Catalog: Sold Items (421)

"High Sierra Lake " An original oil painting by Leland Curtis oil on canvas signed lower left and artist label reverse. In excellent original condition with original frame. Measuring 30 x 40 inches overall framed size 36x 46 in. A magnificent American painting. Biography Born in Denver, CO on Aug. 7, 1897, Curtis was a resident of Seattle before moving to Los Angeles in 1914. He was inspired to become an artist by his teacher Rob Wagner at Manual Arts High School. After working as a bank teller and serving in WWI, he soon was able to support himself as an illustrator. He served as official artist of the U.S. Antarctica Expedition in 1939-40 and again in 1957. About 1960 he changed his residence from Los Angeles to Twenty Nine Palms, California, with summers in Moose, Wyoming. An avid mountain climber, his studio in the Grand Tetons was a rustic log cabin. In 1972 he moved to Carson City, Nevada, where he remained until his demise on March 17, 1989. He is best known for his landscapes of the High Sierra, Grand Tetons, and Antarctica. His works won dozens of medals and prizes from the early 1920s in southern California shows. Member: Carmel Art Association; Artland Club. Exh: California Art Club, 1923-27; Laguna Beach Art Association, 1924; California State Fair, 1926; Cannell & Chaffin Gallery (Los Angeles), 1926; Ebell Club (Los Angeles), 1926; Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles, 1926-31; National Academy of Design, 1930; Toledo Museum, 1931; American Painters & Sculptors, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1931, 1937 (solo), 1946 (solo); Oakland Art Gallery, 1932; Tuesday Afternoon Club (Glendale), 1934; Golden Gate International Exhibition, 1939; California Palace Legion of

A fine vintage photo of a Chinese Imperial temple photo by famed Jewish photographer Sam Sanzetti signed lower right a fine rich print measuring 12 x 17 inches. in good vintage condition,

Biography

Sioma Lifshitz arrived in Shanghai on a freighter from Vladivostock in 1922. The 20 years old energetic Russian jew had no money but lot’s of dreams and soon started to work in a photography studio under the name of Sam Sanzetti. It took him 5 years to open in own studio in 1927, becoming one of the most famous photographer in Shanghai. The studio was first located on 73 Nanking Road (today 73 Nanjing Dong Lu), near the Bund and just behind the Palace hotel (today Swatch Art Peace Hotel). Construction on the Cathay Hotel (today Peace Hotel) was on-going at that time very and the opening in 1929 certainly also helped his business. The central position in the business center allowed him to become the photographer of the rich and famous in Shanghai, surely meeting with other successful business people of the time. His office later moved to 39 Peking Road (today Beijing Dong Lu) as reported in 1938 Shanghai Dollar Directory. Some of his photographs clearly remind of the calendar ads from the Carl Crowe company located very close on 81 JinKe lu and both men hanging around in similar circles probably worked with each other at some point. Sam Sanzetti left Shanghai in 1957 to immigrate to Israel leaving a Chinese wife and a stepdaughter behind and remade his life in his new country. He had fun memories of Shanghai as explained in an interview with an Israeli Newspaper years later. However he was never able to come back to Shanghai before his death in 1986.

Original pen and Ink drawing "Girl on the Beach" by Frank Van Sloun signed lower right. Renowned painter, muralist, etcher and educator. Van Sloun studied in New York City under Robert Henri and members of the Ashcan School. Memberships included the San Francisco Art Association, the Carmel Art Association, Bohemian Club, Society of Mural Painters and California Society of Etchers. Image 8"L x 11"W.

Gorham Sterling Sliver tea set 2 1/4 pint a elegant regency style. Consisting of a Teapot creamer and sugar bow. Marked sterling and hall marked in excellent condition

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 fine original Oil painting on canvas board signed lower right by Professor Starcce. Sailing boats in harbor in original frame.

A fine vintage Navajo Indian Teec Nos Pos rug, woven by Bessie Little Pouch. Featuring a centering double diamond hooked medallion design with geometric accents on all sides, feather pairs in the center, within finely serrated surrounds and a split wing border. Woven in tan, beige, black, red, orange, white and gray. Measuring approx. 6 ft. 4 in. x 3ft. 10 inches in very fine condition.

The Teec Nos Pos style of Navajo weaving is a bold, exciting and elaborate design. Many believe this style developed from pictures of Persian rugs while others see no connection and believe that traders introduced this design to the Navajo People from designs on flour sacks. The name, which means "Cottonwoods in a Circle," comes from a settlement in the northeast corner of the Navajo Nation. Always surrounded by a wide border and filled with an exuberant variety of motifs, Teec Nos Pos style rugs are usually large, and therefore very expensive. An elaborate center is enhanced with stylized feathers and arrows. Steps and angular hooks extend from the points of diamonds and triangles, while zigags are abundant. The many, brightly colored yarns are used to create a visually stunning design in the Teec Nos Pos style.

Fine western bronze of a cowboy bronco buster signed mounted on marble base in excellent condition.

