Catalog: Fine Art (124)

Original Vintage French Nude Female Drawing by Aristide Maillol (1861 - 1944) Pastel Pencil Conte Crayon on paper signed lower right with the artists monogram as was typical of his drawings. Presented matted and framed in a quality gallery gold gilt frame. Drawing measuring sight 7.5" x 13.5" overall framed size 14.5" x 20". Aristide Maillol (1861 - 1944) was active/lived in France. Aristide Maillol is known for Female figure drawing, sculpture, painting, woodcut illustration. Aristide Maillol was born in Banyuls, France in 1861. Maillol's early career was spent mainly as a tapestry designer, but he also painted. In 1881, Aristide Maillol moved to Paris, where he first attended a drawing course at the École des Beaux-Arts as a student of the painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme. In the meantime, he took classes in sculpture at the arts college, before returning to the Academy, where he remained until 1893. Maillol's recognition as a sculptor grew only gradually, forcing him to earn his livelihood with the restoration of stucco work. Success ensued after an exhibition in 1902, in which Ambroise Vollard presented 33 of Maillol’s works. Two years later, he was included in a publication by Julius Meier-Graefe and made the acquaintance of his most important patron, the German art collector Harry Graf Kessler, with whom he traveled on several occasions and executed important commissions. In 1913, Maillol had his first exhibition abroad, in Rotterdam. This was followed by exhibitions at the Armory Show in New York and later at the Berlin gallery of Alfred Flechtheim, the Kunsthalle Basel, and the Petit Palais in Paris on the occasion of the World Exhibition in Paris. Maillol initially devoted himself to painting, was a member of the Nabis group, and created tapestries. From the mid-1890s on, he created primarily sculptures in plaster, wood, and bronze. The main theme of his sculptural oeuvre is the female body. Today Maillol's works can be found at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.

Carl Milles Danish (1875-1955) Leaping Deer bronze sculpture. A fine example of this artists work. In excellent condition measuring 13 inches tall cast at Lrasmussen foundry Copenhagen. Carl Milles dominated the Swedish art world. He received many public commissions in Sweden and abroad. He was a monumental sculptor who received many public art commissions at a time when many cities expanded and were modernised.

A original abstract expressionist oil painting on canvas signed lower left dated 1984 and on verso by Ken Stabler. Canvas size22 x 28" overall framed size 23 x 29 presented in a gallery frame ready to hang. A beautiful detailed painting in soft pastel colors

Vintage print titled "Gathering" an original hand drawn stone lithograph by Raphael Soyer, the renowned Russian-born American realist painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Hand proofed and printed in 1977 by master printer Joseph Kleineman, JK Fine Art Editions Co. NY using ink on Arches paper 100% acid free, from a traditional lithographic stone (which Joseph recalls carrying himself to Soyer's studio on Manhattan's Upper West Side). Gathering depicts a sensitive, realistic NYC group portrait of young people, one couple entering the scene from the left holding hands, another couple making out in the background, and three women each facing a different direction in the foreground create an animated get-together that keeps the viewers attention. Soyer's masterly drawing style possesses a dynamic graphite pencil quality and quiet intimacy. GATHERING is a fine example of superb hand lithography printmaking at its best! Image size - 19" x 14" inches overall framed size 24" x 28".

An original Tom Christopher New York painting acrylic on canvas titled "Between the Clock and the Messenger" measuring 48" by 48.5" signed on verso. This painting has been exhibited at Galerie Tamenaga in Paris France with label on stretcher bar.

