Catalog: Fine Art: Paintings (88)

A beautiful original antique oil painting of a young woman with flowers by Emile Eisman-Semenowsky Paris circa 1900. Oil on wood panel signed lower left and noted Paris. Presented in the original antique ornate picture frame with name plaque on center bottom. Panel measures 9.5" x 13" overall framed size 21.0" W x 24.5" H x 3.0" D. Emile Eisman-Semenowsky was born in Poland and was of Jewish descent. Little is known about his childhood and education. In the 1880s and 1890s, he spent several years in Paris, where he created the majority of his oeuvre. Semenowsky was influenced by oriental subjects, a widespread phenomenon in French 19th century art. His favorite subjects were depictions of women in oriental and antique-style costumes and genre scenes. His works were very popular among Parisian bourgeoisie, and many of his works were purchased by American collectors.

Winter Landscape Oil on canvas by Fred Wagner 24" L x 36"W. overall framed size 27 x 33. Signed lower right. Wagner exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy over 35 times from 1906-1940, winning prizes in 1914 and 1922. Wagner exhibited at the Carnegie 14 times from 1898 - 1925. He showed two works at the Armory Show, and exhibited 11 times at the Corcoran between 1907 - 1935. He had a special exhibit of 100 pastels, at the Corcoran in April 1924. Wagner exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1884, 1907, 1925 and 1928.

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

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".

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

A beautiful vintage set of three Chinese paintings on silk Muses of Music with Deer and Tiger with musical instruments. Presented beautifully framed and matted. Each measuring 16.5" W x 26.5" H x 0.75" D. Each artist signed with exquisite details.

A very fine original antique Dutch Master School oil painting a portrait of a boy late 19th century. Oil on panel presented in the original antique period frame. Panel measures 5.75" x 8.5" overall framed size 99" x 12"

A beautiful antique oil painting by T. Walter of a French landscape titled "Autumn in the Ccvennes" a mountain range in the south central France. 19th century signed lower left oil on canvas. Presented in a the original magnificent antique gold leaf frame. Frame 39.5 X 34.25 canvas size 28.75 X 22 in

An original vintage circa 1950 oil painting of a Colorado Rocky Mountain Landsape of Aspen trees titled "Flaming Autumn" in Estes Park. Oil on 24" x 30" panel signed lower left Stirling and titled on verso. Presented in a quality contemporary gallery frame overall size 30.5" x 36.5". David Stirling was born in 1887 in Corydon, Iowa to a pioneering family, and his father was a newspaper publisher. He died in Longmont, Colorado after a short illness in 1971 and was buried there in a family plot. There were 8 children in the family, of which he was the youngest, being 7 years younger than the next youngest son, and he was the first of the family to graduate from high school. He went on to the Cummings Art School in Des Moines, Iowa in 1906-07, and also attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago in 1908-09. After traveling to the North West where his older brother had a logging business, in which he worked, he discovered that he wasn't too interested in that kind of work. He passed through Estes Park, Colorado on this trip in 1916. He married Kitty Wolf in Corydon, and in 1918 they moved to Estes Park for the summer months, and this became a standard trek that lasted for many years. He alternated his time between Corydon in the winter, where he maintained a studio over the local bank, and Estes Park, where his studio was variously inside the Rocky Mountain National Park and on the main street. He painted the Rocky Mountain National Park and environs as well as other parts of the country but was most well known for his colorful aspen paintings. He worked exclusively in oils and painted on board for the most part. In the 1920s the Stirlings lived in Denver and Dave worked for the well known Meininger's Art Materials store there. While working there he could afford canvas and did produce a number of pieces on canvas during that time. In 1919 in the Rocky Mountain National Park, they built a studio called "Bugscuffle Ranch" along with an adjacent home where they lived in the summers. This structure was replaced in 1930 with the gallery and studio that remained until a few years after Dave's death. He became well known for his "cultural lectures on art" which were given in the gallery on a daily basis, and were attended by thousands of visitors. His line was, "Everyone goes away smarter than when they stumbled into the joint". He was also fond of quoting Will Rogers, on his first exposure to abstract art, when he said, "When you ain't nothing else you're an artist--it's one thing you can claim to be and no one can prove you ain't." Dave was an author as well and wrote several books of stories, myths and lies about the mountain west. His pen name was Pye-Eyed Pete Dave's wife contracted cancer, and he remained her sole care giver until her death. His daughter Hattie later also had cancer and died, and his son who was diabetic died on the dance floor of the Riverside Ballroom in Estes Park. He is survived by 4 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild (to date). His eldest grandson lives and works in Estes Park. Dave was famous as "The Youngest of the Old Masters", a title given him in an article, which he was quick to adopt. He painted the Rocky Mountain National Park and environs as well as other parts of the country but was most well known for his colorful aspen paintings.

