Victor Di Gesu

'Still Life on a Table', Paris, Louvre, Académie Chaumière, LACMA, SFAA, Carmel

Circa 1955

Signed lower right in Kanji 'Sanzo' for Wada Sanzō 和田三造 (Japanese, 1883-1967) and dated 'Year 34' of the Showa Era, 1959 in the Gregorian calendar. Artist, teacher and costume designer, Sanzo Wada worked during a turbulent time in avant-garde Japanese art and cinema. A multi-talented artist who gained early fame as a Western-style oil painter, his career spanned the late Meiji-era through the mid-twentieth century. In addition to numerous prizes and medals for his painting, he received the 1955 Academy Award for costume design for his work in the movie Gates of Hell. He also received awards for his pioneering work on color theory, which he researched and published in the 1920s and is still in use today. Sanzo Wada graduated from the Western-style painting division of Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Studied in Europe 1907-1915; traveled to India and Burma. He was appointed a member of the Imperial Arts Academy in 1927 and taught at Tokyo School of Fine Arts from 1927. According to Shinagawa Kiyoomi, editor-in-chief of the book of paintings in print "Dia Nihon Gyorui Gashuu" by Ohno Bakufu...

Signed lower left, 'V. Isbrand' for Victor Isbrand (Danish, 1897-1989) and painted circa 1935. Precocious as a child, Victor Isbrand painted professionally from a young age and was...

Still Life with with Bottle, Paintbrushes, and Book in Oil on Paper Bright still life by Louise L. Apthorp (American, 1878-1963). A wine bottle, vase full of brushes, pear, and large book sit on a table. The book is "Verve. The Ultimate Review of Art and Literature (1937-1960)". The tablecloth is bright, with a multicolor checker pattern, affixed to the wall to create a backdrop. The squares of color and folds in the cloth create the impression of cubism, even though the subject is not cubist. Signed "Apthorp" in the lower left corner. Shipped in a plastic frame for protection. Louise L. Apthorp (American, 1878-1963) was born in 1878 in New Jersey and lived in Massachusetts. In the mid-1940s, she moved to Monterey, CA. She was listed in “Who Was Who in American Art” (1985, 1999), “Dictionary of Woman Artists” (1985), and “Mallet’s Index of Artists” (1935). Memberships: Copley Society...

Jacques Martin-Ferrières was born on August 6, 1893 in Saint-Paul, France. He studied under the French academic painter Frederic Cormon (1845-1924) and with his father, the notable F...