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1950s Abstract Paintings

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Period: 1950s
Abstract Composition
Abstract Composition

Abstract Composition

By Jun Dobashi

Located in Boca Raton, FL

Born in Japan, Dobashi studied art in Tokyo before visting Paris for the first time in 1938, it was to become the beginning of a long love affair with the city, and would lead to him...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Dancers
Dancers

Dancers

By David Solot

Located in Saratoga Springs, NY

Signed lower right. David Solot, a dentist and painter, was born in Falciu (Romania) and settled in Paris in 1928. His art was surrealistic dentally insp...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Untitled
Untitled

Untitled

Located in PARIS, FR

Very nice painting attesting to an artistic freedom of the artist, it is signed at the bottom right.

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Geometric Shapes
Geometric Shapes

Geometric Shapes

By Rolph Scarlett

Located in Saratoga Springs, NY

Rolph Scarlett (1889-1984) Geometric Shapes Gauche on Paper 14 ½" x 13” 22" x 21" framed In this original artwork, the artist transforms circles, shapes, and lines within an ide...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Archival Paper

"The Rose Garden" Mid Century Oil Painting on Canvas Abstract Landscape & Figure
"The Rose Garden" Mid Century Oil Painting on Canvas Abstract Landscape & Figure

"The Rose Garden" Mid Century Oil Painting on Canvas Abstract Landscape & Figure

By Robert Freiman

Located in New York, NY

An abstract Mid-Century piece with lighter color tones accentuated with the use of basic colors, blue, red and yellow. In this abstract composition we see a figure, tending to their ...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Carnations & Rose Buds
Carnations & Rose Buds

Harold Cohn Carnations & Rose Buds

$1,500Sale Price|34% Off

Carnations & Rose Buds

Located in Summit, NJ

Gorgeous oil on panel by Harold Cohn. Beautiful reds - the photo does not do the painting justice. The texture of the flowers is stunning. The piece is fra...

Category

Abstract Impressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Panel, Board

Vintage Mid-Century Swedish Abstract Figurative Framed Oil Painting - Enigma
Vintage Mid-Century Swedish Abstract Figurative Framed Oil Painting - Enigma

Vintage Mid-Century Swedish Abstract Figurative Framed Oil Painting - Enigma

Located in Bristol, GB

ENGIMA Size: 49 x 57 cm (including frame) Oil on canvas An emotive and skillfully executed mid-century abstract figurative composition, painted in oil onto canvas. The piece featur...

Category

Modern 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Musicians
Musicians

Musicians

By Gen Paul

Located in New York, NY

Gen Paul (1895-1955 Fr.) lived in Montmartre, Paris France. He is know for his action painting with quick brush strokes and this work of art was painted around 1955-1960. He was a mu...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Green Burst
Green Burst

Green Burst

Located in Austin, TX

Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Kyle Morris Green Burst, 1958 Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower right; signed, titled, dated verso. 48...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

David Lan Bar - Composition - 1955

David Lan Bar - Composition - 1955

By David Lan Bar

Located in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH

Composition 1955 Oil on panel Signed and Dated 61 x 50 cm The painting is framed. This beautiful painting is representative of David Lan Bar's 1950's compositions. David...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Framed Fauvist Town Art Fair American Modernist Framed Original Oil Painting
Framed Fauvist Town Art Fair American Modernist Framed Original Oil Painting

Framed Fauvist Town Art Fair American Modernist Framed Original Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Antique American oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 24 by 30 inches overall, and 18 by 24 painting alone. Excellent condition, ready to hang and enjoy.