A beautiful California impressionist landscape oil on board signed lower left Gile, Bold brush work and beautiful palette a true gem by this highly regarded American artist. In excellent condition Measuring 10 x 12.5 framed in a quality hand carved 24k gold frame 17.5 x 20.5 inches overall Appraised by John Moran at $10,000 to 15,000. a fine investment quality painting. Biography

Selden Connor Gile was an important member of the early northern California school of art, he was a founding member of the artist group that called themselves the Society of Six. He was born in Stow, Maine on March 20, 1877, and after attending business college in Maine, Gile moved to California in 1901. He was a payroll master in Lincoln and in Oakland after 1905 for Gladding McBean Company. His art studies were under Perham Nahl, Frank Van Sloun, Spencer Macky, William H. Clapp, and at the California College of Arts and Crafts. Prior to 1914, he painted in the manner of classical California landscape painters such as William Keith. After that time he assumed the palette and style of Impressionism-Fauvism, but remained an "individualist" in his mode of expressing the California scene. During the 1920s, he became the dominant figure in a group of painters known as the Society of Six. The Six were active in the San Francisco Bay area and exhibited regularly at the Oakland Art Gallery. In 1927 Gile moved across the Golden Gate to Tiburon and, shortly thereafter, to a houseboat in Belvedere. He died in San Rafael, California on June 8, 1947.

Impressionist oil painting of a Mother Child Titled "Family Outing" at Mast Cove Kennebunkport Maine by Harry Barton. Oil on 24 x 30 panel signed lower left and with estate of the artists stamp on verso. Harry Lang Barton, artist and illustrator May 12, 1908 - August 12, 2001 Born in Cleveland and raised in Seattle, Harry Barton spent his life doing the thing he truly loved--painting. Whether in the Pacific Northwest around Seattle, Hood Canal, and Puget Sound, or in the Art Students League, Central Park, and the parks and beaches of Long Island, or in Pennsylvania and New England (he often summered in Rockport, Massachusetts, and Kennebunkport, Maine), Harry's life was art. Harry's career as an artist embraced almost every medium and a great many genres: from charcoal and pen and ink to watercolor, tempura, and oil; from his early work in Seattle as a silk-screen artist and an illustrator for the Sterling Theatres and the telephone company, to his New York work as an illustrator of Western pulp fiction, detective and mystery novels, and movie and fashion advertisements, and finally to his extensive activity as a portrait and landscape painter. In the spring of 1945, he decided to study for the summer at the Art Students League in New York with Frank Reilly, and in the fall of that year he was offered work in New York as an illustrator for Gale Phillips Associates. Moving his family from Seattle, he--along with his wife Pauline and his daughters Joan and Linda--took up residence in Bayside, Queens, and soon moved to the Auburndale area of Flushing, where he had his own freelance studio and where he lived the rest of his life. Over the years his illustrations were featured in The Saturday Evening Post, Argosy, Boy's Life, Down East, and American Artist, as well as on movie billboards for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and in fashion advertising for Lord & Taylor and Gertz department stores. But his main body of work as an illustrator can be found in hard-cover and paperback novels published by such major firms as Dell, Ace Books, Dial Press, and Farrar Straus & Giroux. Harry's paintings and sketches were exhibited in the Philadelphia Museum of Art; in the Salmagundi Club, Lord & Taylor, the Smith Gallery, and Illustration House in New York in the Blue Heron Gallery in Wellfleet, Cape Cod; in the Schaff Gallery in Cincinnati; and in Mast Cove Gallery in Kennebunkport. He received a number of prizes for his work, and his paintings are held in private collections in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Harry was a member of the American Artists Professional League, the Salmagundi Club, and the Art Students League of New York, where he kept on working throughout his life, studying with--in addition to Frank Reilly--Samuel Edmund Oppenheini, William Draper, and Everett Raymond Kintsler. Harry loved the Art Students League and was very proud of being a Life Member. His Saturday jaunts to the League continued right up to the time when the League closed for the summer three months before he died. He was fortunate in being able to do what he enjoyed most to the very end of his life

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

Modernist landscape Marsh series #1 by Ernest Garthwaite. Acrylic on paper measuring 22"w x 30"H.

Biography

Ernest Garthwaite was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1940. He studied at Loras College in Iowa, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in 1961, and at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, receiving his Master of Arts in 1962. He subsequently studied in Europe (including in Italy, Germany, and France) and at the University of Wisconsin in 1964 and the Art Students' League of New York in 1966. Garthwaite's work is represented in over 75 collections, including the Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery, New Rochelle Public Library, Art Gallery of Windsor, Bank of Montreal, Concordia University (Montreal), Marymount College (New York), Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies (Banff), and York College of the City University of New York.

