Catalog (165)

A beautiful original oil painting a view of Windsor Castle c.1920. Oil on canvas signed lower left with two exhibit labels on the reverse from New York exhibitions c.1930 the artists Santa Barbara address and shipping label as well. In very fine all original condition in original frame measuring approx. 25 x 32inches framed 32.5 x 39.5 . A fine museum quality painting would be a fine addition to any collection. 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. They 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 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. Cooper died in Santa Barbara. Sources: Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940

Antique East Asian Bronze Standing Buddha measuring an impressive 7.0" W x 28.0" H x 9.0" D . This superb sculpture depicts the Buddha meditating with his hands in the Abhaya mudra of dispelling fear. Abhaya is translated from Sanskrit as fearlessness. It is made with the open palm of the right hand extending outwards at the chest level or slightly higher. The condition is consistent with a dating from the 19th century it would make a superb addition to any collection of Asian antiques, Buddhist objects or art related to Buddhism. The original Buddha, Sakyamuni Gautama, or Gautama Siddhartha, was born in India in the 5th-6th century B.C. He was born into a noble family, but left this life to lead the life of a wandering ascetic and thinker. Reflecting on the human condition one night while sitting under a Bodi tree, he awoke to find he had realized nirvana, the state of absolute beatitude, and would not be reborn again. He traveled the land, meditated, gained wisdom, and along the way realized impermanence was an undeniable, inescapable fact of life. The rest of his life was spent as a preacher, his teachings contained in a series of documents called the Sutras.

This image of the Buddha is in a naturalistic style most probably prompted by colonial influences. It has been carved in wood, lacquered and gilded and inset with glass fragments backed with coloured foil (known as hman-zi- shwei-cha) and overlaid thayo work, a process whereby thin, rolled strands of lacquer and ash putty are applied in patterns. The image is in the Mandalay style and shows the Buddha seated in vajrasana, with his right hand gesturing to the earth in the bhumisparsa mudra position. It is probably the most characteristic form of religious sculpture in Burma (Lowry, 1974). The posture, known as 'calling the earth to witness', represents the moment when the Buddha was seated in meditation under the Bodhi tree during the evening before his enlightenment. Mara asked him to name anyone who would give evidence that he had given alms, and the Buddha motioned to the earth with his right hand and said that the earth would bear witness to that - in a previous incarnation when he was known as Vessantara, he had given alms to such an extent that the earth had begun to quake. The image shows the Buddha seated on a low platform or socle and dressed in ample robes with naturalistic folds and pleating. Earlier images of the Buddha across Southeast Asia tended to show the monastic robes in a much more schematic way. The eyes have been inlaid with a white material, usually described as mother-of-pearl, with black pupils probably painted on with black lacquer. The cranial protuberance (unisha) is rounded and the head decorated with tight curls in low relief. Unusually, the curls are arrayed in a pattern on the back of the head, rather than being in a more typical, somewhat random manner. The image has been lacquered with black lacquer and then gilded. Overall, the image is very sculptural and decorative: the naturalistic flow of the robes, and the refinement of the face, are particularly pleasing.37"T x 32"W x 24"D. In good antique condition some minor losses and age cracking.

A beautiful antique art nouveau era portrait of a woman seated in a classical setting. Gouache on art board signed lower right J. Ramsperger. Presented matted and framed in a contemporary gallery frame. The image measures 15.5 x 20" and overall framed size 21" x 25". In very good antique condition.

Original antique 16th Century woodcut Engraving by Virgil Solis C.1550 signed with monogram lower left. Text on versoImage measures 4.25" x 3" Presented Matted and framed overall size 7" x 9". Bio. Virgil Solis or Virgilius Solis (1514 – 1 August 1562), a member of a prolific family of artists, was a German draughtsman and printmaker in engraving, etching and woodcut who worked in his native city of Nuremberg. Solis’ early drawing style employed strong outlines and simple hatching and he aimed to produce popular, commercially successful prints on many subjects. The most notable aspect of Solis’ work is his skillful absorption and re-interpretation of other artist’s styles, particularly Albrecht Dürer, Peter Flötner, Sebald Beham and many others of French, German, and Italian origin. Solis’ woodcuts illustrating Ovid were especially influential, though partly borrowing from earlier illustrations by the French artist Bernard Salomon

A beautiful colorful abstract oil painting by Ken Stabler signed on verso and dated 1961. Presented ready to hang with a thin wood ebony color frame. Canvas size 20 x 24 inches overall 20.5 x 24.5 inches. In excellent vintage condition.

