American Modern Art

"Central Park" Mid-20th Century American Scene Drawing NYC Modernism WPA Realism Adolf Dehn (1895-1968) "Central Park" 18 x 19 3/4 inches Watercolor on paper Signed and dated ’45 l...

This artwork titled "Baden Baden, Casino" 1988 is an original color serigraph by noted American artist LeRoy Neiman, 1921-2012. It is hand signed and numbered 261/375 in pencil by the artist. The image size is 36 x 42 inches, sheet size is 42 x 48 inches. With the blind stamp of the printer Styria Studio at the lower left corner margin. It is in excellent condition, three small pieces of hanging tape remain on the back. About the artist: Mr. Neiman's kinetic, quickly executed paintings and drawings, many of them published in Playboy, offered his fans gaudily colored visual reports on heavyweight boxing matches, Super Bowl games and Olympic contests, as well as social panoramas like the horse races at Deauville, France, and the Cannes Film Festival. Quite consciously, he cast himself in the mold of French Impressionists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir and Degas, chroniclers of public life who found rich social material at racetracks, dance halls and cafes. Mr. Neiman often painted or sketched on live television. With the camera recording his progress at the sketchpad or easel, he interpreted the drama of Olympic Games and Super Bowls for an audience of millions. When Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky faced off in Reykjavik, Iceland, to decide the world chess championship, Mr. Neiman was there, sketching. He was on hand to capture Federico Fellini directing "8 ½" and the Kirov Ballet performing in the Soviet Union. In popularity, Mr. Neiman rivaled American favorites like Norman Rockwell, Grandma Moses and Andrew Wyeth. A prolific one-man industry, he generated hundreds of paintings, drawings, watercolors, limited-edition serigraph prints and coffee-table books yearly, earning gross annual revenue in the tens of millions of dollars. Although he exhibited constantly and his work was included in the collections of dozens of museums around the world, critical respect eluded him. Mainstream art critics either ignored him completely or, if forced to consider his work, dismissed it with contempt as garish and superficial — magazine illustration with pretensions. Mr. Neiman professed not to care. Maybe the critics are right," he told American Artist magazine in 1995. "But what am I supposed to do about it — stop painting, change my work completely? I go back into the studio, and there I am at the easel again. I enjoy what I'm doing and feel good working. Other thoughts are just crowded out." His image suggested an artist well beyond the reach of criticism. A dandy and bon vivant, he cut an arresting figure with his luxuriant ear-to-ear mustache, white suits, flashy hats and Cuban cigars. "He quite intentionally invented himself as a flamboyant artist not unlike Salvador Dalí, in much the same way that I became Mr. Playboy in the late '50s," Hugh Hefner told Cigar Aficionado magazine in 1995. LeRoy Runquist was born on June 8, 1921, in St. Paul. His father, a railroad worker, deserted the family when LeRoy was quite young, and the boy took the surname of his stepfather. He showed a flair for art at an early age. While attending a local Roman Catholic school, he impressed schoolmates by drawing ink tattoos on their arms during recess. As a teenager, he earned money doing illustrations for local grocery stores. "I'd sketch a turkey, a cow, a fish, with the prices," he told Cigar Aficionado. "And then I had the good sense to draw the guy who owned the store. This gave me tremendous power as a kid." After being drafted into the Army in 1942, he served as a cook in the European theater but in his spare time painted risqué murals on the walls of kitchens and mess halls. The Army's Special Services Division, recognizing his talent, put him to work painting stage sets for Red Cross shows when he was stationed in Germany after the war. On leaving the military, he studied briefly at the St. Paul School of Art (now the Minnesota Museum of American Art) before enrolling in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where, after four years of study, he taught figure drawing and fashion illustration throughout the 1950s. When the janitor of the apartment building next door to his threw out half-empty cans of enamel house paint, Mr. Neiman found his métier. Experimenting with the new medium, he embraced a rapid style of applying paint to canvas imposed by the free-flowing quality of the house paint. While doing freelance fashion illustration for the Carson Pirie Scott department store in Chicago in the early 1950s, he became friendly with Mr. Hefner, a copywriter there who was on the verge of publishing the first issue of a men's magazine. In 1954, after five issues of Playboy had appeared, Mr. Neiman ran into Mr. Hefner and invited him to his apartment to see his paintings of boxers, strip clubs and restaurants. Mr. Hefner, impressed, showed the work to Playboy's art director, Art Paul, who commissioned an illustration for "Black Country," a story by Charles Beaumont about a jazz musician. Thus began a relationship that endured for more than half a century and established Mr. Neiman's reputation. In 1955, when Mr. Hefner decided that the party-jokes page needed visual interest, Mr. Neiman came up with the Femlin, a curvaceous brunette who cavorted across the page in thigh-high stockings, high-heeled shoes, opera gloves and nothing else. She appeared in every issue of the magazine thereafter. Three years later, Mr. Neiman devised a running feature, "Man at His Leisure." For the next 15 years, he went on assignment to glamour spots around the world, sending back visual reports on subjects as varied as the races at Royal Ascot, the dining room of the Tour d'Argent in Paris, the nude beaches of the Dalmatian coast, the running of the bulls at Pamplona and Carnaby Street in swinging London. He later produced more than 100 paintings and 2 murals for 18 of the Playboy clubs that opened around the world. "Playboy made the good life a reality for me and made it the subject matter of my paintings — not affluence and luxury as such, but joie de vivre itself," Mr. Neiman told V.I.P. magazine in 1962. Working in the same copywriting department at Carson Pirie Scott as Mr. Hefner was Janet Byrne, a student at the Art Institute. She and Mr. Neiman married in 1957. She survives him. A prolific artist, he generated dozens of paintings each year that routinely commanded five-figure prices. When Christie's auctioned off the Playboy archives in 2003, his 1969 painting Man at His Leisure: Le Mans sold for $107,550. Sales of the signed, limited-edition print versions of his paintings, published in editions of 250 to 500, became a lucrative business in itself after Knoedler Publishing, a wholesale operation, was created in 1975 to publish and distribute his serigraphs, etchings, books and posters. Mr. Neiman's most famous images came from the world of sports. His long association with the Olympics began with the Winter Games in Squaw Valley in 1960, and he went on to cover the games, on live television, in Munich in 1972, Montreal in 1976, Lake Placid in 1980, and Sarajevo and Los Angeles in 1984, using watercolor, ink or felt-tip marker to produce images with the dispatch of a courtroom sketch artist. At the 1978 and 1979 Super Bowls, he used a computerized electronic pen to portray the action for CBS. Although he was best known for scenes filled with people and incident, he also painted many portraits. Athletes predominated, with Muhammad Ali and Joe Namath among his more famous subjects, but he also painted Leonard Bernstein, the ballet dancer Suzanne Farrell...

