Moshe Katz

Untitled - Fisherfolk

1966

Artist: Sakurai Takami - Japanese (1928-2016) Title: Invitation to the Paradise ST#11 Year: circa 1972 Medium: Oil on Canvas Sight size: 18 x 24 inches. Framed size: 21 x 27 inches Signature: Unsigned. Label on old frame Condition: Very good Frame: Framed in original frame. Frame in poor condition This oil on canvas is by the noted avant garde Japanese artist Sakurai Takami (1928-2016). It was created sometime between 1971, when Takami lived in San Francisco and was a member of and exhibited with the “Konnyaku Commune” and 1978 when he exhibited with the Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco. This painting was purchased from the Vorpal Gallery. The painting is in very good condition. It is unsigned, but the title is on the side of the metal frame. The frame is fine, but the mat is stained and in poor condition. I will include the frame for protection and provenance. Sakurai was a main member of the avant-garde art group “Kyushu-ha”. Kyushu-ha” created a major trend among contemporary art in post-war Japan, which spread from Fukuoka to the whole country and also France, the United States and other overseas countries. Throughout his life he was very dramatic; his enormous and diverse works are energetic and face us with the true meaning of expression. Initially his main focus was on informal paintings, but it gradually expanded towards anti-artistic objects and performances. His works are characterized by the usage of materials that are connected with the smell of a workers life, such as coal tar, asphalt, woven mats and dungarees (jute bag). Shortly after Kyushu-ha disbanded in 1968, Sakurai Takami moved to San Francisco. From 1973 onward, he lived in France. The people and faces in Sakurai’s paintings are coloured red, so that the colour, a symbol of heat, becomes a “social sign”. Each person has a life of their own, while at the same time expressing the colourful life of human communities, like the hippies. His theme may be drawing “humanity and the universe” with a loving embrace of “peace” and “life”. 1953 graduated Fukuoka Liberal Arts University 1955 40th Nika Art Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 1956 Persona Exhibition, outer west side of the Fukuoka prefectural office 1957-68 part of Kyushu-ha 1965 went to the United States (~’67) 1970 “Kanousei e no Ishi“ Kitakyushu Hachiman Museum of Art Kyushu: Trends in Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Fukuoka Bunka Hall Sakurai Takami solo exhibition, Fukuoka Bunka Hall went to the United States for the second time, started working with the konyaku commune (San Francisco) 1971 Konyaku Revolution Art Exhibition (San Francisco) 1973 Nagoya mayor nominating election convention, Azabu public hall moved to France 1974 formed the group “Kusuguri” (Paris) 1975 7th...

Artist: Felix Angel – Colombian/American (1949- ) Title: Untitled - Equestrian Year: 1985 Medium: acrylic on canvas Size: 44 x 56 inches Signature: Signed...

"On Guard" Vintage Abstract Expressionist Heavy Impasto Figure Abstract expressionist figurative composition of a man in a button down shirt with a brimmed hat by California artist ...

Albert Heckman Untitled, circa 1950 Signed lower right Oil on canvas 21 1/4 x 29 inches Albert Heckman was born in Meadville, Western Pennsylvania, 1893. He went to New York City to try his hand at the art world in 1915 after graduating from high school and landing a job at the Meadville Post Office. In 1917, at the age of 24, Heckman enrolled part-time in Teachers' College, Columbia University's Fine Arts Department to begin his formal art education. He worked as a freelance ceramic and textile designer and occasionally as a lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the early 1920s, at the age of almost 30, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia Teachers College. He was especially impacted by his instructor at Columbia, Arthur Wesley Dow. After graduating, he was hired by the Teachers' College as a Fine Arts instructor. He stayed with Columbia Teachers' College until 1929, when he left to attend the Leipzig Institute of Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany. Isami Doi (1903-1965), who was born in Hawaii, was arguably his most impressive student at Columbia. Doi is now regarded as one of the most prominent artists hailing from Hawaii. Heckman became an active member and officer of the Keramic Society and Design Guild of New York in the 1920s as part of his early commercial art career. The Society's mission was to share knowledge and showcase textile and ceramic design exhibits. In 1922, Heckman married Florence Hardman, a concert violinist. Mrs. Heckman's concert schedule during the 1920s kept Albert and Florence Heckman apart for a significant portion of the time, but they spent what little time they had together designing and building their Woodstock, New York, summer house and grounds. A small house and an acre of surrounding land on Overlook Mountain, just behind the village of Woodstock, were purchased by Albert and Florence Heckman at the time of their marriage. Their Woodstock home, with its connections, friendships, and memories, became a central part of their lives over the years, even though they had an apartment in New York City. Heckman's main artistic focus shifted to the house on Overlook Mountain and the nearby towns and villages, Kingston, Eddyville, and Glasco. After returning from the Leipzig Institute of Graphic Arts in 1930, Mr. Heckman joined Hunter College as an assistant professor of art. He worked there for almost thirty years, retiring in 1956. Throughout his tenure at Hunter, Mr. Heckman and his spouse spent the summers at their Woodstock residence and the winters in New York City. They were regular and well-known guests at the opera and art galleries in New York. Following his retirement in 1956, the Heckmans settled in Woodstock permanently, with occasional trips to Florida or Europe during the fall and winter. Mr. Heckman's close friends and artistic career were always connected to Woodstock or New York City. He joined the Woodstock art group early on and was greatly influenced by artists like Paul and Caroline Rohland, Emil Ganso, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Andre Ruellan, and her husband, Jack Taylor. Heckman operated a summer art school in Woodstock for several years in the 1930s with support from Columbia University, where these and other Woodstock artists gave guest lectures. The Potter's Shop in New York City hosted Mr. Heckman's first art show in December 1928. The exhibit received some positive reviews from critics. The American Institute of Graphic Arts chose the plate of "Wehlen, Saxony" as one of the "Fifty Prints of the Year in 1929." There were sixteen etchings displayed. The remaining plates depicted scenes in Saxony, Germany, while five of the plates were based on scenes in Rondout, New York. Heckman started switching from etching to black and white lithography by the early 1930s. A lifelong admirer of Heckman's artwork, Mr. Gustave von Groschwitz organized a significant exhibition of Heckman etchings and lithographs at the Ferargil Gallery in New York City in 1933. The exhibition traveled to the Stendahl Galleries in Los Angeles (May 1933), the Charles Lessler Gallery in Philadelphia (May 1933), J.L. Hudson in Detroit (June 1933), and Gumps in San Francisco (July 1933). Together with his early etchings, the exhibition featured brand-new black and white lithographs depicting scenes in and around Woodstock as well as "A View from Tudor City...