Category

Fauvist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Abstract Expressionist Colorful Vintage oil Painting 1953
Abstract Expressionist Colorful Vintage oil Painting 1953

Abstract Expressionist Colorful Vintage oil Painting 1953

Located in Douglas Manor, NY

6168 Vintage Abstract Expressionist oil painting Rapped canvas no frame required

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Untitled
Untitled

Untitled

By John Opper

Located in Austin, TX

Waterline Fine Art, Austin, TX is pleased to present the following work: Oil on canvas. Signed lower right, signed and dated verso. 62.25 x 56.25 in. 64 x 58 in. (framed) Custom framed in a natural cherry wood floater. Provenance Washburn Gallery, New York Behnke Doherty Gallery, Washington Depot, CT Born in 1908 in Chicago, John Opper moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1916. In high school, he began studying art and attending classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art. After graduation, he enrolled in the Cleveland School of Art (now Cleveland Institute of Art), only to withdraw after a year and move to Chicago, where he took classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. He eventually returned to Cleveland, enrolling at Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve), receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1931. The Depression has taken hold during this period, so Opper found work by teaching metalworking and sketching classes at the Karamu Settlement House, the oldest African American theater in the United States. In 1933, Opper traveled to Gloucester, Massachusetts, eventually connecting with the artist Hans Hofmann, who was teaching at the school run by Ernest Thurn. Hofmann encouraged Opper to work “in a more modern vein and start finding what it’s all about.” Heeding this advice, Opper relocated to New York, co-founding a mail-order club of American and British prints for dissemination to schools and museums. By the mid-1930s, he joined the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Easel Division, and also began attending the 57th Street school that Hans Hofmann had established after leaving the Art Students League. Looking back at his time at the school, Opper felt that beyond Hofmann’s teaching, most advantageous was his contact with fellow artists, including Byron Browne, Rosalind Bengelsdorf, and George McNeil. At the time, he also met Giorgio Cavallon and the sculptor Wilfrid Zogbaum. In 1936, Opper became a founding member of the American Abstract Artists, along with Balcomb and Gertrude Greene. The organization was formed to provide an opportunity for artists to show abstract works at a time when such opportunities were scarce. This led to his first solo show in 1937 at the Artists’ Gallery in New York. During his summer in Gloucester in 1933, Opper came to know Milton Avery. Painting in Avery’s informal studio in New York City the following winter, he became acquainted with Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko. Opper participated in a couple of shows during the 1930s of the American Artists Congress Against War and Fascism, whose president was Stuart Davis. About the same period, Opper joined the Artists’ Union and served as the business manager of its publication, Art Front. During World War II, Opper worked for a ship design company creating drawings for piping systems used in PT boats...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Composition Inspirée par le Credo de la Messe {...} by Serge Charchoune
Composition Inspirée par le Credo de la Messe {...} by Serge Charchoune

Composition Inspirée par le Credo de la Messe {...} by Serge Charchoune

By Serge Charchoune

Located in London, GB

Composition Inspirée par le Credo de la Messe en C Mineur de Bach by Serge Charchoune (1888-1975) Oil on canvas 116 x 73 cm (45 5/8 x 28 3/4 inches) Signed and dated lower right, Charchoune 1959 This work is accompanied by a certificate from Pierre Guénégan. Literature: Pierre Guenegan, Charchoune Catalogue Raisonné, vol. 4, 1951-1960, Lanwell & Leeds Ltd., 2011, no.1958/012, p. 208 (illustrated) Artist biography: Russian-French artist and poet Serge Charchoune was born at Bougourouslan in Russia and studied painting at Moscow Academy of Art. In 1912 after deserting the army he arrived in Paris and immediately enrolled as a student of the Cubist painter Henri Le Fauconnier. Upon the outbreak of the First World War Charchoune took refuge in Barcelona in Spain where he befriended exiled Parisian Cubists Marie Laurencin, Albert Gleizes and Francis Picabia. Seizing the cultural moment, during the 1920s Charchoune briefly formed his own Parisian Dada group called Palata Poetov (the House of Poets), created a Russian-language Dada magazine...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Family of Forceps
Family of Forceps