A beautiful antique oil painting of a Girl in a bonnet Holding a Flower Basket. Early 19th century English oil on canvas in original antique frame. Overall size 32ʺW × 2ʺD × 41ʺH in good antique condition minor imperfections commensurate of age.

Vintage Modernist Watercolor Americas Cup Yacht Sailing Races by Willard Bond. Presented matted and framed. Biography By DENNIS HEVESI Published: June 10, 2012 In First Around, one of Willard Bond's best-known paintings, two towering yachts are caught in a roiling sea. The one to the fore is rounding a mark, sharply heeled in the wind, its crew crammed by the upper rail to keep it from capsizing. It has not yet raised its spinnaker, the balloonlike sail toward the bow. Perilously close by, the other boat has just turned the marker, its billowing spinnaker a virtual rainbow of iridescent pink, blue, maroon and white. All this is captured in Mr. Bond's bold, swirling strokes that verge on the abstract. "Bond creates paintings, not around what boats look like, but what it feels like to be aboard or nearby, watching them move fast — big, speeding boats, often only inches apart," J. Russell Jinishian wrote in his 2003 book, Bound for Blue Water, a comprehensive study of marine art. "Crews scramble, sails drop and raise in a flurry of activity," Mr. Jinishian wrote. "The tension is high, adrenaline pumps, orders are yelled, spray flies, seas and heads pound, your whole world spins as you are unconscious of everything else around you. If you want to know what it is like to be in the heat of a yacht race, just look at a painting by Willard Bond." Mr. Bond, whose images line the walls of thousands of homes — particularly those of avid sailors — died of congestive heart failure on May 19 in Yountville, Calif., his daughter, Gretchen Bond de Limur, said. He was 85. Until moving to California several months ago to be near his daughter, Mr. Bond had divided his time between his apartment in Brooklyn Heights and the 30-foot-high geodesic dome he built decades ago as a second studio near Barryville, N.Y., in the Catskills. Even there, he could conjure up images of sailing vessels and the sea. In Knarr Class, Mr. Bond depicted the copious mast of a wooden racing boat. Against a glowering sky, with perhaps a storm on the horizon, the boat is tilted toward its port side. Subtle blues, greens and grays blend in the water and the clouds, with white dots hinting of structures on the distant coast. Over five decades as a marine artist, Mr. Bond created hundreds of watercolor and oil paintings, "everything from cruising sailboats to America's Cup yachts," said Jeffrey Schaub, owner of the Annapolis Marine Art Gallery in Maryland and a longtime representative of Mr. Bond. He said Bond originals sell for up to $30,000, his limited-edition lithographs for up to $1,000, and his posters for up to $45. "Willard Bond was an original," said Jeanne C. Potter, director of the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. "Willard would often hear from the sailors who raced that that is the way it is out there, and that he was the only artist that got it." He found his passion as a teenager sailing on Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, where his grandparents owned a houseboat. Willard Gordon Bond was born in Colfax, Wash., on June 7, 1926, to Arthur and Hallie Gilleland Bond. The family later moved to Lewiston, Idaho. When not sailing on Lake Coeur d'Alene, the young man worked for several summers as a fire spotter for the United States Forest Service. After serving in the Navy in the Pacific from 1944 to 1946, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago, then moved to New York to study at the Pratt Institute, from which he graduated in 1949. In a loft on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Mr. Bond began creating large-scale abstract oil paintings and ceramic murals while supporting himself as a set designer, lighting technician and occasional actor in Off Broadway theaters. In the early 1970s he went to the island of Jamaica, where, inspired by Buckminster Fuller, he built geodesic-dome homes in the jungle, as well as two large domes for a school, commissioned by the Peace Corps. It was after returning to New York in 1976 and becoming a pier master at the South Street Seaport — he welcomed the tall ships of Operation Sail to New York Harbor for the bicentennial celebration — that Mr. Bond turned to marine art. His works began selling at galleries. At the same time, his daughter said, he sailed his own small boat off Long Island before graduating to a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, which had long been used for oyster dredging. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Bond is survived his longtime partner, Lois Friedel Bond (they were once married, then divorced and then began living together again in Brooklyn), and two grandchildren. His first two marriages also ended in divorce. Not all Mr. Bond's paintings reflect a turbulent sea. There is an almost palpable peace to his "Running Home," an oil painting that depicts four yachts far in the distance, their sails — black and white, red and white, blue and white, and pure red — full as they head to port at the end of a day of racing. "Running" means that the wind is behind them