TOM CHRISTOPHER BIOGRAPHY

"Monet had his water lilies and Tom Christopher has Times Square." --The New Yorker Tom Christopher is a classically trained draughtsman. He received a BFA from the Art Center College in Los Angeles, studying with the legendary Disney animator Ward Kimball and the painter Lorser Fietelson. He then worked for Peterson Publishing drawing automobiles for Motor Trend Magazine, drawing portraits at Disneyland and creating rock posters for CBS Records. After moving to New York in 1981 he went on drawing assignments with Meredith Vieira and John Stossel covering courtroom drama for CBS News in downtown Manhattan. This experience in part formed the foundation for a narrative and journalistic approach to his art. Although born in Hollywood, and steeped in the LA hot rod / skateboard culture, he became obsessed with painting household objects and tools on a Brobdingnagian scale, exhibiting in galleries in the East Village. He would always carry a sketchbook, endlessly drawing and recording everything from subways to skyscrapers. In 1987, NYC was a dark city, crime ridden and gripped by fear. But, as he put it: "One day walking around Times Square, the clouds cleared and I had an epiphany of sorts. The City exploded in a blaze of expressionistic colors with the brilliant laser white light sculpting the buildings, cabs, messengers and scurrying figures. At once I realized my mission; try and capture the narrative, the beauty and the magnetic pull of the epicenter of this modern urban city." Now his subject matter is largely focused on the streets of New York. But calling him a New York painter would be as much a mistake as it would be to dismiss Kirchner as a Berlin cityscene painter. They have both used the subject of the city as a launching pad to explore the many aspects of man's struggle in an urban environment. Indeed, this theme is universal as his paintings have found a following in Europe, especially Paris, Germany and Tokyo. Most of the work is painted using small batch, handmade acrylic paint. Pencil lines from the initial exploratory sketch stage often remain on the white canvass. These raw areas give the painting both breathing room and serve as a reminder of the process. His artistic vocabulary ranges from lines that loop and skit around, to delicate watercolor washes, heavy brushwork to thick impasto with swirls and drips of color. Working with 'at risk' kids he brought these expressionistic colors and large brushwork to the Roseland Ballroom on 53rd St creating the city's largest outdoor mural at 225 by 65 ft. "I think it's interesting to tell a story about people in the city and not necessarily be concerned about what the finished product will look like. The last thing an artist should do is to set out to try and make 'art'. I find that if you have something to say, just paint, most of the time it will find it's own way." Says Mr. Christopher. He was trained in an approach that relies on visual observation and blocking out all else. Actually, he was trained to not listen as it would become too distracting. This is now changing in new works with overheard conversations and fragments of speech finding their way into the artwork as titles of the paintings create a continually evolving narrative thread. "Tom Christopher has become to American painting what Count Basie or Duke Ellington became to American popular music, not completely jazz but owning much to Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus." Written by Dr. Louis Zona, Director and Chief Curator, The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown Ohio.

Richard Bonington original oil on canvas of a old English town view signed very faintly lower right measuring approx. 9 x 12 inches framed in a contemporary gallery frame. Provenance: British Consulate San Francisco.

Biography

Richard Parkes Bonington was born in the town of Arnold, 4 miles from Nottingham in England. His father was successively a gaoler, a drawing master and lace-maker, and his mother a teacher. Bonington learned watercolour painting from his father and exhibited paintings at the Liverpool Academy at age 11. In 1817, Bonington's family moved to Calais, France where his father had set up a lace factory. At this time, Bonington started taking lessons from the painter François Louis Thomas Francia, who trained him in English watercolour painting. In 1818, the family moved to Paris to open a lace retail outlet. It was Paris where he first met Eugène Delacroix, who he became friends with. He worked for a time producing copies of Dutch and Flemish landscapes in the Louvre. In 1820, he started attending the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he studied under Antoine-Jean, Baron Gros. It was around this time that Bonington started going on sketching tours in the suburbs of Paris and the surrounding countryside. His first paintings were exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1822. He also began to work in lithography, illustrating Baron Taylor’s "Voyages pittoresques dans l'ancienne France" and his own architectural series Restes et Fragmens". In 1824, he won a gold medal at the Paris Salon along with John Constable and Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding. Bonington died of tuberculosis on 23 September 1828 at 29 Tottenham Street in London, only 25 years old.

