Catalog (164)

A Beautiful early California impressionist oil painting of the Santa Clara Valley San Jose and Mt. Hamilton in the distance. By Charles Henry Harmon oil on canvas signed lower right and dated 1914. A panoramic painting with California oak trees and lupine and poppy wild flowers in the fore ground looking out the Mt. Hamilton and the Bay area hills in the distance. Canvas measures 12" x 40" overall framed size 18 x 46". A wonderful early painting of what is now considered silicon valley. Charles Henry Harmon Born: 1859 - Mansfield, Ohio Died: 1936 - San Jose, California Born in Mansfield, Ohio, Charles Henry Harmon moved to San Jose, California as a youngster in 1874. At a young age, he was apprenticed to Louis Lussier, a local portrait painter. He also worked in a photography studio retouching negatives. He had no formal art training but loved to visit galleries in San Francisco and began painting in the Santa Clara Valley. He also went to many other remote areas along the Monterey Coast and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. By the turn of the century, Gumps department store of San Francisco handled his work exclusively, and his reputation was well established. In 1905, he settled a studio in Denver, and began commissions for the Santa Fe Railroad, Western Pacific and Colorado Midlands to paint scenes along their route. He spent his later years in San Jose, California where he died. Exhibition venues include Mark Hopkins Institute, 1897-98; Gump's (San Francisco), 1899; California State Fair, 1902; Berkeley League of Fine Art; California Artists, Golden Gate Park Museum, 1915; Stanford Art Gallery, 1923; Rosicrucian Art Gallery, 1949; and Triton Museum, 1971 (retrospectives). Collections: San Jose Civic Auditorium; Clarke Museum (Eureka); CSL; Denver Public Library; Santa Fe Railway. Source: Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940.

Original drawing a portrait of a man possibly a self portrait by Balthasar Klossowski de Rola, signed monogram lower right. Best known as Balthus, a French painter in the second half of the 20th century, famous for his somewhat disturbing paintings of pubescent girls and for his association with some of the greats in modern art, including Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. Balthus painted figures and landscapes in a more traditional style than his cubist and surrealist contemporaries, and throughout his career was supported primarily by other artists and dealers. He claimed to be a count, but he was also known to be a prankster who fabricated biographical details while keeping his real life story a mystery. Image site measures 8 x 10 Inches overall paper 11 x 17 inches. Minor staining top left. Provenance a private collection and Sotheby's lot 7767, Impressionist and Modern Art, New York, Thursday, February 21, 2002

Beautiful large original vintage Italian impressionist oil painting of Naples Harbor at sunset. Oil on canvas signed lower left G. Mariani. Canvas measures 24 x 36 inches. Artist Biography G. Mariani (Italian, 20th C.-), came from a family of artists who had been painting the beautiful cities and surrounding country life in and around their home of Naples, Italy, for many years. His father was the well known Italian landscape & cityscape painter Mario Mariani (Italian, 1907-) and he also had a brother, V. Mariani (Italian, 20th C.-) who was also an accomplished painter. G. Mariani loves to paint the water, the small harbors and particularly his home area of the Bay of Naples. He is well known for his coastal & seascapes views and fishing villages/marine scenes and for sunset skies which he often painted, as well as interior scenes of Italian country life. He was represented by his father Mario out of his art studio & gallery in Naples, where Mario not only represented his own work, but that of his two sons, as well as other represented artists. less DETAILS Tear Sheet Dimensions42ʺW × 2ʺD × 30ʺH

