Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Pierre Olivier DUBAUT (1886-1968) A horseman, Bertrand Larcher riding "Dandy", 1936 Signed lower right Watercolor and pencil on paper 19.5 x 26 cm Titled and dated on the reverse ...

Chiura Obata (1885 - 1975) Leaping Trout, 1930 Watercolor on paper Sight 23 x 15 inches Signed and stamped lower left Provenance: Private Collection, Massachusetts Chiura Obata ranks among the most significant California-based artists and Japanese American cultural leaders of the last century. Born in Okayama, Japan, Obata immigrated to San Francisco in 1903. By then, he was integrating Western practices into his art-making, and continued experimenting with new styles and methods throughout his seven-decade career. Today Obata is best known for majestic views of the American West, sketches based on hiking trips to capture what he called “Great Nature.” Every work is grounded in close observation, rendered with calligraphic brushstrokes and washes of color. Born in the Okayama prefecture of Japan, Chiura Obata was adopted by his uncle, an artist. As a child he was trained in ink painting, and at 14 he was apprenticed to the painter Murata Tanryo in Tokyo. He also studied with Kogyo Terasaki and Goho Hasimoto. In 1903, Obata moved to San Francisco and began working as an illustrator for The New World and The Japanese American, two of the city's Japanese newspapers. He also did work as a commercial designer. Obata helped establish the East West Art Society in San Francisco in 1921, which sought to promote cross-cultural understanding through art. This goal was reflected in his embrace of the Nihonga style, which fused traditional Japanese sumi-e ink painting with the conventions of western naturalism. He spent much of the 1920s painting landscapes throughout California, and among his favorite subjects were mountain landscapes. In 1927, he visited Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, creating over a hundred paintings and sketches of the high country. Obata stayed in the USA until the death of his father in 1928. Between 1928 and 1932, he worked in Tokyo as a painter and transformed his California landscape watercolors and sketches into a portfolio of 35 woodblock prints titled World Landscape Series - America, perhaps his most famous work. Obata's landscapes reveal his intensely personal and poetic vision of "Great Nature", a vision grounded in an underlying Zen philosophy of selflessness that accepts the insignificance of human affairs in relation to the timeless forces of nature. In 1932 Obata Chiura returned to the U.S., and began work as an art instructor at the University of California, Berkeley. In April, 1942, Obata Chiura and his wife Haruko were among the more than 100,000 Japanese Americans who were moved from their homes along the West coast into ten relocation camps. He was first sent to Tanforan. In September, 1942, he was moved to the Topaz, Utah, internment camp. During his internment in different camps, the artist made about hundred sketches and paintings until his release in 1945. The book, Topaz Moon, edited by his granddaughter Kimi Kodani Hill, is a documentation of his detention period and the works of art that he created during this time. While confined at Topaz, he organized and acted as Director for the Topaz Art School for the 8,000 Japanese Americans in the camp. The school had 16 artist instructors who taught 23 subjects to over 600 students. Obata's artwork from this time serves as a visual diary of the internees' daily life, and also as a powerful and lasting testament to the perseverance of the human spirit when confronted by prejudice. In 1943, he was released from Topaz, and moved with his family to St. Louis, where he found work with a commercial art company. When the military exclusion ban was lifted in 1945, he was reinstated to his position at the University of California, where he stayed until his retirement in 1954. Obata was a popular professor, and played a pivotal role in introducing Japanese art techniques and aesthetics that became one of the distinctive characteristics of the California Watercolor School...

Sporting Dogs: a sportsman with gun accompanied by dogs on a hunt, one depicted retrieving, the other flushing ducks by Eric Meade-King (1911-1987) each signed by initials lower right in image, inscribed to lower margins in pencil graphite and ink on paper laid to thick card, unframed Images each approximately 10.75 x 8.5 inches, overall each is approximately 11.75 x 9 inches (one very slightly larger than the other) Two super examples of Meade-King's work studying the sporting life in rural England. One dog is being used to flush ducks over a riverbank, inscribed on the bottom of the backing board "The glint of green and brown as the old chap(?) streaked upwards" we cannot quite make out the third to last word) , the other to retrieve a shot bird on farmland - with haystacks and farm buildings in the background, inscribed at the bottom of the backing board "with the usual accompaniment of grinning and tail wagging". These form part of a collection of similar drawings we currently hold by Meade-King. Eric Meade-King was a prolific artist of all things sporting and surrounding English country life. Studied at Westminster School of Art in London and benefited from tutelage by Lionel Edwards, whose artistic interests lay in the same subjects. Exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, and was the subject of of a one-man exhibition at the Greatorex Galleries in 1937 and 1938 in London. The artist captured the mood of the country sporting circles at the time very nicely, exploring both the social element in addition to equine and ornithological studies. He also authored a book; "The Silent Horn - Summer Sketches of Horse...

"Undoubtedly a future Master of Hounds" by Eric Meade-King (1911-1987) signed by initials lower right in image, inscribed to lower margin in pencil gr...

"Never without a partner for the Gretna Green Race" by Eric Meade-King (1911-1987) signed by initials lower left in image, inscribed to lower margin in pencil graphite and ink on paper laid to thick card, unframed Image 9.5 x 11.75 inches, overall 11.75 x 13.5 inches Super example of Meade-King's work depicting a a couple racing towards a flag on their horses, reaching out to touch hands as they ride. Meade-King has captured the horses in full steam, with the riders both having an exhilarating race, as can be seen by their smiling faces. This work forms part of a collection of similar drawings we currently hold by Meade-King. Ideal for a sporting themed interior. Eric Meade-King was a prolific artist of all things sporting and surrounding English country life. Studied at Westminster School of Art in London and benefited from tutelage by Lionel Edwards, whose artistic interests lay in the same subjects. Exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, and was the subject of of a one-man exhibition at the Greatorex Galleries in 1937 and 1938 in London. The artist captured the mood of the country sporting circles at the time very nicely, exploring both the social element in addition to equine and ornithological studies. He also authored a book; "The Silent Horn - Summer Sketches of Horse...

"Huntsman" and "Whip" by Eric Meade-King (1911-1987) unsigned but titled in Meade-King's hand in pencil watercolour and gouache on paper laid to thick card, unframed overall 6.25 x 12.75 inches Detailed studies of a huntsman and a whip astride their mounts, in profile. Lovely examples of Meade-King's watercolour work. On dark grey heavy card which picks out the vibrant colours beautifully. This image would frame beautifully and ideal for a sporting themed interior. This work forms part of a collection of similar drawings we currently hold by Meade-King. Eric Meade-King was a prolific artist of all things sporting and surrounding English country life. Studied at Westminster School of Art in London and benefited from tutelage by Lionel Edwards, whose artistic interests lay in the same subjects. Exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, and was the subject of of a one-man exhibition at the Greatorex Galleries in 1937 and 1938 in London. The artist captured the mood of the country sporting circles at the time very nicely, exploring both the social element in addition to equine and ornithological studies. He also authored a book; "The Silent Horn - Summer Sketches of Horse...

A unique chance to own TWO original, authenticated drawings by Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) - at an affordable price! I think I need not introduce the artist, who is arguably one of the most important important figures in 20th Century French painting. The subjects of the works presented here are lovely: horses and riders, and spectators in top hats and morning suits...