A beautiful antique oak jewelry box with silver on copper mounted art nouveau decorative panels with cherubs having a bacchanal with wine and music and other design motifs and trims circa 1900. The box opens two a plush lined interior with two tiers one with divider and ring or pocket watch holder. Measuring 9.0" W x 5.0" H x 6.25" D in good antique condition minor age imperfections.

An original vintage circa 1930 oil painting a portrait of the Sailing Ship "The Canton Packet" by Harry Hambro Howe. Oil on canvas measuring 16 x 20" signed lower right titled and inscribed on the verso information about the ship. Presented in the original antique frame. Written on verso: "A famous ship which preceded the true clipper ships she was built at Boston in 1841 was commanded by Captain John Land and proved very fast. Her success set the builders New York, Boston and Portsmouth to turning out clipper ships. She carried cannons for protection against pirates". Artist Biography The son of Captain T Bailey Howe, master of a Nantucket whaler and painter, Harry Howe became an oil painter of marine and landscape subjects. He was born in Boston and remained based there most of his life, although he traveled widely. He took art lessons from his father. One of his favorite subjects was clipper ships such as his "John Bertram" and "Witchcraft", which were built respectively in Medford, Massachusetts in 1851 and Boston in 1850. This subject was popular in the East among persons who appreciated their importance to the history of that city. Among his landscape subjects were Mount Chocorua in New Hampshire, Gloucester in Massachusetts, Clearwater in Florida, and the Upper Kennebec River in Maine. Exhibition cities included Houston, Texas in 1940 at the Rose Room of the Rice Hotel. According to The Houston Chronicle review of that show, February 4, 1940: "Harry Howe . . .would rather paint boats than anything. . . he studied in Maine and New Hampshire" . . . His landscapes are mostly of the Maine country and scenes of the Presidential Range, Mounts Monroe, Washington, Adams, Baldface and Chocorua". In that same review, the artist was quoted as saying: "When my father taught my brother and me to paint, the darker, heavier paints were the vogue of the day. I always wanted to get into the lighter tones, and when I began to express my own ideas rather than those of my father, I developed brighter, more cheerful scenes. Today economics influences art. The modern trend of building has reduced the size of rooms, therefore, the heavy dark paintings which had to be viewed from a distance to be appreciated are becoming passe. . .Such pictures are only appropriate for museums exhibits, where there is plenty of room." When asked for an opinion on modern art, Mr. Howe's only response was that if he "were hit real hard on the head with a hammer, he might be able to produce something in the abstract, but so long as he remained normal, he just couldn't see it."

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

David Cox Original oil painting 1844 signed lower right titled on reverse Manorbier Castle South Wales. Oil on board measuring approx. 30 x 40 inches. Biography

David Cox was an English landscape painter, one of the most important members of the Birmingham School of landscape artists and an early precursor of impressionism.

Beautiful antique original Italian watercolor landscape painting of a waterfall and castle ruins by Vincent Blatter signed lower left. Presented matted and framed. Vincent Blatter (1843 - 1913) was active/lived in Italy. Vincent Blatter is known for painting landscapes. Overall framed size 15 x 20" excellent condition.