Family of Forceps

By David Solot

Located in Saratoga Springs, NY

Signed lower right. David Solot, a dentist and painter, was born in Falciu (Romania) and settled in Paris in 1928. His art was surrealistic dentally inspired plus portraits and city landscapes. **************************** Translated from an article by Luana Hrisanti Rigot: "In 1956, at the Charlotte Norberg Gallery (Paris), he presented his first personal exhibition, composed of an ensemble of surrealist paintings of professional inspiration (dental elements). Two years later, at Gallery Royale (Rochefort), he exhibits another 50 paintings on the subject. At that time, a decisive event for the painter David Solot was made: a great new-York-born antibiotic producer Lederle Cy learns about his work and contacts him through the US Ambassador to Paris, proposing an advertising contract and buying the reproduction right for 24 of its canvases. A year later, the same company bought the right to print three of its cloths in color. This was the starting point of his international notoriety. In 1959, the American Dental Association celebrated its centenary, and to make it brilliant, David Solot invites him to a large exhibition at Columbus Circle, in Manhattan New York. The press, television is doing a great deal of promotion, and in the end, the interest shown by the medical professionals in the beginning only reaches an echo in the world of passionate art collectors. It is the beginning of a major international adventure! David Solot is invited to Stockholm in 1960, then to Dublin and Belfast by the Cema Art Gallery. In 1962 his works are exhibited in Helsinki. In 1963 his life was disturbed by a very painful event ... His only son, a medical student in the last year, dies in an accident. For two years, overwhelmed by pain, David Solot neglects painting. His wife, Becutza Solot, encourages him to go to Israel. David accepts, and the voyage and exhibition (1965) are successful. When returning from the voyage, he makes material for an exhibition he will present at the Transposition Gallery, while at the Salon of Physicians his "Jerusalem" painting gets the Medal of Honor, the greatest possible reward. Continuing to work on all plans, he adds a new activity to his concerns: writing. In 1967, he was impressed by a passage in Maurice Goudeket book Prés...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

The Great Spirit in the Sky
The Great Spirit in the Sky

The Great Spirit in the Sky

Located in Sheffield, MA

Bernard A. Kohn American, 1905-1989 The Great Spirit in the Sky Oil on board 30 by 45 in, w/ frame 35 ¼ by 50 ½ in Signed and dated 1958 Bernard A. Kohn was born on the 21st of Nov...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Old Door

Old Door

By Richard Anuszkiewicz

Located in New York, NY

Richard Anuszkiewicz Old Door, 1953 Watercolor on paper Signed and dated by the artist on the lower right front 20 × 14 inches Unframed This unique and extre...

Category

American Modern 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Untitled Expressionist Style Figurative Abstract On Masonite
Untitled Expressionist Style Figurative Abstract On Masonite

Untitled Expressionist Style Figurative Abstract On Masonite

By Morris Gluckman

Located in Houston, TX

Early Morris Gluckman abstract painting of a black shadow figure holding a pink item. Artist Biography: Morris Gluckman was born in 1894 in Kiev, Russia. He was an active artist in...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

abstract 1, 1954 - oil on panel, 100x65 cm., framed
abstract 1, 1954 - oil on panel, 100x65 cm., framed

abstract 1, 1954 - oil on panel, 100x65 cm., framed

By Henriette Gremeret

Located in Nice, FR

Wonderful oil on panel by Henriette Gremeret. Dated 1954, signed low left. The painting has been wonderfully framed on a glass support frmed in oakwood. Cette artiste peintre ( 1895...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Dynamic & Colorful, Abstract Expressionist Painting, Dated 1957 by Harold Haydon
Dynamic & Colorful, Abstract Expressionist Painting, Dated 1957 by Harold Haydon

Dynamic & Colorful, Abstract Expressionist Painting, Dated 1957 by Harold Haydon

By Harold Haydon

Located in Chicago, IL

A dynamic, colorful, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Abstract Expressionist oil painting in vibrant reds, blues & yellows by notable Chicago artist, Harold Haydon. Oil on canvas board; f...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Studio
Studio