Paper Size: 23 x 28.75 inches Edition Size Unknown Near Mint, very light signs of handling Original Serigraph poster designed for an in-store advertising campaign printed in 1982. ...

Charles Turzak, 'The Workers (No. 1)', woodcut, edition c. 50, c. 1935. Signed and titled in pencil. Signed in the block, lower right. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove...

A Fine, Expressive 1930s Modern Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Nude Model by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A wonderful, early example of Chapin's figu...

Palace of Fine Arts, Mid-Century San Francisco Landscape Lively watercolor piece by Garrett Price (American, 1896-1979). A geometric, multi-colored background forms the foundation f...

Alexander Calder Les Vagues, 1975 Signed and Numbered 29 (on a label affixed to the reverse) Handwoven Aubusson wool tapestry 40 1/2 x 59 inches Edition 29/200 Provenance Truist Ban...

Neighbors, 1939, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 22 x 26 inches Norman Barr was an American Scene painter and muralist known for his poignant depictions of working-clas...

ANTON REFREGIER (1905 – 1979) DISCOVERY OF GOLD, 1949. Color serigraph. Signed and numbered in pencil, edition of 90. Image 23 ¼ x 21 ¾" Large sheet, 29 3/4 x 25 ¼”. Printed title...

Charles Turzak, 'Under the Bridge', color woodcut, edition c. 50, 1934. Signed and titled in pencil. A fine, richly-inked impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove Japan paper; th...