Impressionist oil painting of a Mother Child Titled "Family Outing" at Mast Cove Kennebunkport Maine by Harry Barton. Oil on 24 x 30 panel signed lower left and with estate of the artists stamp on verso. Harry Lang Barton, artist and illustrator May 12, 1908 - August 12, 2001 Born in Cleveland and raised in Seattle, Harry Barton spent his life doing the thing he truly loved--painting. Whether in the Pacific Northwest around Seattle, Hood Canal, and Puget Sound, or in the Art Students League, Central Park, and the parks and beaches of Long Island, or in Pennsylvania and New England (he often summered in Rockport, Massachusetts, and Kennebunkport, Maine), Harry's life was art. Harry's career as an artist embraced almost every medium and a great many genres: from charcoal and pen and ink to watercolor, tempura, and oil; from his early work in Seattle as a silk-screen artist and an illustrator for the Sterling Theatres and the telephone company, to his New York work as an illustrator of Western pulp fiction, detective and mystery novels, and movie and fashion advertisements, and finally to his extensive activity as a portrait and landscape painter. In the spring of 1945, he decided to study for the summer at the Art Students League in New York with Frank Reilly, and in the fall of that year he was offered work in New York as an illustrator for Gale Phillips Associates. Moving his family from Seattle, he--along with his wife Pauline and his daughters Joan and Linda--took up residence in Bayside, Queens, and soon moved to the Auburndale area of Flushing, where he had his own freelance studio and where he lived the rest of his life. Over the years his illustrations were featured in The Saturday Evening Post, Argosy, Boy's Life, Down East, and American Artist, as well as on movie billboards for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and in fashion advertising for Lord & Taylor and Gertz department stores. But his main body of work as an illustrator can be found in hard-cover and paperback novels published by such major firms as Dell, Ace Books, Dial Press, and Farrar Straus & Giroux. Harry's paintings and sketches were exhibited in the Philadelphia Museum of Art; in the Salmagundi Club, Lord & Taylor, the Smith Gallery, and Illustration House in New York in the Blue Heron Gallery in Wellfleet, Cape Cod; in the Schaff Gallery in Cincinnati; and in Mast Cove Gallery in Kennebunkport. He received a number of prizes for his work, and his paintings are held in private collections in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Harry was a member of the American Artists Professional League, the Salmagundi Club, and the Art Students League of New York, where he kept on working throughout his life, studying with--in addition to Frank Reilly--Samuel Edmund Oppenheini, William Draper, and Everett Raymond Kintsler. Harry loved the Art Students League and was very proud of being a Life Member. His Saturday jaunts to the League continued right up to the time when the League closed for the summer three months before he died. He was fortunate in being able to do what he enjoyed most to the very end of his life

A Beautiful and important historic original oil painting by Leland Curtis from the Antarctica Expedition of 1939 - 40. The scene is of Adelaide Island at Marguerite Bay. Oil on canvas signed lower right and noted from the Antarctic Exp. A historical and beautiful painting.

Biography

Born in Denver, CO on Aug. 7, 1897, Curtis was a resident of Seattle before moving to Los Angeles in 1914. He was inspired to become an artist by his teacher Rob Wagner at Manual Arts High School. After working as a bank teller and serving in WWI, he soon was able to support himself as an illustrator. He served as official artist of the U.S. Antarctica Expedition in 1939-40 and again in 1957. About 1960 he changed his residence from Los Angeles to Twenty Nine Palms, California, with summers in Moose, Wyoming. An avid mountain climber, his studio in the Grand Tetons was a rustic log cabin. In 1972 he moved to Carson City, Nevada, where he remained until his demise on March 17, 1989. He is best known for his landscapes of the High Sierra, Grand Tetons, and Antarctica. His works won dozens of medals and prizes from the early 1920s in southern California shows. Member: Carmel Art Association; Artland Club. Exh: California Art Club, 1923-27; Laguna Beach Art Association, 1924; California State Fair, 1926; Cannell & Chaffin Gallery (Los Angeles), 1926; Ebell Club (Los Angeles), 1926; Painters & Sculptors of Los Angeles, 1926-31; National Academy of Design, 1930; Toledo Museum, 1931; American Painters & Sculptors, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1931, 1937 (solo), 1946 (solo); Oakland Art Gallery, 1932; Tuesday Afternoon Club (Glendale), 1934; Golden Gate International Exhibition, 1939; California Palace Legion of

A original antique Chinese Celadon pottery jar let from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) with Chinoiserie designs under glaze. Measuring approximately 2 3/4" high and 3 3/4" wide. In very good antique condition. This fine quality Chinese celadon jarlet was probably exported to South East Asia from mainland China to Southeast Asia from mainland China. This particular piece has a good olive green glaze with two handles near the rim. Having this Chinese green-glaze ware in this collection may signify Chinese influence on Southeast Asian ceramics. For example, typical Sawankhalok green-glazed ware was largely influenced by Chinese green-glazed ware. The green glazed ware was made extensively in China by the fourth century AD, and it was exported to South-East Asia from the time of the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279).

An original vintage modernist carved wood sculpture of a female form by renowned Indian sculptor Kesavan Appukuttan Achary. Solid wood mounted on a solid wood base signed Appu the name he goes by. Measuring overall 18.5"wide by 11" high. x 5.5" deep. The actual measurements of the sculpture are 13" x 9" x 4". A beautiful example of this artists work. Born in Trivandrum in 1925, Appukuttan ( known as Appu ) (1925-1997) learned drawing and painting from the Ramavarma Drawing and Painting Institute, Trivandrum. In 1957 he joined the Regional Design Centre as a master craftsman for ivory carving and also as an artist of South Indian temple documentation. A number of his ink drawings have been included in ?Pratima Kosha? an encyclopaedia of Indian Iconography-published in VI volumes by professor S.K.Ramachandra Rao and by the Kalpatharu Research Acadamy. Appukuttan Achary received the National Award in the year 1965 for his ivory carving and also 15 awards from various state Lalit Kala Acadamies. His book "Rekha" which is to be published shortly depicts traditional motifs, designs and sculptural forms with a foreword written by the famous author and art critic Sri.Chaithanya.

