Sunday, October 17, 2010

California style

A movement in watercolor painting that flourished in California between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s and "gave the traditional watercolor medium a bold new look". Leaders were a group of young artists studying at the Chouinard Art Institute and included Millard Sheets, Phil Dike, Lee Blair, Tom Craig, Barse Miller, Paul Sample, Hardie Gramatky, Emil Kosa, Jr., James Patrick, and Phil Paradise. These early exponents of the California Style were members of the California Water Color Society. They and their followers painted boldly and directly in realist style onto large sheets of paper with minimal sketching and often allowed the white of the paper to show through. Their subject matter was the landscape and genre of Southern California. In Northern California, representative leaders were Dong Kingman, George Post, and Maurice Logan. Source: Gordon McClelland and Jay Last, "The California Style"

Bay Area Figurative

The application of Abstract Expressionist technique to realistic subject matter, it was a style of painting prevalent in the Bay Area of San Francisco, California from the 1940s to 1960s. Bay Area Figurative painting began with teachers at the California School of Fine Art. Leading artists were David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Brown, Manuel Neri, Nathan Oliviera, Paul Wonner and Elmer Bischoff. The movement was a reaction to the popular Abstract Expressionism in New York. In the Bay area style, images were still quite abstract and painted with much expressionist style, but there was a rejection of total abstraction. Elements of realism such as human figures could be seen. However, these figures seldom conveyed a sense of human vitality or realism and were more like elements in a still life. For many, the Bay Area Figurative movement marked the end of the dominance of Abstract Expressionism and the return of some realism to 20th century art. Elmer Bischoff told critic Thomas Albright that Abstract Expressionism was "playing itself dry. I can only compare it to the end of a love affair." Source: Robert Atkins, "ArtSpeak"

Barbizon School

A group of French naturalist painters, their approach to painting, beginning in the 1830s, opened the door to Plein-Air Painting, Impressionism and Social Realism. Barbizon School painters were based in the village of Barbizon, France on the outskirts of the Forest of Fontainebleau. Most were landscape painters who expressed fascination with changing seasons, changing times of day and the effects of light on the landscape. Barbizon artists had no agreed-upon style, but were revolutionary because of their commitment to portraying nature as a worthwhile subject in its own right rather than something that was so remote that it could only be expressed through romanticized and sublime images. In other words, nature was something that could be experienced personally and painted subjectively and not just romantically or philosophically. Barbizon School painters often included toiling peasants in their landscapes---persons who had little time or inclination towards 'contemplation' of nature. This approach was also revolutionary in prevailing approaches to fine art, which showed preferences for genteel subjects such as aristocrats basking in the beauty of their surroundings. Barbizon artists are considered the first "plein-air" painters, those who painted directly in the outdoors rather than completing their scenes in studios from sketches. Chief among the original French Barbizon painters were Camille Corot, Francois Millet, Theodore Rousseau, and Charles Daubigny. American painters much influenced by the Barbizon School were George Inness, Homer Martin, Alexander Wyant, William Morris Hunt aand Wyatt Eaton. Eaton and Hunt lived near Millet at Barbizon. Sources: "The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art"; Kimberley Reynolds, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"

Art Deco

Art Deco was an art movement that manifested itself between the two world wars, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, and involved architecture, furniture design, decorative art, as well as painting and sculpture. The description ‘Art Deco’ means different things to different people. To some it implies opulent Parisian furnishings. To students of Modernism it suggests Minimalism in design. For others it means Manhattan skyscrapers or bakelite radios. The influence of painting movements such as Cubism, Russian Constructivism and Italian Futurism, with their abstraction, distortion and simplification, are all evident in Art Deco decorative arts. The style could be said to represent a ‘machine age aesthetic’, where the flowing, floral motifs of Art Nouveau were replaced with streamlined, geometric designs that expressed the speed, power and scale of modern technology.