A beautiful pair of original 19th century antique oil paintings in the manner of George Henry Harlow renowned British portrait painter, 1787-1819]. Both Oil on canvas framed in later vintage gold frames. Both paintings have been professionally restored relined cleaned and re varnished. DIMENSIONS 8.5ʺW × 1.5ʺD × 10.5ʺH

Original drawing a portrait of a man possibly a self portrait by Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, signed monogram lower right. Best known as Balthus, a French painter in the second half of the 20th century, famous for his somewhat disturbing paintings of pubescent girls and for his association with some of the greats in modern art, including Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. Balthus painted figures and landscapes in a more traditional style than his cubist and surrealist contemporaries, and throughout his career was supported primarily by other artists and dealers. He claimed to be a count, but he was also known to be a prankster who fabricated biographical details while keeping his real life story a mystery. Image site measures 8 x 10 Inches overall paper 11 x 17 inches. Minor staining top left. Provenance a private collection and Sotheby's lot 7767, Impressionist and Modern Art, New York, Thursday, February 21, 2002

Claude Lacaze original oil on panel cubist nudes by the sea signed lower left. measuring Approximately 20 x 30 inches in excellent condition.

Biography

Lacaze was a painter who was heavily influenced by Cubism and Post-Cubism, particularly by fellow Bordeaux painters such as André L’Hote. He was born in Angoulême, Charente and studied at the Lycée Montaigne in Bordeaux and it was there, under an inspirational art master, that his desire to be an artist was initiated. He enrolled at L’École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux and studied under André Edouard Marty. At first, his style was decidedly Cubist, showing the influence of Picasso through the aforementioned L’Hote. However he softened the linear effect somewhat as his career developed and this is particularly apparent in his paintings of nudes. He staged his first solo exhibition in Paris in Rue Visconti quite soon after leaving art school. He also exhibited through his career at other locations in Paris, his home city of Bordeaux, Sainte Maxine, Angoulême and Périgueux but he seems not to have had a particularly commercial attitude to his work apparently sometimes not even turning up to the opening nights. Lacaze was appointed Professor of Fine Art at Collège de Puyguillen and also joined the artistic group Maison des Artistes. Exhibitions:  Paris, Galerie Visconiti; Périgueux, N.T.P.; Angoulême, Galerie Tison d’Argence; Bordeaux, Galerie du Loup; Sainte Maxine, Galerie L’Oleil Fauve. The Musée des Beaux Arts de Bordeaux also exhibited his work.