Studio

By Remo Michael Farruggio

Located in Sheffield, MA

Remo Michael Farruggio American, 1905-1981 Studio Oil on canvas 24 by 35 in. W/frame 28 by 39 in. Signed lower right & titled on stretcher “Studio” Circa 1959 Remo Michael Farrugg...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

John Hatch American Cubist Landscape Oil Painting Massachusetts Seascape 1952
John Hatch American Cubist Landscape Oil Painting Massachusetts Seascape 1952

John Hatch American Cubist Landscape Oil Painting Massachusetts Seascape 1952

By John W. Hatch

Located in Buffalo, NY

An original oil on board painting by American modernist John W. Hatch. This incredible cubist landscape was created in 1952. Estate stamped and dated on the reverse. Titled, "Nahant Rocks, Lynn, MA " with a partial exhibition label on the reverse. The painting comes housed in a black wood frame presentation. John Woodsum Hatch 1919-1998 During his fifty-year career as an artist, John Woodsum Hatch explored the people, the landscape, and the seascape around him. From his extensive travels to his years in New Hampshire, he developed a body of work that captures a sense of place. Through watercolor, ink and sand, he depicted the grandeur of the White Mountains. The crisp light and distinct topography of the Isles of Shoals and Great Bay Estuary are precisely and clearly documented in acrylic and tempera paintings. His ability to convey the sheer scale and longevity of the mountains and sea, and by comparison the fleeting nature of human life, conveys in a not-so-subtle way that the natural environment is to be revered and preserved. Hatch took his first teaching job at the University of New Hampshire in 1949, the same year he graduated from Yale University. He never left. A former student, Sam Cady, described his contributions: “He was a wonderful mix of jokester and sage. A teacher who obviously loved people, loved teaching, and had a great gift for it.” After retiring in 1985, he was made an honorary Professor Emeritus at UNH. Hatch contributed to New Hampshire's cultural life in three areas: his teaching, his art, and his community service. His effectiveness in these three areas can be traced his commitment to give something of himself to help others. Many artists teach by necessity and resent it as a drain on their creative energies but Hatch found his greatest fulfillment from a combination of teaching, making art, and being deeply involved with his community as an art historian and as an environmentalist. Hatch’s work can be seen in numerous public collections, including: the Addison Gallery of American Art; DeCordova Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; State of New Hampshire's Living Treasures Collection, and the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. John Woodsum Hatch, New Hampshire's 1997 Living Treasure Award recipient, died on August 6, 1998, at the age of 78. Hatch was a draftsman, an artist and a muralist. His works can be found in public and private collections throughout the region. He exhibited at the New Hampshire Art...

Category

Cubist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Galaxy
Galaxy

Galaxy

By Leonardo Nierman

Located in Boca Raton, FL

his powerful abstract composition by Leon Nierman exemplifies the artist’s mastery of light, movement, and atmospheric energy. Renowned for creating dynamic abstractions that evoke b...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Springs : Oil painting on canvas
Springs : Oil painting on canvas

Springs : Oil painting on canvas

By Jan Wunderman

Located in New York, NY

"Springs" by Jan Wunderman. Jan Wunderman primarily lived and worked in New York City and New Hampshire. Wunderman is noted for richly painted, gestural abstract paintings explorin...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Forest Landscape in Sumi Ink on Paper
Forest Landscape in Sumi Ink on Paper

Forest Landscape in Sumi Ink on Paper

Located in Soquel, CA

Forest Landscape in Sumi Ink on Paper High contrast abstracted landscape by an unknown artist "Shmitt" (20th Century). The edge of a forest is shown in bold strokes of sumi ink, cre...