One of the rarest colors ever on an American Standard Stratocaster "Razz Berry", which made its only appearance in the Oct 1 88 price list, and was dropped by the time the '89 price list was printed. Also noteworthy, this finish wasn't available on the American Standard Strat, only the "Plus" model, but was fairly common on the HM Strat from this era. The Plus model first appeared in 1987, within a year of the first American Standards, the earliest was Nov '86. Many people incorrectly identify these as 1984 models due to the "E4xxxxx" serial numbers. The fact is, the only American Strats being produced in '84, '85, and most of '86 were the USA Vintage Series, which had the serial number on the neck plate. Any "E4" serial number you come across is an late '86 at best, but most are '87 and '88, and even a few '89's. The Plus was a souped up American Standard, with an $849 retail price that was $200 higher. It has a bunch of upgraded parts, most notably a trio of gold Lace Sensor pickups, which produce almost no hum and are non-magnetic which means no magnetic string pull and, thus, longer sustain. Another innovation is the TBX (Tone Bass Expander) control for the middle/neck pickups which looks like a regular tone knob but underneath the guard it's a stacked pot - with a center detent, it works like a tone control from "5" to "1", and TBX from "6" to "10". You'll notice the headstock which has the bold silver logo of the era but...no string trees, which aren't necessary due to the staggered height Sperzel tuners. The Sperzels are excellent tuners and unlike vintage tuners you don't need to wrap the string around the tree. Just insert the string through the tuner post and cut it as close as you want - once you screw down the back it's locked into place and usually tunes to pitch in around 1/4th revolution of the post. Another innovative feature is the "tilt adjust" neck, in use since the early 70's, with access through the neck plate. With an Allen wrench you can adjust the neck angle; a great improvement removing the neck repeatedly until you find a shim with the perfect thickness. In place of the stock nut this model used an Wilkinson roller nut (later models used an LSR with bearings) which reduces friction over the nut and helps maintain tuning stability. This model is outfitted with the Schaller locking strap pins, which made their debut with the '83 Strat Elite. Although not used in 1988, later models also included a "Tremsetter" inside the trem cavity, which is a spring-loaded device that prevents de-tuning if you break a string. About this guitar: Extremely clean - a true closet classic that looks like it was played for a month or two and then put away. The frets are as clean as the day they left the factory. There are no buckle scratches and no major flaws anywhere. I would rate it around an easy 9.5 since it's amazingly clean. Also, at 7.6 lbs., it's definitely on the light side for an American Standard era ('86 - '99). If you're a collector of different colored Strats, the most rare are Tanqueray Tonic, Graffiti Yellow, and Razz Berry this would be a valuable Stratocaster in any condition due to the rarity. Includes case and trem arm

Original Albrecht Dürer woodblock print "The Flight into Egypt", from: The Life of the Virgin (B. 89; M., Holl. 201; S.M.S. 179) woodcut, circa 1504, This impression on laid paper with a Fleur de Lis watermark (Meder 122) it is an original 16th century print after the Italian edition with narrow margins with a 1 cm repaired tear top left otherwise in very good condition B. 11¾ x 8 5/16 in. (299 x 211 mm.) S. 11 7/8 x 8 5/16 in. (301 x 212 mm.) Archival framing the print is tiped to archival matte at top. An exqusite example of this important artists work.

An original oil painting on board by Cecil C. Bell signed lower center and on reverse. Measuring 22 x 30 inches. The painting of a New York nocturne featuring a Westside cowboy of the The New York central line. West Side Cowboys were employed by the City to ride in front of street-level freight trains and wave pedestrians out of the way. This was the City’s stopgap measure to stop the carnage on what was known as “Death Avenue.” The Cowboys were phased out after the High Line was built, raising train traffic to the third story of industrial buildings.

Biography

Bell was born in Seattle, WA in 1906, and he later moved to Staten Island, NY. It was in New York City where he found the inspiration for his work, the city and its people, focusing on daily life subjects. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League with John Sloan. Exhibition venues include the Corcoran Gallery, Museum of Modern Art and the Tacoma Art Museum.

