Ashcan School

This is a gritty Ashcan School-influenced Social Realist depiction of several wounded WW II-enlisted Navy Men reloading a rocket launcher while under heavy attack. A large watercolor-on-artists-paper by the very well listed Boston artist Henry O’Connor, who was a member of the Boston Art Club, president of the Artist Fellowship in New York City and The Salmagundi Club. O’Connor’s work appeared in McClure’s magazine, he illustrated several U.S. Navy books, and did presidential portraits of Roosevelt and his son.

WWII Ashcan School Battle Scene

Artist: Henry O'Connor

From a recent east coast estate auction, Grapefruit Moon Gallery is delighted to have acquired a previously unseen collection of American Impressionist oil paintings dating to the 1940s and executed in a WPA, Regionalist, and often times stark Ashcan School design aesthetic. These are the work of the important American photo-journalist Alfred Statler, who was […]

New York City Crossing Street Light

Artist: Alfred Statler

Train Platform At Night

Artist: Alfred Statler

A large and colorful erotic and very well executed 1930s art deco-era fine art oil painting by the Lithuanian-American artist Jack Levitz. A Jewish immigrant who settled in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Levitz’s social realist/Ashcan school style recalls George Luks and Everett Shinn. This oil on canvas shows a seedy New York City burlesque hall, with a […]

The Burlesque Dancer

Artist: Jack Levitz

Working within the gritty and near-apocalyptic style of the ashcan school, Paul Raphael Meltsner captures here the shimmying decadence of movement that defined Depression-era burlesque, as well as the art form’s manner of dehumanizing both performer and patron. Though brazenly showcasing her human form, the dancer in the foreground hides her face from the canvas, and the audience recedes into the merest suggestion of faces represented merely as forms. This is a moving and masterful artwork, reminiscent of the works of Everett Shinn, a contemporary of Meltsner’s.

The Faceless Crowd

Artist: Paul Meltsner

This Everett Shinn pencil & gouache artwork offers a humorous take on class relations, and seemingly, the effects of intoxication. A well-heeled gentleman is shown face down in the grass as an unflappable butler bends down to assess the situation. Shinn was renowned for his ability to capture the minute distinctions of society and debauchery, and this artwork displays his fluid and lively style.

Yes, Sir

Artist: Everett Shinn

A genuinely magical illustration from the 1940 John C. Winston Co.’s publication of the Oscar Wilde classic The Happy Prince and Other Tales. This watercolor on board is a colorful and evocative rendering of the climactic scene from Wilde’s emotionally complex parable of Christian love. The illustration depicts the selfish giant gazing upon the boy who warmed his heart, as the boy bleeds from stigmata-like wounds. Everett Shinn was the youngest of a loosely associated group of New York-based social realist illustrators who were termed, by their critics, the Ashcan school, for their gritty style, often ugly depictions of humanity, and fixation on urban scenes. Shinn’s illustrators today are revered for the manner in which these themes are juxtaposed with gentle beauty.

The Selfish Giant

Artist: Everett Shinn