Antique American modernist pastel drawing by noted New Jersey/Philadelphia New Deal Muralist Charles William Ward. Pastel on paper. Gorgeously framed in an antique frame.. Signed low...

Benton Spruance, 'From the Sea' also 'From the Sea — Pieta', lithograph, editions 30, 35, 1943. A superb, richly inked impression, on off-white wove paper; the full sheet, with decke...

Jan de Ruth (Czech/American, 1922-1991) Still Life of Flowers Oil on canvas, Hand signed lower right Verso bears gallery label from Harbor Gallery, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. Dimensi...

A vibrant pictorial map of San Francisco’s Chinatown, created by Ethel Chun in 1939. It is rendered in striking tones of traditional Chinese red and yellow. Oriented with west at the...

A stylish, vintage, 1940s woman's fashion study featuring an elegant graphic design for a portfolio cover featuring ladies resort clothes by Hattie Carnegie. Artwork size: 11 x 8...

Minimal image in black ink on buff rice paper. Taro leaves are a simple form inspiring this woodcut print. Three leaves (taro) - Landscape Print - Woodcut Print By Marc Zimmerman T...

Artist: Unknown Title: University Floral Design Medium: Watercolor on paper, signed lower right Image Size: 17.5 x 25 inches Frame Size: 28 x 35 inches ...

This work is part of our exhibition Marina Stern Luminary, the first retrospective of the artist since 2007. Previously exhibited: Marina Stern Venice – New Works, Forum Gallery, Ne...

Original 1976 July 4th in Old New York vintage Bicentennial festival vintage poster. The poster is copyrighted by Macy’s New York. Artists were: Griesbach and Martucci. Arc...

A Striking, 1940s Mid-Century Modern Studio Figure Study of a Reclining Female Nude by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). A well executed Modernist figure study ...

Etching and sand ground on cream laid paper, 10 1/2 x 7 5/8 inches (262 x 193 mm), full margins. Inscribed "No. 29" in black ink, lower right margin. In good condition with minor tim...

Pablo Picasso "Paix, Désarmement pour le succès de la Conférence au Sommet, Paris, Mai 1960" Original Vintage Poster, 1952/1960. Archival linen backed and ready to frame. This pos...

This exquisite halftone print after Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), titled Night, New York, originates from the 1947 folio Stieglitz Memorial Portfolio, 1864–1946. Published by Twice a...

A Brooding, Compelling 1940s American Scene, Social Realist Oil Painting, "Tenement Ruins" by Notable Canadian / American artist Emil Weddige (1907-2001). Oil on canvas, dating from...

Colorful Modernist Still Life with Fruit and Water Jug by Ellis Hopkins (American, b. 1952). This bold still life depicts a bowl of fruit resting on a table with a large green jug....

Bob Dylan, Mondo Scripto - Set of 6 Framed Artworks, 2020 Somerset 300gsm paper and framed in charcoal pine and spruce wood 102.9 x 74.9 cm (40.5 x 29....

A Finely Drawn, 1930s Art Deco Modern Female Figure Study, Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exquisite studio portrai...

Original 1918 Gerrit A. Beneker "Sure! We'll Finish the Job" Victory Liberty Loan Poster, archival linen-backed in good condition, ready to frame. Grade B+ An iconic and authentic ...

A Finely Drawn, 1930s Art Deco Modern Female Figure Study, Portrait of a Young Woman by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exquisite studio portrait study, ch...

A Fine 1930s, Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed, early 1930s ...

This artwork titled "Marshland" 1962, is an original drypoint etching by noted American artist Peter Winslow Milton, b.1930. It is hand signed, dated, titled and numbered 31/40 in pe...

Blacksmith (Untitled), 1936, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right, 28 x 30 inches Erle Loran was an influential American painter, art historian, and educator, renowned for h...

Original travel poster: Egypt - Fly TWA; artist David Klein, size 25" x 40"; archival linen backed and ready to frame. Excellent condition. NO damage, no restoration. Note that...

Signed verso lower left, 'Isaac Mizrahi'. A fashion designer and creator of costume, Isaac Mizrahi attended the Parsons School of Design before becoming immersed in haute couture in...