Vintage original etching "The Four Horsemen" by Edward Borein etching on paper signed lower right. Presented matted and framed provenance from The Old Print Shop New York City label on verso. This etching is in the Galvin catalogue number 32 titled the Four Horsemen #2 The overall framed size is 16" tall x 18"wide the image is aproximately 10" x 12". A fine impression. Biography Edward (John Edward) Borein (1872 - 1945) Born in San Leandro, California, Edward Borein became one of the most popular artists of western scene painting, equally adept at ink drawing, watercolor, and etching. He was raised in San Leandro, a western cow town, in a family where his father was a county politician. Edward had many childhood memories of herded cattle and their cowboys, which he began sketching at the age of five. He was educated in the Oakland, California schools, and at the age of 17 began working on a ranch near Oakland and then drifted and sketched as a working cowboy throughout the Southwest, Mexico, and Guatemala. It was said that he practiced his art on anything he could find from bunkhouse walls to scraps of paper. At age 19, he enrolled at the San Francisco Art School, his only formal art training, and there he met Jimmy Swinnerton and Maynard Dixon who encouraged him in his art career. The first person to purchase his work was Charles Lummis, editor of The Land and Sunshine magazine in California, and the two became life-long friends. Borein and Lucille Maxwell were married in the Lummis home. Borein, a typical westerner in dress and manner, also became close friends with Charles Russell, actor Will Rogers, and President Theodore Roosevelt. Borein often traveled north to visit Russell in Great Falls, Montana and to travel among Indian tribes. In 1899, Borein visited Arizona while returning from Mexico. By 1902, he was a successful illustrator in San Francisco for the San Francisco Call, and in 1907 to enhance his illustration skills, went to New York to learn etching techniques. There he enrolled in the Art Students League and was a student of Child Hassam. In the theatre district, he opened a studio that became a gathering place for 'lonesome' westerners such as Charles Russell, Will Rogers, Olaf Seltzer and Oscar Borg. But Borein did not feel at home in New York, so he moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1921. This was a final move. He and his wife built a Hopi-style home, and he taught at the Santa Barbara School of the Arts until his death, and also turned increasingly from oil to watercolor painting. "On occasion Borein would decorate place cards for dinners with small watercolor skeches of cowboys, vaqueros, Indians and Bucking horses". (Santa Fe Auction) From his studio, which again attracted many of his friends, he depicted Indians, cowboys, and California ranch life and was financially successful.

An ancient Chinese Han Dynasty earthenware cocoon jar circa 206 BC-220 AD, with traces of original hand painted design motif. Cocoon jars a name derived for its the resemblance with the shape of a silk worm cocoon. They were originally used as wine storage vessels. This is a beautiful example in good ancient condition but for normal wear to surfaces. DIMENSIONS 12ʺW × 8ʺD × 10ʺH

Oil on canvas Taos Pueblo by Thadeus Welch painted in 1898. A Rare glimpse into time a historical painting of the Taos Pueblo oil on canvas measuring 18 x 24 inches in excellent all original condition. Welch studied art with Virgil Williams and was an apprentice in the studio of J. W. Ogilvy in exchange for art lessons. While there, he made the acquaintance of a wealthy patroness who financed a four-year scholarship for further study in Europe. In 1874 he sailed for Munich where he entered the Royal Academy under Dietz, Piloty, and Leibl. While in Munich he became close friends with Frank Duveneck (who painted his portrait), William Merritt. Chase, and John Twachtman. Leaving Germany, he spent nearly four years in Paris where he continued studying while living on a houseboat on the Seine. Member: Bohemian Club; San Francisco Art Association. Exhibited: Munich Academy, 1876 (bronze medal); Paris Salon, 1880. Works held: Oakland Museum; San Diego Museum; Frye Museum (Seattle); California Historical Society.

Antique 19th Century Italian watercolor painting in the Baroque style of a mountainous landscape with a stone bridge over a river. Presented in cream colored matting and a silver gold wood frame. Image size: 14" x 19", overall dimensions: 20.5" x 24.5".

