MADEWOOD Plantation Bayou La Fourche Louisiana Watercolor signed JR* 1942

What an interesting scene and subject. I researched this historic Southern Plantation built in 1846 and learned what a “Bayou” actually is and in particular Bayou La Fourche. Also found out that the New York artist Hunt Slonem bought it in 2018.

THE BATHERS, BERNARD LANGLAIS, LISTED AMERICAN ARTIST

“THE BATHERS” Watercolor on paper 16” x 20 3/4” Gold frame: 25 1/4” c 32 1/4” Bernard LANGLAIS 1921-1977 BERNARD LANGLAIS BIOGRAPHY Bernard Langlais was born in Old Town, Maine. He showed an early proclivity for drawing and left Maine after high school to study commercial art at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. He earned scholarships to the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and the Brooklyn Museum Art School, as well as a Fulbright Scholarship to study the paintings of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in Oslo. Working in New York in the 1950s, Langlais developed a modernist painting style characterized by landscapes and still lifes with bold colors and flattened perspectives, while also experimenting with hard-edge abstraction and painterly expressionism. In 1956, while renovating his summer cottage in Cushing, Maine, Langlais was captivated by working with scraps of wood, which he arranged to create a mosaic-like wall composition. He termed the process “painting with wood” and emphatically abandoned oil painting to explore this new medium. His abstract wood reliefs immediately caught the attention of the New York art world and were included in the watershed exhibition New Forms–New Media at the Martha Jackson Gallery in 1960, in a solo exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1961, and at the Whitney Museum’s 1962 Drawing and Sculpture Annual. Despite his commercial success, by the mid-1960s Langlais became disenchanted by the pressures of New York gallery culture. Interested in working on a larger scale, he purchased a farmhouse in Cushing and moved permanently to his native state. In the last eleven years of his life, he constructed more than sixty-five monumental wood sculptures on the land around his home, including his best-known commission, the over seventy-foot-tall Indian for the town of Skowhegan, Maine. During this period he also produced a massive oeuvre of two- and three-dimensional works exploring the patterns, textures, and expressive powers of the animal kingdom. Late in his career, Langlais was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an honorary degree from the University of Maine, and a Ford Foundation Purchase Award, among other accolades. Following his death in 1977 at the age of 56, memorial exhibitions of his work were shown at Maine Coast Artists in Rockport, Maine (now the Center for Maine Contemporary Art), and at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. In 2002, the Portland Museum of Art mounted Bernard Langlais: Independent Spirit, a survey of the artist’s work in wood. In 2014, the Colby College Museum of Art presented the exhibition Bernard Langlais, the first scholarly retrospective on the artist, accompanied by a 256-page, hardcover catalogue.

c. 1935 William Hugh Ferguson WPA Era Surrealist Portrait of Androgynous Figure

This listing is for the exceptional, museum-quality portrait by William Hugh Ferguson (American, 1905-1985) pictured above. This incredibly unusual portrait circa 1935 depicts an unidentified, androgynous sitter with a massive facial scar. Behind the figure is a surrealist background with numerous symbolic images, hidden figures, architectural elements, and a landscape. Ferguson appears to combine two major styles of the period, including American regionalism and European surrealism. This is one of the artist’s finest works, which are nearly impossible to find outside of institutional collections. The work is an oil on canvas and is signed “William H. Ferguson” in the lower left/center. Provenance: The painting has been owned by family friends of the artist for several decades. This is the first time the work is being offered to the public. Size: The painting measures 28 inches tall by 22 inches wide. It is framed, measuring 34 inches tall by 28 inches wide in total. Condition: Very good condition with minor in-painting on the left side of the image near the nude figures. The painting was recently professionally cleaned to reveal the original, vibrant colors. The frame has typical wear and some minor losses/cracks. It is ready to be displayed and enjoyed. About the artist: William Hugh Ferguson was a PAFA graduate, winning the prestigious Cresson Prize twice (1926-1927) and traveling to Paris, while he was deeply influenced by the French surrealist movement. He exhibited at PAFA twenty times between 1925 and 1952. His works can be found in numerous private and public collections including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the Reading Public Museum. This work will be carefully packed and shipped with insurance and signature confirmation. Free local pick up is also available. International buyers – please note I cannot lower the declared value of the package for customs. I frequently receive messages from people after I sell an item, asking if it is definitely gone. If something catches your eye, don't hesitate to inquire before it is sold! Feel free to ask any questions.

Benny Cohn (American,1896) Mythological Figures. ca. 1940s. Fine Modernism.

Benny Cohn (American, 1896–1980) Mythological Figures Dimensions. Framed. 17 x 13 in. / 43 x 33 cm. Watercolor and gouache on artist-grade watercolor paper. Signed Benny Cohn lower right. Date: ca. 1940s. A fine mid-20th century modernist composition by American painter Benny Cohn. Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is included. Shipping to U.S. Buyers Shipped securely with DHL Express (tracked). Original artworks (HS 9701) are duty-free when imported into the United States. Buyers may be responsible for local state taxes and standard courier processing fees.

Item Tag: 1925-1949