Arthur B. Carles (1882-1952) Still Life with Flowers Oil on canvas, 21 1/8 x 16 inches (53.7 x 40.6 cm) Framed dimensions: 28 x 22 7/8 inches Signed lower right: CARLES Provenance M...

Rare, large format poster for the 2011, Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, California. This very rare racing poster is for the 2011 race. The event poster, such as this image was not available to the public for purchase. The artist name may be hidden inside the design, but we believe the artwork to be done by Jeff Foster. The image was printed to give an antique feel with old edges and distress marks, but the poster is in mint condition. It features a driver looking through his helmet as he is racing, with a reflection of a palm tree and the starting flag reflection back on the face shield. The poster has no defects. The Long Beach Grand Prix is the longest-running major street race held in North America. It started in 1975 as a Formula 5000 race and became a Formula One event in 1976. For Grand Prix poster...

Silverprint photograph, 1973 (printed later). Signed by the artist in pencil, lower right. Titled and numbered 2/90 in pencil in lower left. Published in 1987 by Palm Press. Full...

Painted circa 1955, this evocative California landscape by Jon Blanchette captures the quiet optimism of postwar American life through a finely balanced rural composition. A red barn...

Howard Cook, 'Soaring New York', aquatint, soft-ground etching, roulette, 1931-32, edition 25, Duffy 165. Signed, dated, and annotated 'imp' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked, atmosp...

"Skating Party" WPA Regionalism American Scene Mid 20th Century Modern Realism Roger Medearis (1920 – 2001) "Skating Party" 20 x 24 inches Tempera on board, 1949 Signed Medearis and...

A Colorful 1930s Modern Street Scene of St. Charles Street, New Orleans by Notable Chicago Artist, Walter Burt Adams (Am. 1903-1990). A vibrant, painterly view of a sunlit street corner and store front in the historic Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana. Completed in 1938 during one of the artist's painting trips to New Orleans, and most likely painted in the quiet morning hours, a favored time to paint by the artist. A wonderful example of Walter Burt Adams renowned Urban Realism of the 1930s and '40s, inspired by the artwork of fellow American painter, Edward Hopper. Exhibited: "The 42nd Annual Exhibition of Artists of Chicago and Vicinity", Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), Chicago, IL, 1938, #4. Artwork size: 20 x 25 inches, oil on canvas, accompanied with the artist's original frame (framed size: 26 1/2 x 31 1/2 inches). Signed and dated Walter Burt Adams 38, lower left; signed and dated on reverse. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Walter Burt Adams was a dedicated painter of the American Scene and a singular personality among his peers in the Chicago Modern Art community. His no-nonsense manner, devotion to his craft and sardonic sense of humor characterize a man whose paintings capture life in and around Chicago between the early 1920s and the late 1970s. Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin just after the turn of the last century, Walter Burt Adams spent his childhood in Fargo, North Dakota and began his artistic education there through a correspondence cartooning class as a boy. After finishing high school in Fargo, Adams moved to Chicago in 1922 in order to enroll at the school of the Art Institute of Chicago. Adams’ instruction at the school with artists such as George Oberteuffer, Frederick V. Poole, Charles Wilimovsky...

A Stylized, 1950s Mid-Century Modern Studio Figure Study of a Standing Female Nude Model Undressing (Deshabille) by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). Executed i...

This is a very stylized and powerful portrait by the noted artist Frank Anderson Trapp. It is dated 1940, and is very much in the modern style of French painters Ferdinand Leger...

A vibrant and yet romantic sailing scene which was a favorite series by Della-Volpe. His compelling colorist approach has made his works desirable as he was one of the few artists post-war to be representative in style like Milton Avery and Wolf Kahn. Head to Sea has the hallmark intense and lovely coloration for which Della-Volpe is known. He came out of Abstract Expressionism in the New York school but then pivoted, like Milton Avery to representational, colorist work. The frame is a silvered gold leaf float frame of quality and has a rubbed, antiqued surface...

Spring Break, 1950s - Bonita Springs Palm Beach Florida Students Spring Break by Slim Aarons 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped C-Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. ...