Beautiful large antique original oil painting of a European village and landscape by famed American painter Colin Campbell Cooper. Oil on canvas signed and dated lower right 1907. Presented in a quality antique gold leaf frame. In good antique condition some wear commensurate of age. Biography A resident and distinguished impressionist painter of both the East and West Coasts, Colin Campbell Cooper earned an international reputation with his depictions of landscapes, florals, portraits, gardens, interiors and figures. He was especially noted for street scenes and skyscrapers of New York and Philadelphia, and his impressionist* palette was inspired by Childe Hassam, whom he met in New York beginning in the 1890s. In the later part of his life, he focused on West Coast subject matter and espoused The California Style* of watercolor painting, a bold, aggressive new oil-painting look to a medium that had traditionally been used more modestly. He was born in Philadelphia to an upper class family where the father was a surgeon, and he, the son, was encouraged by his educated family to pursue art. He was also inspired by the art he saw at the 1876 Philadelphia Exposition*. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy* of the Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins and in Paris at the Academies Julian*, Vitti, and Delecluse*. During that time, he traveled throughout Europe and painted picturesque architectural scenes, which gained him widespread recognition. Sadly many of these paintings were lost in a fire of 1896. From 1895 to 1898, he was instructor of watercolor at the Drexel Institute in Philadelphia and then moved to New York City from where he and his artist wife, Emma Lampert, traveled throughout the world in search of subject matter. On a European trip in 1912, they sailed on the Carpathia and became part of the rescue operation of the sinking Titanic, an experience that Cooper depicted in a painting, View of Steamship Carpathia passing along the edge of the ice flow after recuing survivors of the Titanic (1912). Of this event it was written by an historian that Carpathia, built 1902, "was sailing from New York City to Rijeka on the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912. Among her passengers were renowned American painters Colin Campbell Cooper and his wife Emma, journalist Lewis P. Skidmore, photographer Dr. Francis H. Blackmarr and Charles H. Marshall, whose three nieces were traveling aboard the Titanic. . . .At 4 o'clock in the morning Carpathia arrived at the scene after working her way through dangerous ice fields. Carpathia was able to save 705 people, all that survived the sinking of Titanic. Carpathia, outbound for the Mediterranean prior to the distress call, ferried the survivors to New York." (lostliners.com) The Coopers first went to California in 1915, spending the winter in Los Angeles and in 1921, settled in Santa Barbara, where he served as Dean of Painting at the Santa Barbara Community School of the Arts*. He was a member of numerous associations including the California Art Club*, Salmagundi Club*, and the National Academy of Design*. His work is in many museums including the Cincinnati Art Museum, the St. Louis Museum, and the Oakland Museum

A fine rare Pennsylvania German folk art brides box c. 1830 in very good antique condition with all original antique paint. Old german script reads, "SCHAU ES NUR AN WIE DU WILLST EX IST DES VATERS EBENBILD". ROUGHLY TRANSLATES TO "SEE IT THE WAY YOU WANT IT IS YOUR FATHER'S LIKENESS. Measuring approx. 19 x 12 x 7 inches a Museum quality American folk art piece.

Original N.C. Wyeth oil painting on art board title "Lumber" commissioned by Coca Cola company in 1943 for a series of posters in American industry. Signed lower right measuring 21 x 31 inches in excellent condition. A fine addition to any collection of American Art.

Biography

N. (Newell) C. (Convers) Wyeth (October 22, 1882-October 19, 1945), is one of the most celebrated illustrators in the history of art. He grew up on a farm in New England, and studied at the Massachusetts Normal Arts School where he attended classes taught by illustrators Eric Pape and Charles W. Reed. During 1902-04 he studied with the great illustrator Howard Pyle in Wilmington, Delaware. Wyeth accepted a commission from Scribner's and the Saturday Evening Post to paint western scenes, and traveled in the west to gain first hand knowledge of subjects. He worked as a ranch hand in Colorado and rode mail routes in New Mexico and Arizona. In 1906, Wyeth and Carolyn Brenneman Bockius were married in the Wilmington Unitarian church, and they made their home in nearby Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. The focus of his painting soon shifted to the land and people of the region in which he lived. In 1911, Wyeth won a commission from Charles Scribner's Sons to illustrate a new edition of R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island, a work that made him famous. He provided illustrations for dozens of other classic books, including Kidnapped (1913), The Black Arrow (1916), The Legends of Robin Hood (1917), The Last of the Mohicans (1919), and The Yearling (1939).

A beautiful original antique oil painting of a young woman with flowers by Emile Eisman-Semenowsky Paris circa 1900. Oil on wood panel signed lower left and noted Paris. Presented in the original antique ornate picture frame with name plaque on center bottom. Panel measures 9.5" x 13" overall framed size 21.0" W x 24.5" H x 3.0" D. Emile Eisman-Semenowsky was born in Poland and was of Jewish descent. Little is known about his childhood and education. In the 1880s and 1890s, he spent several years in Paris, where he created the majority of his oeuvre. Semenowsky was influenced by oriental subjects, a widespread phenomenon in French 19th century art. His favorite subjects were depictions of women in oriental and antique-style costumes and genre scenes. His works were very popular among Parisian bourgeoisie, and many of his works were purchased by American collectors.