Vintage Modernist Watercolor Americas Cup Yacht Sailing Races by Willard Bond. Presented matted and framed. Biography By DENNIS HEVESI Published: June 10, 2012 In First Around, one of Willard Bond's best-known paintings, two towering yachts are caught in a roiling sea. The one to the fore is rounding a mark, sharply heeled in the wind, its crew crammed by the upper rail to keep it from capsizing. It has not yet raised its spinnaker, the balloonlike sail toward the bow. Perilously close by, the other boat has just turned the marker, its billowing spinnaker a virtual rainbow of iridescent pink, blue, maroon and white. All this is captured in Mr. Bond's bold, swirling strokes that verge on the abstract. "Bond creates paintings, not around what boats look like, but what it feels like to be aboard or nearby, watching them move fast — big, speeding boats, often only inches apart," J. Russell Jinishian wrote in his 2003 book, Bound for Blue Water, a comprehensive study of marine art. "Crews scramble, sails drop and raise in a flurry of activity," Mr. Jinishian wrote. "The tension is high, adrenaline pumps, orders are yelled, spray flies, seas and heads pound, your whole world spins as you are unconscious of everything else around you. If you want to know what it is like to be in the heat of a yacht race, just look at a painting by Willard Bond." Mr. Bond, whose images line the walls of thousands of homes — particularly those of avid sailors — died of congestive heart failure on May 19 in Yountville, Calif., his daughter, Gretchen Bond de Limur, said. He was 85. Until moving to California several months ago to be near his daughter, Mr. Bond had divided his time between his apartment in Brooklyn Heights and the 30-foot-high geodesic dome he built decades ago as a second studio near Barryville, N.Y., in the Catskills. Even there, he could conjure up images of sailing vessels and the sea. In Knarr Class, Mr. Bond depicted the copious mast of a wooden racing boat. Against a glowering sky, with perhaps a storm on the horizon, the boat is tilted toward its port side. Subtle blues, greens and grays blend in the water and the clouds, with white dots hinting of structures on the distant coast. Over five decades as a marine artist, Mr. Bond created hundreds of watercolor and oil paintings, "everything from cruising sailboats to America's Cup yachts," said Jeffrey Schaub, owner of the Annapolis Marine Art Gallery in Maryland and a longtime representative of Mr. Bond. He said Bond originals sell for up to $30,000, his limited-edition lithographs for up to $1,000, and his posters for up to $45. "Willard Bond was an original," said Jeanne C. Potter, director of the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. "Willard would often hear from the sailors who raced that that is the way it is out there, and that he was the only artist that got it." He found his passion as a teenager sailing on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, where his grandparents owned a houseboat. Willard Gordon Bond was born in Colfax, Wash., on June 7, 1926, to Arthur and Hallie Gilleland Bond. The family later moved to Lewiston, Idaho. When not sailing on Lake Coeur d'Alene, the young man worked for several summers as a fire spotter for the United States Forest Service. After serving in the Navy in the Pacific from 1944 to 1946, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago, then moved to New York to study at the Pratt Institute, from which he graduated in 1949. In a loft on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Mr. Bond began creating large-scale abstract oil paintings and ceramic murals while supporting himself as a set designer, lighting technician and occasional actor in Off Broadway theaters. In the early 1970s he went to the island of Jamaica, where, inspired by Buckminster Fuller, he built geodesic-dome homes in the jungle, as well as two large domes for a school, commissioned by the Peace Corps. It was after returning to New York in 1976 and becoming a pier master at the South Street Seaport — he welcomed the tall ships of Operation Sail to New York Harbor for the bicentennial celebration — that Mr. Bond turned to marine art. His works began selling at galleries. At the same time, his daughter said, he sailed his own small boat off Long Island before graduating to a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, which had long been used for oyster dredging. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Bond is survived his longtime partner, Lois Friedel Bond (they were once married, then divorced and then began living together again in Brooklyn), and two grandchildren. His first two marriages also ended in divorce. Not all Mr. Bond's paintings reflect a turbulent sea. There is an almost palpable peace to his "Running Home," an oil painting that depicts four yachts far in the distance, their sails — black and white, red and white, blue and white, and pure red — full as they head to port at the end of a day of racing. "Running" means that the wind is behind them

