Stephane Magnard

French Watercolor - Rice Fields

Circa 1950

Warm and lively watercolor and ink painting of a small group of people on the fringes of a small Italian village, circa 1970. Artist unknown. Original artwork on paper displayed on ...

Soothing watercolor of a small grassy area encircled by jagged mountain peaks by A. Siegris, circa 1950. Original artwork on paper displayed on a white mat with a gold border. Mat f...

Striking watercolor of a beautiful sunset over a rocky shore along the French Riviera by French artist L. Bourlier, circa 1920. Signed lower left. Original artwork on paper display...

Mesmerizing watercolor of towering rock formations along Cape Fréhel in Brittany, France by S. Lefevre Goux, circa 1920. A peninsula located in the Côtes-d'Armor in northern Brittany...

FRANÇOIS MATHURIN ADALBERT, BARON DE COURCY (1805-1839) 'Le Negrito à l’ancre. Dans le port de la havanne' Indistinctly signed lower left Titled on the mount Pencil and watercolour, heightened with white, on paper, 24.8 x 34.6 cm Literature: The present watercolour will be illustrated in: - Prof. Manuel Garcia’s projected book on the disease and the slave trade provisionally titled “Fighting the Yellow Demon of Fever: The Struggle against Disease in the Illegal Slave Trade”. - Prof. Micael Zeuske’s forthcoming Global history of slave trade. Exhibited: Mexico City, 1998, Palacio Virreinal, El Barón de Courcy, illustrationes de un viaje, 1831-1833, no. 108 Note: Baron de Courcy was in the Caribbean in late 1832 and early 1833, following his tour of Mexico in 1832, on the last leg of his “Grand Voyage...

The idyllic atmosphere of this Mexican scene is located in Mexico, west of Mexico City and south of Guadalajara. “Red Hills Near Patzcuaro” is set in a golden light. and was one of three paintings by the artist while the artist visited Patzcuaro, Mexico. The humans depicted lend an atmosphere to the painting and an indication of location - dressed in native Mexican peasant dress - without being obtrusive and causing the viewer to concentrate on them. The intense red hills of Patzcuaro are the feature in this painting along with the pinon and juniper trees and the Chamisa shrub. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and museum glass. In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.” Charles Culver...

“Late Afternoon Landscape” is set in the golden light of evening painted in the mid-west town of Utica, Michigan. It has the atmosphere of when work is done and peace and quiet blanket the countryside. The The farm machinery has ceased its racket as has the family dog wandering about for one last sniff. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and conservative glass. In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.” Charles Culver...

The idyllic atmosphere of this local dock scene falls within a couple of styles one being regionalism, an American realist modern art movement that included paintings, murals, lithographs, and illustrations depicting scenes of rural and small-town America primarily in the Midwest and frequently associated with Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton. The other style is romanticism wherein the scene depicted is a more desired or dramatic version of what actually is. “Untitled (Dock Scene)” is typical of a small town dock scene from Michigan where Culver lived or from places as far away as Maine, but what makes it important is its easy familiarity: water, gulls or terns, slanting wood shanties, scruffy dirt patches and course grasses. It is not idealized, but does set the tone of fresh air, the scream of birds and the sun on water. This piece has been professionally reframed with acid-free matting and museum glass. In a 1952 Detroit Free Press article, entitled “Artist Explains His Work,” Culver was asked why he painted the way he did. He stated: “I try to ‘see’ though not too exactly; I try to think though not too ponderously; I feel emotion yet I try not to become overwrought. I interpret rather than describe, and design rather than depict. I work with values, not light and shade; hence, when I am successful, I achieve substance rather than three-dimensional form, and this satisfies me as being wholly sufficient. In my work I wish to be serious without becoming a bore, exuberant without being frivolous, humorous without being silly. I believe that good paintings are conceived, not contrived; and I am interested in art much more than in pictures.” Charles Culver...