At the beginning, the Art Deco movement just occurred in France, but grew to extend into Britain, Italy, other European countries, and to North America. The extensive artistic exchange between Paris, France, and New York City that occurred after World War I expanded its influence in this country, and the style caught on in the U.S. in the late 20s. Although Art Deco as a decoration style was popular in 1920s and '30s, it was not known by that name until its revival in the 1960s. The term Art Deco was derived by a British art critic from the name of the 1925 Paris Exposition des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes, which had been publicized as a celebration of living in the modern world.



Considered to be an elegant style of cool sophistication, Art Deco began as a Modernist reaction against the detailed patterns and curving lines of the Art Nouveau style. In contrast, Art Deco is more aligned with the Precisionist movement, which developed at about the same time, as it utilizes crisp, symmetrical, geometric forms. Art Deco designers use stepped forms, rounded corners, triple-striped decorative elements and black decoration, and experimented with industrial materials such as metals, plastics, and glass. Although the style was originally started in Europe, it had strong effect on architecture and interior design in the United States. Especially in New York City, Art Deco reached the height of its achievement in soaring skyscrapers of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Examples would be the Chrysler, Daily News, and Empire State buildings. Because many Art Deco buildings went up during a period of economic collapse known as the Great Depression, the style is sometimes known as ‘depression moderne’.



Art Deco in fine arts, like sculptures, paintings, handmade crafts, and glass, were based on simple format, clean lines, and vivid colors. Practitioners of the style in the United States include names such as Gilbert Rohde for his furniture and Donald Deskey (1894-1989) for his industrial design. In the realm of graphic design, Art Deco has sometimes been referred to as the "Cassandre Style" after the well-known posters of French artist Adolphe Mouron-Cassandre (1901-1968). Born in the Ukraine, and mainly based in Paris, Cassandre lived in New York for periods of time between 1936 and 1938. He created covers for Harper’s Bazaar and was given a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Cassandre’s sleek designs of towering ships and speeding trains are still considered quintessential Art Deco images.



The main characteristics of Art Deco are derived from a variety of avant-garde painting styles of the early twentieth century. It also was a ‘modernization’ of various artistic styles from the past, and showed the influence of everything from Far and Middle Eastern design, to Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and even Mayan themes. Works might include aspects of Cubism, Constructivism, and/or Futurism.



In response to the growing impact of the machine in the 1920s, Art Deco often celebrated the rise of technology, commerce, and speed. Machines, gears, and wheels were visible in images, and streamlined forms, inspired from the principles of aerodynamics, were also used. Shapes might be simplified, distorted, or abstracted, and colors were often intense. Particularly well-known artists within the movement were painter Tamara de Lempicka (1890-1980) who was born in Poland, but ultimately settled in Hollywood, where she was an artist of the stars. Russian-born painter and fashion illustrator Romain de Tirtoff (‘Erte’) (1892-1990) went by the name Erte (after the French pronunciation of his initials), and for over twenty years created memorable covers for Harper’s Bazaar. The resulting high visibility of his style had significant influence on the Art Deco movement.



The paintings of James C. Ewell (1889-1963) were recognizably figurative, but influenced by modernism and the Art Deco style, as was the work of John McCrady (1911-1968). Some of the work of Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1893-1953) was decorative with Art-Deco motif, such as the wall paintings he did in Radio City Music Hall in New York. Many of the works of sculptor Paul H. Manship (1885-1966) show a strong Art Deco influence, as do the sculptures of Wilhelm Hunt Diederich (1884-1953), who is known for his stylized Art Deco figures and animals in iron. Boris Lovet Lorski (1894-1973) is noted for bronze female sculptures with impossibly narrow, boyish hips, bodies broadening as they rise to the shoulders, and wide-spread arms, seemingly created by the artist to be almost mechanized, gleaming and streamlined like the latest airplanes, motorcars, and other machines and technology that found particular expression in Art Deco. Through the 1940's, California artist Jason (‘Jessie’) Emerson Herron (1900 - 1984) was among the leading women sculptors of California. Especially active in Southern California during the WPA era, her Art Deco style sculptures can be found in several public buildings and monuments. With her colleague, Henry Lion (1900-1966) Herron created the Art Deco figure, ‘Power of Water’ for Lafayette Park in Los Angeles.