Beautiful original antique oil painting of a mountain sunset and waterfall by William Keith c.1890 oil on artist panel signed lower left. Presented in a quality contemporary gallery frame 16.5ʺW × 3ʺD × 19ʺH. Good antique condition very fine age craquelure very minor touch ups.. Biography: A native of Scotland, William Keith became in the late 19th and early 20th centuries a leading Northern-California landscape artist. In fact, he was so well known that he is referred to as the "Dean of California painters." His romanticized views of nature found much favor among the culturally aspiring citizens of San Francisco and hung in many foyers and dining rooms in their elegant homes. He completed thousands of paintings and drawings, and many of them were lost in his studio in the fire of 1906. His early works are dramatic mountainscapes in a realistic style adopted from the Dusseldorf School of Germany. The paintings of the last two decades of his life are looser and obviously influenced by his exposure in France to the Barbizon School of landscape painters, who were the first colony of painters to complete paintings "en plein air," or directly from nature rather than in studios. A forerunner of Impressionism, this style also included Tonalism espoused by Barbizon painter Camille Corot [1796-1875] and also apparent in Keith's later works, which are darker, smaller, and much more intimate with emphasis on mood. He married artist Elizabeth Emerson and did watercolor painting with her guidance. In 1868, he became a full-time painter, and that same year was commissioned to paint scenes along the Columbia River including Mount Hood. By August 1869 he had sold enough paintings to finance an extended journey to the East Coast and Europe including Dusseldorf, Germany throughout most of 1870, studying with Albert Flamm. After a visit to Paris, he expressed great admiration for "the modern school of French landscape painting including the Barbizon School. During the winter of 1871-1872, the Keiths lived in Boston where they shared a studio with William Hahn. Keith's work received critical acclaim there and in New York at the National Academy of Design. In 1872, he returned to San Francisco. A friendship with naturalist John Muir exposed Keith to many remote places and in-depth knowledge of nature. During the 1870s, he painted several "epic" eight by ten-foot High Sierra views. He also visited Alaska, and his paintings of Alaska were exhibited upon his return to San Francisco in a show at the Bohemian Club, titled 'Dreams of Alaska'. Keith's Alaska works are significant because they are not close transcriptions of actual scenery, but rather are fantasies inspired by Alaska. They are important as they represent a major break from the documentary tradition in landscape painting of Alaska, as they show an interest in capturing its spirit versus just the topography. In 1891, he shared his studio for several weeks with East Coast Tonalist George Inness, Sr. [1825-1894]. Both men painted in a similar style and were followers of the mystical teachings of Swedenborg. Among the locations where Inness and Keith painted together were Monterey and Yosemite, and it was reported they discussed art from every possible angle. Under Inness' influence, Keith painted more than ever in a Barbizon-influenced vein with many sunset and twilight scenes. By the early 1900s, Keith was likely one of the wealthiest artists in the United States and certainly earned the most money of any California-based artist. People from all over the world sought out his studio where it was said that he would specially select a painting for a client from behind a black velvet curtain, order everyone to be quiet, part the curtains, and set the work on a easel, flooded in light. It was unthinkable not to buy a painting on these occasions. Many of his paintings were shown in New York at the Macbeth Gallery, and in 1898, he had a special exhibition in New York. Keith died April 13, 1911, and his work is in most of the institutions representing major California artists

Antique French pencil drawing of a woman. This original portrait comes from an artists portfolio dated 1847. Presented in an exquisite French mat with finest quality 24k gold leaf frame. Image 14"L x 11"W. Framed size 23" L x 19" W

Charles François Daubigny landscape oil on panel signed lower left presented in a quality gold leaf frame. Panel measures 10.5"W x 7.75"H. overall framed size 16.0" W x 13.0" H x 2.5" D A French landscapist of the Barbizon School, Charles-Francois Daubigny was born in 1817 in Paris. In 1835, having received a small scholarship, he went to Italy, where he spent an unproductive year. He earned a living by doing engravings for books and regularly sent to the Salon peaceful landscapes, painted in a highly detailed style, with great respect for nature.

An original antique French Art Nouveau bronze statue of a glamorous woman c.1905. Bronze mounted to a marble base signed on verso with the stamp medallion of Original Bronzes Society Paris France. Dimensions 3.5ʺW × 3ʺD × 7.5ʺH Georges Van der Straeten was a Belle Epoque sculptor born in Ghent, Belgium, on December 21, 1856. He studied under the Neo-Baroque sculptor Jef Lambeaux (1852-1908). In 1883, at the twenty-seven years old, Van der Straeten moved to Paris. While living in Paris he befriended Jean Marie Constantin Joseph "Jan" van Beers, a fellow painter and son of the Romantic poet Jan van Beers. He lived at 9 Hoche Avenue, Paris. Van der Straeten showed at his first Paris Salon in 1885 and continued to show until 1912. He won many awards for his work, including the silver medal at the 1900 World's Fair, Paris and a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1903. Van der Straeten's figures are detailed and inspired by the French artist Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) and similar in style to the Italian sculptor Emmanuel Villanis (1858-1914). The work is Art Nouveau with an emphasis on the figure. His works have been produced in large numbers by French foundries Paris Bronzes Society, Pinedo and by ceramsist Friedrich Goldscheider. The artist died in Ghent in 1928.

