held a membership at the Washington Watercolor Club and served at the Laguna Beach Art Association as president from 1922 to 1925 and from 1927 to 1930. Hills was highly regarded as an art teacher and encouraged the study of the visual arts at the local public schools. Captivated and inspired by her new surroundings, she created atmospheric impressionist landscapes showing a reverence and appreciation of nature. The subjects of her plein-air landscapes varied from treescapes, the Laguna Beach coastline, Mission San Juan Capistrano, the vast Southern California and Arizona deserts, Santa Ana Canyon, arroyos and interior scenes. Hills won the Bronze Medal at the Panama-California Exposition, San Diego in 1915; the Bronze Medal at the California State Fair, 1919; and the Landscape Prize at the Laguna Beach Art Association, 1922, 1923. She died at the early age of forty-eight on June 13, 1930 in Laguna Beach, California.