Rita Derjue

Colorado Mountain Winter Landscape Watercolor Painting, Blue, Orange, Purple

This 1938 watercolor painting by American Modernist artist Turner B. Messick depicts a serene winter landscape, likely set in Colorado. The scene features a bare tree in the foregrou...

"Mill Near Plainfield, New Hampshire" is an exquisite original watercolor painting by Charles Partridge Adams (1858-1942), created circa 1900. Signed by the artist in the lower left corner, this beautiful landscape depicts a mill nestled by a river, surrounded by trees and dramatic clouds. The painting is rendered in subtle tones of brown, green, gray, and blue, showcasing Adams’ skillful use of watercolor techniques. This artwork is presented in a custom frame, with outer dimensions measuring 13 ¾ x 12 ¼ x 1 ¼ inches and an image size of 7 x 5 inches. About the Artist: Charles Partridge Adams was born in Franklin, Massachusetts, and moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1876 in search of a better climate for his tuberculosis-stricken sisters. It was in Denver that Adams found his artistic calling, working at the Chain and Hardy Bookstore, where he received his only formal art training from Helen Chain, a former pupil of the renowned George Inness. Through her guidance, Adams was introduced to other prominent artists, including sculptor Alexander Phimister Proctor...

American Impressionist California coastal watercolor painting by Charles Partridge Adams (1858-1942), circa 1925. This stunning piece captures the beauty of the coastline with vibran...

This original watercolor painting by Alfred Wands (1904-1998) captures the breathtaking beauty of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range in Sou...

Lionel S. Reiss (1894 - 1988) New York City Skyline View from the East River Watercolor on paper 13 x 19 inches Signed lower left In describing his own style, Lionel Reiss wrote, “By nature, inclination, and training, I have long since recognized the fact that...I belong to the category of those who can only gladly affirm the reality of the world I live in.” Reiss’s subject matter was wide-ranging, including gritty New York scenes, landscapes of bucolic Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and seascapes around Gloucester, Massachusetts. However, it was as a painter of Jewish life—both in Israel and in Europe before World War II—that Reiss excelled. I.B. Singer, the Nobel Prize winner for Literature, noted that Reiss was “essentially an artist of the nineteenth century, and because of this he had the power and the courage to tell visually the story of a people.” Although Reiss was born in Jaroslaw, Poland, his family immigrated to the United States in 1898 when he was four years old. Reiss's family settled on New York City’s Lower East Side and he lived in the city for most of his life. Reiss attended the Art Students League and then worked as a commercial artist for newspapers and publishers. As art director for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he supposedly created the studio’s famous lion logo. After World War I, Reiss became fascinated with Jewish life in the ‘Old World.’ In 1921 he left his advertising work and spent the next ten years traveling in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. Like noted Jewish photographers Alter Kacyzne and Roman Vishniac, Reiss depicted Jewish life in Poland prior to World War II. He later wrote, “My trip encompassed three main objectives: to make ethnic studies of Jewish types wherever I traveled; to paint and draw Jewish life, as I saw it and felt it, in all aspects; and to round out my work in Israel.” In Europe, Reiss recorded quotidian scenes in a variety of media and different settings such as Paris, Amsterdam, the Venice ghetto, the Jewish cemetery in Prague, and an array of shops, synagogues, streets, and marketplaces in the Jewish quarters of Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Lublin, Vilna, Ternopil, and Kovno. He paid great attention to details of dress, hair, and facial features, and his work became noted for its descriptive quality. A selection of Reiss’s portraits appeared in 1938 in his book My Models Were Jews. In this book, published on the eve of the Holocaust, Reiss argued that there was “no such thing as a ‘Jewish race’.” Instead, he claimed that the Jewish people were a cultural group with a great deal of diversity within and between Jewish communities around the world. Franz Boas...

California Lake Landscape in Watercolor on Paper Serene landscape by Donna N. Schuster (American, 1883-1953). The viewer stands at the edge of a lake, under a few trees. At the far ...

Lou's Landing - Original Watercolor On Paper Original watercolor on paper by Ray Skelton (American 20th c.), depicting a boat harbor with numerous boats tied up, some sailing. Lou's...

Original Painting Fortune Cover Published 1937 American Modern - Met Museum NEWS: A printed copy of this magazine is included in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s recent exhibition, “Art for the Millions: American Culture and Politics in the 1930s” Antonio Petruccelli...