A rare color lithograph by Wayne Thiebaud titled Coronado signed, numbered 5 of 15 and dated 1956. overall sheet size 16 x25 12.5 x 21.5 inches. A beautiful colorful modernist image of sail boats off the San Diego coast with the old Coranado Hotel in the left of the image. A very scarce print in excellent condition some slight discoloration from a previous matte.

Biography

A painter of pop-art realism combined with a great respect for traditional methods and subject matter, Wayne Thiebaud is one of the most prominent of the Bay Area painters in California in the latter part of the 20th century. His reputation spread far beyond his own state. In his painting, he focuses on the commonplace in a way that suggests irony and objective distance from his subjects. He also makes a point of keeping an independent distance from the New York art scene. He was born in Mesa, Arizona, in 1920, and for one summer during his high school years he apprenticed at the Walt Disney Studio and then studied at an Los Angeles trade school the next summer. He earned a degree from Sacramento State College in 1941. From 1938 to 1949, he worked as a cartoonist and designer in California and New York and served as an artist in the United States Army. In 1950, at the age of thirty, he enrolled in Sacramento State where he earned a Master's Degree in 1952 and began teaching at Sacramento City College. In 1960, he became assistant professor at the University of California, Davis, where he remained through the 1970s and influenced numerous artist students. However, he did not have much following among Conceptualists because of his adherence to basically traditional disciplines, emphasis on hard work rather than creativity, and love of realism. On a leave of absence, he spent time in New York City where he became friends with Willem De Kooning and Franz Kline and was much influenced by these abstractionists as well as Pop Artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. During this time, he began a series of very small paintings based on images of food displayed in windows, and he focused on their basic shapes. Returning to California, he pursued this subject matter and style, isolating triangles, circles, squares, etc. He also co-founded the Artists Cooperative gallery, now Artists Contemporary Gallery, and other cooperatives including Pond Farm, having been exposed to the concept of cooperatives in New York. In 1960, he had his first one-man shows in San Francisco at the Museum of Art and New York at the Staempfli and Tanager galleries. These shows received little notice, but two years later, a 1962 New York Sidney Janis Gallery exhibition officially launching Pop Art, brought him national recognition although he disclaimed being anything other than a painter of illusionistic form. In 1963, he turned increasingly to figure painting, wooden and rigid with each detail sharply emphasized; in 1967 his work was shown at the Biennale Internationale, and in 1985, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

A beautiful antique art nouveau era portrait of a woman seated in a classical setting. Gouache on art board signed lower right J. Ramsperger. Presented matted and framed in a contemporary gallery frame. The image measures 15.5 x 20" and overall framed size 21" x 25". In very good antique condition.

Original impressionist oil on panel by Paul Hagemans. He was born in Antwerp in 1884, the son of the celebrated landscape painter Maurice Hagemans. He received early artistic instruction from his father but at the age of fifteen enrolled at the Academy of Antwerp. Here he was fortunate enough to be tutored by one of the most important landscape painters of nineteenth century Belgium, Isidore Verheyden as well as receiving classes in figure painting from Herman Richir. Graduating in 1906 he established a studio in Antwerp and commenced painting the portraits, figure pieces, landscapes and still-lifes for which he is now celebrated. His early career was spent painting a number of large murals as well as designing stained-glass windows for both ecclesiastical and secular purposes. Although much in demand during this early part of his career it was not until after WWI that his work was fully appreciated by the public and critics of Belgium. By the early 1920’s he had fully developed his unique style of painting, one that utilized a thick impasto and a ‘Luministe’ color palette. Hagemans was to exhibit his work at all of the major Belgian art institutions as well as private galleries too numerous to list. Measuring 24 x 28 in excellent condition.

Antique 19th Century Italian watercolor painting in the Baroque style of a mountainous landscape with a stone bridge over a river. Presented in cream colored matting and a silver gold wood frame. Image size: 14" x 19", overall dimensions: 20.5" x 24.5".