Osuna Fine Art & Antiques Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Charles De Wolf Brownell (American, 1822 - 1909) Watercolor on paper of maple leaves against the sky, Hand dated and inscribed "Papaw - E.H....

Themistokles von Eckenbrecher (1842 Athens - 1921 Goslar), Norwegian pine grove, 1901. Watercolor on blue-green paper, 30 x 22 cm. Signed, dated and inscribed in his own hand "TvE. Fagermes [i.e. Fagermes]. 26.6.[19]01." - Slight crease throughout at left margin, otherwise in good condition. About the artwork Themistokles von Eckenbrecher often traveled to Norway to study the nature that fascinated him there. On June 26, 1901, near the southern Norwegian town of Fagernes, in the summer evening sun, he saw a small pine grove, which he immediately captured in a watercolor. He exposed the trees growing on a small hill in front of the background, so that the pines completely define the picture and combine to form a tense motif. The tension comes from the contrast of form and color. The trunks, growing upward, form a vertical structure that is horizontally penetrated by the spreading branches and the pine needles, which are rendered as a plane. This structural tension is further intensified by the color contrast between the brown-reddish iridescent trunks and branches and the green-toned needlework. Themistokles von Eckenbrecher, however, does not use the observed natural scene as an inspiring model for a dance of color and form that detaches itself from the motif and thus treads the path of abstracting modernism. Its inner vitality is to be brought to light and made aesthetically accessible through the work of art. It is precisely in order to depict the inner vitality of nature that von Eckenbrecher chooses the technique of watercolor, in which the individual details, such as the needles, are not meticulously worked out, but rather a flowing movement is created that unites the contrasts. The trees seem to have formed the twisted trunks out of their own inner strength as they grew, creatingthose tense lineations that the artist has put into the picture. The inner strength continues in the branches and twigs, culminating in the upward growth of the needles. At the same time, the trunks, illuminated by the setting sun, seem to glow from within, adding an almost dramatic dimension to the growing movement. Through the artwork, nature itself is revealed as art. In order to make nature visible as art in the work, von Eckenbrecher exposes the group of trees so that they are bounded from the outside by an all-encompassing contour line and merge into an areal unity that enters into a figure-ground relationship with the blue-greenish watercolor paper. The figure-ground relationship emphasizes the ornamental quality of the natural work of art, which further enforces the artwork character of the group of trees. With the presentation of Themistokles von Eckenbrecher's artistic idea and its realization, it has become clear that the present watercolor is not a study of nature in the sense of a visual note by the artist, which might then be integrated into a larger work context, but a completely independent work of art. This is why von Eckenbrecher signed the watercolor. In addition, it is marked with a place and a date, which confirms that this work of nature presented itself to him in exactly this way at this place at this time. At the same time, the date and place make it clear that the natural work of art has been transferred into the sphere of art and thus removed from the time of the place of nature. About the artist Themistocles' parents instilled a life of travel in their son, who is said to have spoken eleven languages. His father, who was interested in ancient and oriental culture, was a doctor and had married Francesca Magdalena Danelon, an Italian, daughter of the British consul in Trieste. During a stay in Athens - Gustav von Eckenbrecher was a friend of Heinrich von Schliemann and is said to have given him crucial clues as to the location of Troy - Themistokles saw the light of day in 1842. After an interlude in Berlin, where Themistokles was educated at the English-American School, the journey began again. From 1850 to 1857 the family lived in Constantinople, after which the father opened a practice in Potsdam, where Themistokles, who wanted to become a painter, was taught by the court painter Carl Gustav Wegener. In 1861 the von Eckenbrechers left Potsdam and settled in Düsseldorf. There Themistokles received two years of private tuition from Oswald Aschenbach, who greatly admired the talented young artist. After his artistic training, he undertook extensive travels, often accompanied by Prince Peter zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, which took him to northern and eastern Europe, but above all to the Middle East and even to South America. The paintings that resulted from these journeys established his artistic reputation and led to his participation in large panoramas such as the 118 x 15 metre Entry of the Mecca Caravan into Cairo, painted for the City of Hamburg in 1882. 1882 was also the start of a total of 21 study trips to Scandinavia, most of them to Norway, and the unique Norwegian landscape with its rugged fjords became a central motif in his work. Along with Anders Askevold and Adelsteen Normann...

Charles De Wolf Brownell (American, 1822 - 1909) Watercolor on paper depicting a pumpkin on a flowering vine Hand dated and inscribed "Lyme ...

This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype of a beautiful "Blue Upright Desert Cactus". Details: + Title: Blue Upright Desert Cactus + Year: 2022 + Edition Size: 100...

William Beattie-Brown is a 19th century Scottish artist, and a master landscape painter using tonal color in a naturalistic style. 'Old Bobbin Mill on the Spey River' is signed and d...

The series bodies in space was born from my interest in architecture and the games of perception. I use color as a construction element where the volumes are made visible through col...

This charming late 19th-century watercolour by British artist E Wood depicts a beautiful 15th/16th century farmhouse near Godalming in Surrey, England. As chickens rummage for food ...

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...

Charles De Wolf Brownell (American, 1822 - 1909) Watercolor on paper depicting several plants in close proximity Hand dated and inscribed "Br...

The series bodies in space was born from my interest in architecture and the games of perception. I use color as a construction element where the volumes are made visible through col...

Graphite and color pencil on Mylar. Unframed. So many different storms, so hard to capture. Beginning in the wake of hurricanes Irene and Sandy, this artwork was made by tightly c...

Lovely 19th century watercolor painting with an angler in a mountain stream landscape painting, this is signed William Bradley with a place and date on the lower left hand corner. Mists fall over the central mountain rising above the stream with rocks and boulders. A mountain ridge is on the left, and trees above boulders on the right. William radley Lamond was a self taught artist flourishing from mid to late 19th century. This would be a later work by this artist. The attribution is based on the period, the style the landscape subject and signature. The painting is presented in an attractive new wooden frame with fresh glass...