Category

Abstract Impressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Sumi Ink

Abstract composition - Gouache on paper 14x22 cm
Abstract composition - Gouache on paper 14x22 cm

Abstract composition - Gouache on paper 14x22 cm

Located in Geneva, CH

Work on paper glued to cardboard Dimensions of the "passe-partout" frame 29 x 22.5 x 0.7 cm Work signed lower right and monogram F.V.S. and dated on the up...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Oil

Modern City Scene
Modern City Scene

Modern City Scene

Located in Sheffield, MA

David Redpath Michie Scottish, 1928-2015 Modern City Scene Oil on board 30 by 40 in, w/ frame 33 ¼ by 43 ¼ in Signed lower right, dated 1955 Son of the painter Anne Redpath, David ...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Post-Cubist Abstract Oil on Canvas Painting by Hellier
Post-Cubist Abstract Oil on Canvas Painting by Hellier

Post-Cubist Abstract Oil on Canvas Painting by Hellier

Located in Atlanta, GA

American artist Hellier (20th Century) designed this stunning post-cubist constructivist oil on canvas painting. The artwork "Ste Augustine" uses earth tones juxtaposed with green to...

Category

Cubist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstraction
Abstraction

Abstraction

By Agnes Hart

Located in Saratoga Springs, NY

Signed lower right Agnes Hart was born in Meridan, Connecticut. She studied at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida; at Iowa State University with Josef Presser, Paul Burlin and Lucile...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Sandstone

Abstract and Fractured, Biomorphic and Geometric Forms
Abstract and Fractured, Biomorphic and Geometric Forms

Abstract and Fractured, Biomorphic and Geometric Forms

By Agnes Hart

Located in Saratoga Springs, NY

Signed lower left. “Abstract and Fractured Biomorphic and Geometric Forms” which was painted in the mid to late 1950’s is a nod to Picasso’s famous painting Guernica, which Hart may have seen when it was given to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1958. Several elements in the painting clearly reference Guernica: the black geometric and cut-out shapes, the biomorphic shapes, the abstracted horse’s head and body, with a district reference to the bull’s tail, along with the black and white pallet choice and various details throughout-all hallmarks of Picasso’s Guernica. The abstracted reality Hart presents in these references go beyond a simple nod and reflect a personal interpretation reflected in the splintered abstraction and her bespoke interpretation. Agnes Hart’s first began her career as a social realist artist in the 1930’s. She was also WPA artist. Her longtime friend Milton Avery encouraged her, and she exhibited in the same gallery in the late 1940’s, the RoKo Gallery. Her instinctive and personalized modernist periods often reflected a similar path of her compatriot artists during the first half of the 20th century. Her early works were influenced by her teachers Josef Presser, Paul Burlin and Lucile Blanch, and Reginald Neal, and reflected historical modern trends-at times showing the influence of Avery and other modernist. Like Elaine DeKooning, Lee Kraser, Michael Corrine West...

Category

Abstract Expressionist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Abstract Expressionist Watercolor on Paper
Abstract Expressionist Watercolor on Paper

Abstract Expressionist Watercolor on Paper

By Rolph Scarlett

Located in Phoenix, AZ

Abstract expressionist gouache and watercolor on paper by noted artist Rolph Scarlett (1891-1984). Unframed. Signed and dated 1954 lower right. In excellent condition. P...

Category

1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Vintage American School Modernist Trompe L'Oeil Abstract Street Scene Painting
Vintage American School Modernist Trompe L'Oeil Abstract Street Scene Painting

Vintage American School Modernist Trompe L'Oeil Abstract Street Scene Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Vintage American modernist trompe l'oeil street scene oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 33 by 15 inches overall, and 30 by 12 painting alone. Excellent condition...

Category

Modern 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Structure
Structure

Structure

By Howard Warshaw

Located in San Francisco, CA

Artist: Howard Warshaw– American (1920-1977 ) Title: Structure Year: 1950 Medium: Gouache on heavy board Sight size: 23.5 x 18.5 inches. Framed size: 35.5 x 29.5 inches Signature: S...