In architecture, William Van Alen, the designer of the Empire State Building, is considered to have created one of the greatest Art Deco buildings. Also in New York, the Art Deco plaques on the exterior wall of Radio City Music Hall were created by muralist and mosaicist Hildreth Meiere (1892-1961). Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) used Art Deco elements in the shapes of many of his buildings, such as the exterior of the Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, Iowa; the textile block patterns of his Ennis house in Los Angeles; and in his decorative trims as well as stained glass and light screens.



Visually somewhat similar to Art Deco is Precisionism, another art movement that developed at about the same time. Known also as Cubist Realism, Precisionism represented objects in a realistic manner, but with an emphasis on geometric form.



Evidence of the ongoing interest in Art Deco is evident in the influence the style has had on contemporary artists, designers, and architects, one example being Art Deco revivalism in architecture that recalls the fantasy stages of 1930s Hollywood productions.

Abstract Expressionism oil paintings

Often credited as the first uniquely American style, Abstract Expressionism is a movement that developed in American painting during the 1940s and 1950s, and at that time generally referred to all types of non-geometric abstraction. It was the first American visual art to gain international status and influence. The term, commonly associated with post-war American art, was first used in 1946 by an American critic, in referring to the work of Arshile Gorky (1904-1948), Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) and Willem de Kooning (1904-1997).

Abstract Expressionism does not describe a style as much as it does an attitude. Its roots are in European Neo-Expressionism, which came across the ocean with expatriate avant-garde artists such as Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) who fled Nazi Germany for New York City and Hans Hofmann (1880-1966), who became a chief exponent as painter and teacher in America of Abstract Expressionism. Many post-war American artists felt weary of European-linked art such as Impressionism and Classicism, and sought new directions. Typically these new artists applied paint rapidly in an effort to show feelings and emotion. Not all of their art was abstract or expressive, but they felt that through spontaneity they would release the creativity of their subconscious minds. Abstract Expressionist artists were influenced by Existentialist ideas, which emphasized the importance of the act of creating, not of the finished object.
There are two distinct groups within the movement: Color Field artists, such as Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Barnett Newman (1905-1970), Clyfford Still (1904-1980), and Kenneth Noland (1924- ) who worked with simple unified blocks of color and explored the effect of pure color on a canvas; and Gestural or ‘Action’ Painting artists including Pollock, de Kooning, Hofmann, Franz Kline (1910-1962), Philip Guston (1913-1980), where the focus was on the physical action involved in painting. Pollock, nicknamed ‘Jack the Dripper’, is perhaps the most sensational and famous of the action painters because of his canvases of poured paint, which he applied with arm-swinging gestures.
Because of the geographical concentration of first-generation Abstract Expressionist artists who lived within a well-defined region of New York Cityand, exponents are also known as the New York School, and the city was the center of Abstract Expressionist art after World War II. This circumstance was partly because large numbers of European artists had come to live there as refugees. New York had also became the center for young Americans returning from military service who were anxious to continue with their artistic careers. The only real connection between these artists was their philosophy, which valued individuality and improvisation, and their effort to express their subconscious through their art, as a commentary on contemporary society after the Depression and World War II. Many of these painters and sculptors showed their work in exhibitions held at the 9th Street Gallery in 1951, followed by New York School Annuals at the Stable Gallery, and some were well received, albeit controversial. Nelson Rockefeller is said to have ‘purchased over 2,500 pieces of Abstract Expressionist art’. (Shark)
While post-World War II painters including Jackson Pollock, Willem DeKooning, and Robert Motherwell (1915-1991) shared the spotlight, the era's sculptors received only modest critical and popular acclaim. However sculptors such as Seymour Lipton (1903-1986), Theodore Roszak (1907-1981), Herbert Ferber (1906-1991), David Smith (1906-1965), and Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) shared the intellectual roots and experiential culture of war that characterized the movement. Smith, Roszak and Lipton worked especially in metal, which meant that their art could not be produced as fast as paintings, and that limitation of ‘spontanaity’ may be one reason why sculptors are often overlooked in discussions of Abstract Expressionist art.
After World War II, the Congress for Cultural Freedom, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York supported exhibitions of Abstract Expressionist artworks and the work of these American artists was also exhibited in museums of Europe. The size of their canvases was striking and disturbing to some. At a Congress for Cultural Freedom exhibit in Barcelona the paintings were so large the museum’s metal doors had to be sawed off in order to get the paintings through. In La Libre Belgique it was written: "The Biggest in the World…This strength, displayed in the frenzy of a total freedom, seems a really dangerous tide. Our own abstract painters seem pygmies before the disturbing power of these unchained giants.” (Shark)
With continuing popularity today, the style of Abstract Expressionism is emotion and energy driven, and explores mediums, lines, shapes, colors, and textures. In addition to the above-mentioned men, some of the notable women in the first wave of Abstract Expressionists include sculptor Louise Bourgeois (1911- ), and painters Alma Woodsey Thomas (1891-1978), and Lee Krasner (1908-1984). Other important artists of note who painted in this style include: Mark Tobey (1890-1976), Enrico Donati (1909- ), Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974), William Baziotes (1912-1963), and Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967). Tobey, however, was isolated psychologically because of his focus on Oriental philosophy. The next wave of ‘second generation’ Abstract Expressionist include Sam Francis (1923-1994), Joan Mitchell (1926-1992), and Helen Frankenthaler (1928-).