Vintage American Impressionist Oil Painting on panel of a Swan on Lake by Harry Barton. From the estate of the artist with stamp on the verso. Presented framed in a quality gallery frame. Overall size 20ʺW × 1ʺD × 16ʺH Harry Lang Barton, artist and illustrator May 12, 1908 - August 12, 2001 Born in Cleveland and raised in Seattle, Harry Barton spent his life doing the thing he truly loved--painting. Whether in the Pacific Northwest around Seattle, Hood Canal, and Puget Sound, or in the Art Students League, Central Park, and the parks and beaches of Long Island, or in Pennsylvania and New England (he often summered in Rockport, Massachusetts, and Kennebunkport, Maine), Harry's life was art. Harry's career as an artist embraced almost every medium and a great many genres: from charcoal and pen and ink to watercolor, tempura, and oil; from his early work in Seattle as a silk-screen artist and an illustrator for the Sterling Theatres and the telephone company, to his New York work as an illustrator of Western pulp fiction, detective and mystery novels, and movie and fashion advertisements, and finally to his extensive activity as a portrait and landscape painter. In the spring of 1945, he decided to study for the summer at the Art Students League in New York with Frank Reilly, and in the fall of that year he was offered work in New York as an illustrator for Gale Phillips Associates. Moving his family from Seattle, he--along with his wife Pauline and his daughters Joan and Linda--took up residence in Bayside, Queens, and soon moved to the Auburndale area of Flushing, where he had his own freelance studio and where he lived the rest of his life. Over the years his illustrations were featured in The Saturday Evening Post, Argosy, Boy's Life, Down East, and American Artist, as well as on movie billboards for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and in fashion advertising for Lord & Taylor and Gertz department stores. But his main body of work as an illustrator can be found in hard-cover and paperback novels published by such major firms as Dell, Ace Books, Dial Press, and Farrar Straus & Giroux. Harry's paintings and sketches were exhibited in the Philadelphia Museum of Art; in the Salmagundi Club, Lord & Taylor, the Smith Gallery, and Illustration House in New York in the Blue Heron Gallery in Wellfleet, Cape Cod; in the Schaff Gallery in Cincinnati; and in Mast Cove Gallery in Kennebunkport. He received a number of prizes for his work, and his paintings are held in private collections in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Harry was a member of the American Artists Professional League, the Salmagundi Club, and the Art Students League of New York, where he kept on working throughout his life, studying with--in addition to Frank Reilly--Samuel Edmund Oppenheini, William Draper, and Everett Raymond Kintsler. Harry loved the Art Students League and was very proud of being a Life Member. His Saturday jaunts to the League continued right up to the time when the League closed for the summer three months before he died. He was fortunate in being able to do what he enjoyed most to the very end

An original antique monotype oil on paper of a path through a forest by Joseph Henry Sharp. Oil on paper board signed lower right presented in a vintage period frame. Measuring overall size 17.5" x 22.5". Biography, Born in Bridgeport, OH on Sept. 27, 1859, Joseph Henry Sharp was raised in Ironton and Cincinnati. He began art studies at the Cincinnati Art Academy at age 14. In 1882 he was a pupil of Charles Verlat in Antwerp; the following year he made his first trip to the West to sketch the Indian tribes of New Mexico, California, and the Columbia River. In 1886 he again was in Europe accompanied by Frank Duveneck. While in Munich, he was a pupil of Karl Marr and had further study with Jean Paul Laurens and Benjamin Constant in Paris. Sharp taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy from 1892 until 1902, and then resigned to devote full time to painting. Summers were spent in Montana at Crow Agency in a cabin and studio at the foot of the Custer Battlefield. As well as a home in Pasadena, he also had a studio in Taos, NM which was opposite Kit Carson's old home. During the 1930s he made several painting trips to Hawaii. Sharp died in Pasadena, CA on Aug. 29, 1953. Eleven of his paintings of famous Indians were purchased by the U.S. Government in 1900 and now hang in the Smithsonian Institution. A collection of 80 Indian portraits and pictures were purchased by Phoebe Hearst in 1902 for UC Berkeley. Memberships: Cincinnati Art Club; Prairie Printmakers Club of Los Angeles; Salmagundi Club; American Fine Art Association; Southwest Society of Artists; Taos Society of Artists; California Art Club. Exhibitions: Pan-American Expo (Buffalo), 1901 (silver medal); Cincinnati Art Club, 1901 (1st prize); Panama-California Expo (San Diego), 1915 (gold medal); Southwest Expo (Long Beach), 1928; California Artists, Pasadena Art Institute 1930 (1st prize). Museum Collections: Houston Museum; Orange Co. (CA) Museum; Butler Museum (Youngstown, OH); Southwest Museum (LA); Museum of NM (Santa Fe); Cincinnati Museum; Herron Art Inst. (Indianapolis). Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940

Antique oil painting on canvas of fireworks, likely of Bastille day from the Seine in Paris. The work depicts a dark evening nocturne offset by bright red and yellow fireworks with multiple figures in 18th century period attire in the foreground. Thickly applied paint is used throughout the painting to provide texture. The painting has been professionally relined, and is from the late 19th-early 20th century. Signed “Roybal,” bottom right, and presented in a black and gilt wood frame. Canvas size: 24" x 30".

Vintage American Impressionist Oil Painting New York Fall Landscape oil on panel signed lower left by Thomas De Laurier (1872 - 1934). Measuring 9" x 12" overall framed size 20ʺW × 2ʺD × 17ʺH. Thomas George De Laurier was active/lived in New York, New Jersey. Thomas De Laurier is known for landscapes of New York abstract paintings of female figures and animals, photo engraving.

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.