Category

Cubist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Board

"City"
"City"

"City"

By Rex Ashlock

Located in Lambertville, NJ

Signed on verso Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Rex Ashlock (1918 – 1999) Born in Spokane, Washington in 1918 Rex Ashlock was known for his abstract, figu...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Landscape in Winter, Abstract Geometric Oil Painting, Signed, 1950s
Landscape in Winter, Abstract Geometric Oil Painting, Signed, 1950s

Landscape in Winter, Abstract Geometric Oil Painting, Signed, 1950s

Located in Miami, FL

At a time when Abstract Expressionism was raging, realist painterJohn Atherton nods his head to the movement with a semi-abstract work. Meticulously rendered and carefully thought o...

Category

Abstract Geometric 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Framed Cubist Seascape Harbor Seascape Signed Modernist Abstract Oil Painting
Framed Cubist Seascape Harbor Seascape Signed Modernist Abstract Oil Painting

Framed Cubist Seascape Harbor Seascape Signed Modernist Abstract Oil Painting

Located in Buffalo, NY

Antique European modernist oil painting. Oil on board. Signed. Framed. Measuring: 24 by 33 inches overall, and 17.75 by 27 painting alone. Excellent condition, ready to hang and e...

Category

Cubist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Multicolor Abstract Cubist Oil Painting with Monogram Signature MJ
Multicolor Abstract Cubist Oil Painting with Monogram Signature MJ

Multicolor Abstract Cubist Oil Painting with Monogram Signature MJ

Located in Atlanta, GA

This striking abstract Cubist oil on board, signed with the monogram "M.J." in the lower right corner, is the work of a 20th-century German artist. The composition is bold and archit...

Category

Cubist 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Abstract in Yellow Green & Red - British 1955 abstract art oil painting
Abstract in Yellow Green & Red - British 1955 abstract art oil painting

Abstract in Yellow Green & Red - British 1955 abstract art oil painting

By Leo Davy

Located in Hagley, England

This superb British 1950's abstract oil on board painting is by noted Slade School trained contemporary artist Leo Davy. Davy was born in Yorkshire but settled in Cornwall in 1968 an...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

“Untitled Abstract”
“Untitled Abstract”

“Untitled Abstract”

Located in Southampton, NY

Original abstract geometric oil on paper painting by the well known American artist Helen Gerardia. Signed middle bottom. Circa 1955. Condition is very good. Under glass. The artw...

Category

Abstract Geometric 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Archival Paper

By the Dawn's Early Light, mid-century abstract black, red, yellow oil painting
By the Dawn's Early Light, mid-century abstract black, red, yellow oil painting

By the Dawn's Early Light, mid-century abstract black, red, yellow oil painting

By Charles Green Shaw

Located in Beachwood, OH

Charles Green Shaw (American, 1892-1974) By the Dawn's Early Light, 1955 Oil on masonite Signed lower left, dated and titled verso 35.5 x 23.75 inches 38 x 26.25 inches, framed Provenance: The estate of the artist to Charles H. Carpenter Charles Green Shaw, born into a wealthy New York family, began painting when he was in his mid-thirties. A 1914 graduate of Yale, Shaw also completed a year of architectural studies at Columbia University. During the 1920s Shaw enjoyed a successful career as a freelance writer for The New Yorker, Smart Set and Vanity Fair, chronicling the life of the theater and café society. In addition to penning insightful articles, Shaw was a poet, novelist and journalist. In 1927 he began to take a serious interest in art and attended Thomas Hart Benton's class at the Art Students League briefly in New York. He also studied privately with George Luks, who became a good friend. Once he had dedicated himself to non-traditional painting, Shaw's writing ability made him a potent defender of abstract art. After initial study with Benton and Luks, Shaw continued his artistic education in Paris by visiting numerous museums and galleries. From 1930 to 1932 Shaw's paintings evolved from a style imitative of Cubism to one directly inspired by it, though simplified and more purely geometric. Returning to the United States in 1933, Shaw began a series of abstracted cityscapes of skyscrapers he called Manhattan Motifs which evolved into his most famous works, the shaped canvases he called Plastic Polygons. The 1930s were productive years for Shaw. He showed his paintings in numerous group exhibitions, both in New York and abroad, and was also given several one-man exhibitions. Shaw had his first one-man exhibition at the Valentine Dudensing Gallery in New York in 1934, which included 25 Manhattan Motif paintings and 8 abstract works. In the spring of 1935 Shaw was introduced to Albert Gallatin and George L.K. Morris. Gallatin was so impressed with Shaw's work, he broke a policy against solo exhibitions at his museum, the Gallery of Living Art, and offered Shaw an exhibition there. In the summer of 1935 Shaw traveled to Paris with Gallatin and Morris who provided introductions to many great painters. Shaw regularly spent time with John Ferren and Jean Hélion. The following year Gallatin organized an exhibition called Five Contemporary American Concretionists at the Reinhardt Gallery that included Shaw, Ferren, and Morris, Alexander Calder, and Charles Biederman...