Abstract Expressionism is no longer regarded as leading edge, having been replaced by a variety of other ‘isms’, but many artists reflecting that style continue to be some of the most recognized in the art market today. Other participating artists remain little known for a variety of reasons including abandonment of the style, little marketing promotion, racial discrimination and inability to get gallery exhibition space. The artist list accompanying this essay reflects the better and lesser-known early Abstract Expressionists including some who totally turned away from the style.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Melikoff Charles Melikoff Oil /Canvas Marseilles Fishing Village Original signed

Charles Melikoff original oil on canvas , signed

 A nice image of a French Fishing Village By Charles Melikoff
Notes on the back of the Painting Writen on the wooden frame by I presume the artist.
"Marseille Martique ,Village des Pescheurs"
Meaning- Marseille Martinique Fisherman Village.
Awesome piece , All original .
Beautifull and stunning original piece by famous French artist
Charles Melikoff.
Frame Dimensions : 28x36
Piece Dimensions : 24x32”


$3200.00
























Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Laurence Edwardson Oil Masonite Plymouth Notch VT 1964

Laurence Christie Edwardson was born in Waltham, Massachusetts in 1904 and lived part of his life in Kensington, Connecticut. Much of his painting career was spent in New England and New Orleans, Louisiana. His work includes many Louisiana landscapes, portraits and religious subjects; and one of his modernist works is in the Historic New Orleans Collection.
Edwardson studied at the Hartford Art School; with Gifford Beal, Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts; Edward Dufner, New Britain Art League; A. Jones; and S. Nichols. He was a member of the Connecticut Art Association. He exhibited at the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, 1930 - 1945 (prizes); New Haven Paint & Clay Club, 1941; and New Britain Institute, 1942 - 1946.
Stunning original oil on Masonite. A vibrant and absolutely beautiful painting.



Larry Christie Edwardson (American/New Orleans, 1904-1995) ,"Plymouth Notch Vermont 1964", oil on masonite, signed lower right, signed and titled en verso
Signed by artist Larry Edwardson 1964.
Also marked on the back
"Plymouth Notch Vermont 1964 Larry Edwardson 47 Fifth Ave. NYC."
The art is in excellent condition and seems to be in its original frame.
The frame is 17 1/2" x 41 1/2"
The Masonite board is 12"x36"
The matting could use a cleaning .
Will be packed with extreme care.
There are several comparable paintings available Oils on Masonity from the same artist and they all fall within the asking price.
Free shipping in the Continental US only all others ask for quote.
All shipments are insured.
Stunning original oil on Masonite. A vibrant and absolutely beautiful painting.

$1850.00