A charming, vintage 1930s Modern forest landscape scene painted in Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada by notable Chicago artist, Harold Haydon. Many of Haydon's early landscape paintin...

Vintage 1962 Seattle World's Fair Poster by Earl Duff – Linen Backed. Condition A-: upper right corner restored as shown in the last enlarged photo. Size 35.5” x 25”. Capture a piec...

A stylish, vintage, 1940s fashion study featuring an elegant design for a woman's red gown, evening wear. Artwork size: 11 x 8 1/2 inches. Archivally matted to 16 x 12 inches. P...

The Gargoyle and His Quarry, Notre Dame. 1920. Etching.Fletcher 90. 7 1/8 x 5 1/4 (sheet 10 1/2 x 9 1/16). Gargoyle series #1. Edition 75. A rich impression printed on 'FJHead&Co' c...

Carlton Hotel, 1958 - Carlton Hotel Canne French Riviera South of France by Slim Aarons 16" x 16" print on 16" x 20" paper. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Pri...

A Large, Colorful, Modernist Art Deco Cubist Painting, "The Dancers" by Famed Chicago Painter and Printmaker, Charles Turzak (Am. 1899 - 1986). A large, vertical composition relating to the artist's notable 1930s woodcut of the same title. The painting is completed in a vividly textured Cubist style, with striking hues of rich greens and yellows, deep blues and rose pinks. The painting is oiI on canvas mounted to Masonite (artist's original mount), and offers a superb visual appeal. A perfect complement to any Mid-Century Modern home or collection. Artwork size: 38 x 24 inches (Framed size: 38 1/4 x 24 1/4 inches). Signed "Turzak" lower right. Provenance: Estate of the artist. Charles Turzak was one of Chicago’s greatest printmakers of the Art Deco-era. Son of a coal miner, Turzak was born in Streeter, IL in 1899. In 1920, Turzak won the first prize a cartoon contest sponsored by the Purina company and he used his prize money to enroll in the Art Institute of Chicago. Best known as a print maker, in the 1920s & 30s, he created woodcuts of many of Chicago’s most notable buildings, including the Merchandise Mart, Palmolive Building and the Old Water Tower, among others. In 1933, he was commissioned to create woodcuts of many of Chicago’s most iconic buildings to illustrate a guidebook called “All About Chicago” by John and Ruth Ashenhurst” that featured the upcoming Century of Progress Exhibition in Chicago. During the 1933 World’s Fair...

A charming, colorful 1948 Mid-Century Modern beach scene by notable Chicago artist, Harold Haydon. Depicting a sunlit beach scene with bathers and sailboats painted along the sandy ...

"Keep Shooting for America": Original Maquette by Heller (WWI-Era Patriotic Poster Study). This image is an original maquette (a preliminary painting or study) for a patriotic poste...

Scotti's Yacht, Monte Carlo, 1981 - Luxury Sailboats in Monte Carlo in Monaco by Slim Aarons 16 x 20" print. Limited Edition Estate Stamped Print. Edition of 150. Printed Later. 'S...

Jacques La Grange, 'Columbia Passes Shamrock II', color woodcut, edition 500, 1934. Signed and numbered '25/500' in pencil. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on cream wove paper,...

"Air Jordan" is an acrylic photomosaic artwork by Destro. The first release in a series mosaic works called "Icons". Destro has created large prints which are made up of many hundre...

A dynamic, unique Mid-Century Modern monoprint of a sailing regatta in Martha's Vineyard, "Edgartown Harbor", by notable Chicago Modern artist Francis Chapin. Lithograph on paper wi...

A Fine 1930s Modern Academic Figure Study Drawing, Standing Male Nude Model by Notable Chicago Artist, Harold Haydon (Am. 1909-1994). An exceptionally well executed early 1930s char...

This commanding industrial photograph dates from 1928, a pivotal year in the early career of Margaret Bourke-White, and belongs to the definitive body of work that established her as...

A Fine, Expressive 1930s Modern Figure Study Drawing of a Seated Male Circus Acrobat by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). A wonderful, early example of Chapin's ...