Category

Abstract 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil

Monumental Abstract Modernist Oil Panel Oregon Centennial Exposition Mural 1959
Monumental Abstract Modernist Oil Panel Oregon Centennial Exposition Mural 1959

Monumental Abstract Modernist Oil Panel Oregon Centennial Exposition Mural 1959

By Louis Bunce

Located in Portland, OR

Monumental modernist oil on panel painting by Louis Demott Bunce (1907-1983), from an installation for the Oregon Centennial Exposition, 1959. A rare & important and monumental abstract painting by the celebrated Oregon artist Louis Bunce, the artist was commissioned to paint a mural for the 1959 Oregon Centennial & Trade Fair in Portland, the installation was titled " Gay Garden Way ", it was painted for the exterior of the Horticultural building. The mural having abstract plant abstractions, according to Bunce in his own words it was "the rounded shapes of flowers and the sun", the mural created a major furor from the conservative art public. The painting signed and dated by the artist lower left, the work was sold in the late 1980s through the celebrated Laura Russo Gallery, this painting is featured in Roger Hull's book; "Louis Bunce, Dialogue with Modernism". The painting is in good condition and ready to grace your wall. Louis Bunce attended high school and the Museum Art School before leaving for the Art Students League in New York. He established a New York connection that began when he first attended classes there in 1927 and continued over the years with frequent visits. He became friends with many promising artists, including Jackson Pollock and David Smith. In 1939 he worked for the WPA Easel Project in New York and by the time he returned to Portland he was an established artist on the East Coast. He worked at the WPA art center in Salem as an Instructor and Assistant Director. His work included murals, two of which are in the Post Offices in Grants Pass and St. Johns. Their subjects, mining and orchard farming, are activities of each region. "I have always been visually drawn to the landscape, at first the desert and mountain regions of Wyoming; then the lush and gentle color of the Pacific Northwest and the urban landscape of New York." From 1942-1945 he worked as an illustrator, a tool designer, and in assembly for the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation. After WWII, Bunce joined the faculty of the Museum Art School in Portland, where he had been a student in 1925-1926. He taught there until his retirement in 1972. He excelled at producing screen-prints and introduced this technique to Oregon. While maintaining a national reputation throughout the 1950s and 1960s, some of New York's most prestigious galleries represented him. Theater buffs will remember his murals and portraits for Portland Civic Theater's 1938 production of Pride and Prejudice. In a career that made him one of the most recognized names in Oregon's art history, Bunce had many styles: cubism, expressionism, surrealism and abstractionism. His 1958 mural in the Portland International Airport presents this abstract style: "whirling propellers and shadows of the concourse as seen from above." It was controversial at the time as being too abstract for a public art project. Louis and wife Eda opened a full-time art gallery in Portland in 1949, called the Kharouba. Located first at 1016 SE Morrison, then at SW 11th and Alder, the gallery represented many of the leading artists of the day: Josephine Cameron, William Givler, Clifford Gleason, Jack Hammack, Charles Heaney, Frederick Heidel, George Johanson, Jack McLarty, Rick Norwood, C.S. Price, Arthur Runquist, Jolan Torok, Charles Voorhies...

Category

Modern 1950s Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil