Fine & Decorative Art

Along with developments in lithography that led many leading talents of the day into careers as illustrators, the 20th century saw innovations in photography, printmaking, and design that revolutionized fine, public, and decorative art. Below, you will see showcased original artworks from the Art Nouveau, American Arts & Crafts, Art Deco, WPA-era and beyond.

A beautiful and serene commissioned pastel portrait of the young, wealthy blue blood high society beauty N.H. Fill. American illustrators often subsidized their earnings by taking lucrative portrait commissions from wealthy New York City Industrial Revolution aristocratic patrons. Often these jobs found the artists depicting the heiresses as glamour girl beauties in stylized, iconic, modern fashion. Gifted artist and illustrator Haskell Coffin excelled at this sort of beauty, and was best known as a cover artist contributing covers for countless American magazines including The Saturday Evening Post. His wholesome American stylized beauties also graced many Calendars for The Thos D. Murphy Calendar Company and other early twentieth century companies.

A Demure Society Girl In Pastel

Artist: Haskell Coffin

A large and bold, early 20th century patriotic German David and Goliath scene, by one of the defining “official” painters of the German empire and later, the Third Reich. This classically styled, expertly rendered scene features a highly eroticized nude David standing strong against the imposing Goliath force. This deeply allegorical mythical painting pronounces the vitality and virility of the German nation, a theme which dominated Nationalist German art throughout the late 19th and early 20th century, even as more abstract movements like German Sucessionism and the Jugendstihl gained prominence internationally.

David and Goliath

Artist: Arthur Kampf

A skillfully executed, sexy and coyly posed nude interior scene. This lovely piece is a large oil on canvas by the painter and portraitist Frederick Elwood Wallace a very well listed Virginia artist (1893-1958). His portraiture is seen in numerous museums and government offices, and he is listed in Davenports, Who’s Who In American Art, The Artists Bluebook, and countless other art references. Work retains its original wood faux painted frame. A nice, fresh, new to the market Texas Estate find.

Reclining Nude With a String of Pearls

Artist: Frederick Wallace

This stylized pastel portrait of a dashing high society fashionable blonde with bright red lips is bright, colorful, fresh and new to the market. The 1930s era portrait was most likely used for print ads for a beauty product in American glamour magazines. A large seductive example of Rolf Amstrong’s unsurpassed pastel work. A winsome idealized vision of American feminine beauty by The Father Of American Pin-up.

Smiling High Society Glamour Portrait

Artist: Rolf Armstrong

From the estate of noted wildlife artist Paul Bramson comes this unique pair of W.T. Benda mask motif plaster bookends. These were most likely a gift: they are impressed and signed by the artist as seen, and the paint effect was applied by Benda himself to create an antiquated, relic type of “found remains” appearance. Benda was a famed illustrator and exceptional mask maker and published a book in 1944 on his technique and glorious fine, often times whimsical masks.

Benda Mask Decorative Bookends

Artist: Wladyslaw Benda

A very fine arts & crafts, art nouveau aesthetic erotic nude Trumeau Mirror. The nude model is Evelyn Nesbit, the notorious Girl In The Red Velvet Swing. Manufactured by Morris & Bendien, New York and titled Fountain Of Youth. Retains its original and flat out great “bat wing,” pie-crust E.S. Curtis-esque gesso frame, with original verso paper and title on back panel as seen.

The Fountain of Youth

Artist: Morris & Bendien N.Y.

A sultry, deviant yet sensual young nude by the Hungarian-American painter Pal Fried; a prolific, wildly popular painter who specialized in ballerinas and nudes. Marked on verso stretcher ” Lita ” # 44339. Comes in original ornate lovely gesso frame. A large pristine defining example signed upper right.

Lita

Artist: Pal Fried

A beautiful and mysterious original art deco period oil on canvas, titled on verso Vanity. Art is signed in upper left, as seen, and appears to be Jochumsen. I believe the artist was a Oliver C. Jochumsen who worked in Philadelphia and later mover to Arizona and was a painter there of some merit, so much in fact the Arizona watercolor society currently awards the “Oliver C. Jochumsen” honor to new emerging artists. A delightful, Art Deco nude rendering with swans, which borrows from the Leda And The Swan motif. I cannot tell you more about this work other than that it is vintage, 1920’s, and really wonderful as a decorative art piece or perhaps as a published piece in Vanity Fair or Vogue, or another period publication.

Vanity

Artist: Oliver Jochumsen

A fantastic and phrenetic original art deco era illustration of a nude nymph sea sprite and friends riding a school of flying fish ! Original use is unknown; looks like a pulp cover or perhaps an early Science & Invention cover to these eyes . A defining and whimsical example by the American Artist Charles W. Pancoast, who is credited with illustrating the 1907 edition of BLACK BEAUTY: The Autobiography of a Horse by Dodge Publishing Company, New York.

A Nude Sea Sprite On A Flying Fish

Artist: Charles Pancoast

This is the second of a pair of institution-sized monumental hand-tinted highlighted fine art prints that were displayed in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after the turn of the last century. They found their way to a convent in the Midwest and recently went up for sale. We are proud to offer this most unusual Edwin Austin Abbey, King Lear, A Farewell To Cordelia .

King Lear

Artist: Edwin Austin Abbey

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