Artist Biography Austrian sculptor was born in Vienna in 1865. His teachers were Karl Waschmann (1848-1905), known for his ivory sculptures and portrait plaquettes of contemporary celebrities, and Stefan Schwartz (1851-1924), who exhibited in Paris, including the Exposition Universelle of 1900 where he won a gold medal. Kauba’s intricate bronzes, imported to the United States between 1895 and 1912, were cast at the Roman Bronze Works. Kauba was part of the nineteenth-century tradition of polychrome bronze sculpture. There were several types of patinas on a single statue: he could render the color of buckskin, variously tinted shirts, blankets, feathers, as well as beaded moccasins. Reportedly, Kauba came to America around 1886. Inspired by the Western tales of German author Karl May, he traveled to the West and made sketches and models. Critics, however, pointed out inaccuracies of costume and other details. For instance, the guns that his “mid-nineteenth-century” figures use are models produced after 1898. Apparently he did all of his works back in Vienna. Besides the variety of color, Kauba’s bronzes show a great range of textures and his style is highly naturalistic. The sculptor loved ornament, some of which he rendered with coiled wire for reins, rope and feathers in headdresses. He successfully rendered figures in motion and often executed compositions with more than one figure. Berman (1974) illustrates non-Western subjects by Kaula, such as the pendants Where? and There (ca. 1910), a seated Scottish couple, impressive in the expressions and the details on patterned fabrics of both sitters. Another genre piece is Buster Brown, ca. 1910, and Nude on Vase shows Kauba’s versatility even further. The smooth skin contrasts with the stylistic, plant-like vase.

Original oil Marko Stupar modernist portrait of a woman colorful beautiful painting measuring 11 x 14 framed in a beautiful quality gallery frame overall size 14 x 16 a quality painting would enhance any collection.

Biography

Born in 1936 in Yugoslavia, Stupar chose France as his permanent home in 1964 after completing his studies at the Beaux-Arts of Belgrade. Today we find that the art of Marko Stupar is totally integrated into the School of Paris. Although his work continues to be very personal, the graphic nature of his Slavic background is now uniquely combined with the subtlety found in Bonnard.Stupar has participated in juried exhibitions since 1966 when he won the Silver Medal at the Center of Diffusion of the Cote-d’Azur. He regularly participates in the Salon d’Automne, the Salon National des Beaux-Arts, the Salon des Artistes Français, and the Salon Comparaison. Among his other honors, Stupar has won both the Silver and Gold medals of the prestigious Salon des Artistes Français. One-man exhibitions of Stupar’s work have been held in cities all over the world including Paris, Geneva, Lyon, Osaka, Dusseldorf, Strasbourg, Zagreb, Annecy, Havre, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Houston.

A beautiful Japanese Ivory carving of a tiger attacking a Hippo. Finely carved details measuring approximately 3.5 inches long in excellent condition

An exquisite painting with a atmospheric feeling of a foggy overcast day done in a Monet like manner. Oil on canvas relined and cleaned provenance: The estate of the artist William Karges galleries a private collection. A fine work by this highly recognized artist.

Biography

Born in San Francisco to a family of artists, Cuneo studied at the Mark Hopkins Institute with Arthur Mathews, before attending the Academie Colarossi in Paris from 1911-1913. Upon his return to California, Cuneo’s works were well received at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition in 1915, and was involved in every major art exhibition in the San Francisco area from 1916-1939. Also during these years Cuneo was the subject of numerous one-man shows, including those in Rome, Los Angeles, London, and Paris. Called “the Painter of San Francisco,” at the inaugural exhibition of the San Francisco Museum of Art in 1935, Cuneo had the most number of paintings displayed by any early California artist. In that same exhibition, his painting California Hills won the Museum’s Purchase Prize award. A pure impressionist early in his career, Cuneo’s style constantly evolved throughout his life, as he was always seeking and assimilating new methods of representation.

A fine vintage Ivory netsuke of a tiger and cub masterfully carved signed Hiroaki in excellent condition.

A Japanese Ivory netsuke of a girl holding a Chicken fine carving artist signed measuring approx. 3.5 inches tall or 9 centimeters. A fine addition to any collection.

William Adam Carmel California hidden garden oil painting on canvas board framed in an original arts and crafts period frame. Signed lower right in excellent condition measuring approx. 12 x 16 inches a fine example of this sought after artists work.

Biography

William ADAM 1846 - 1931 William Constable Adam (1846-1931) was born in Tweedmouth, England on August 29, 1846. He studied under Delecluse in Paris, Brydall and Greenlees in Glasgow, and in Buenos Aires before immigrating to Boston in 1893. After moving to California in 1898, he soon settled in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula. Known as "Professor" Adam, he gave art lessons in his rose-covered cottage at 450 Central Avenue. With a bright and colorful palette of both oil and watercolor, he specialized in views of the Monterey area such as sand dunes, cottage and garden scenes, and the local flora. Adam died in Pacific Grove on October 17, 1931. Member: Boston Art Club; Lowell (MA) Art Club; Glasgow Art Club. Exhibited: Royal Scottish Academy; California State Fairs (medals); Del Monte Art Gallery (Monterey), 1907-12; Berkeley Art Ass'n, 1908; Sorosis Club, 1913; California Artists, Golden Gate Park Museum, 1916; Rabjohn & Morcom Gallery (San Francisco), 1916. Works held: City of Monterey Collection; Santa Cruz City Museum; Silverado Museum (St Helena, CA); Shasta State Historical Monument.

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"

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.

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.

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.