Antique American running horse gold gilt copper body weathervane, a beautiful example with great lines and form in typical antique condition with some wear denting and bullet holes. Mounted on a black painted wood display stand measuring approx. overall length 29 inches. A fine piece would make a great decorative accent piece for any interior antique or modern.

Original Vintage French Nude Female Drawing by Aristide Maillol (1861 - 1944) Pastel Pencil Conte Crayon on paper signed lower right with the artists monogram as was typical of his drawings. Presented matted and framed in a quality gallery gold gilt frame. Drawing measuring sight 7.5" x 13.5" overall framed size 14.5" x 20". Aristide Maillol (1861 - 1944) was active/lived in France. Aristide Maillol is known for Female figure drawing, sculpture, painting, woodcut illustration. Aristide Maillol was born in Banyuls, France in 1861. Maillol's early career was spent mainly as a tapestry designer, but he also painted. In 1881, Aristide Maillol moved to Paris, where he first attended a drawing course at the École des Beaux-Arts as a student of the painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme. In the meantime, he took classes in sculpture at the arts college, before returning to the Academy, where he remained until 1893. Maillol's recognition as a sculptor grew only gradually, forcing him to earn his livelihood with the restoration of stucco work. Success ensued after an exhibition in 1902, in which Ambroise Vollard presented 33 of Maillol’s works. Two years later, he was included in a publication by Julius Meier-Graefe and made the acquaintance of his most important patron, the German art collector Harry Graf Kessler, with whom he traveled on several occasions and executed important commissions. In 1913, Maillol had his first exhibition abroad, in Rotterdam. This was followed by exhibitions at the Armory Show in New York and later at the Berlin gallery of Alfred Flechtheim, the Kunsthalle Basel, and the Petit Palais in Paris on the occasion of the World Exhibition in Paris. Maillol initially devoted himself to painting, was a member of the Nabis group, and created tapestries. From the mid-1890s on, he created primarily sculptures in plaster, wood, and bronze. The main theme of his sculptural oeuvre is the female body. Today Maillol's works can be found at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich.

A Beauriful vintage American Impressionist oil painting of a wooded fall landscape by Harry Leslie Hoffman. Oil on artist canvas presented in a quality gallery frame stamped with the artists estate stamp on verso and titled Old Lyme. Oil on canvas board measuring 12 x 16" overall size 18ʺW × 1ʺD × 22ʺH. In excellent vintage condition minor restorations. Artists Biography; Harry Leslie Hoffman was born 16 March 1871 at Cressona, Pennsylvania. He was long associated with the Old Lyme Colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut, and had a reputation for American Impressionism. Hoffman studied at the Art Students League, New York City, Yale Art School, and Academie Julien, Paris. In 1902 he visited Old Lyme and for the rest of his life was associated with the Connecticut art colony. In the 1920s Hoffman accompanied the Smithsonian Institution's naturalist, William Beebe (1877-1962) to British Guiana, Galapagos Islands, and Bermuda, to document the flora and fauna of those regions. During that time he perfected a method of painting undersea vistas. Using a bucket with a glass bottom, he was able to view the aquatic life of coral reefs and shallow tidal pools. Hoffman wed the painter, Beatrice Pope, and they had an active collaboration throughout their lives. He worked in a variety of media, including watercolors, oils, and clay sculpture, and found success throughout his life. In 1915 he won a gold medal at the Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, and was awarded prizes in Connecticut for his painting and sculpture. In addition to his long painting career, Hoffman was a writer, actor, and musician. He was active in the historic preservation of the Florence Griswold House, the intellectual center of the Old Lyme Colony, as a museum. Hoffman died at Old Lyme, Connecticut, 6 March 1964.

A beautiful vintage original oil painting portrait of a woman in a kimono signed lower right and stamped 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. less

A original antique Chinese Stoneware with white glaze (Cizhou ware) jar let from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) Measuring approximately 2.5" high and 3" 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 shape and glaze. The 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).