Bethesda Oriental Restaurant

Oil on canvas, signed, located, inscribed and dated: “1983” on the reverse.

Painting size: 24” x 20”
Frame size: 29” x 25”

** Please Note - This painting came directly from the Estate of Mr. O’Brien. For other examples, type “O’Brien” into the search box.

** For other paintings by artists from Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC or North Carolina, click on the “Regional Artists” button on our Homepage.

Born in Newtonville, Massachusetts, O’Brien exhibited a love of drawing and painting from a very early age. As a high school student, he took all possible elective courses in art and technical drawing. He supplemented this study with evening courses at M.I.T. Following his move to Washington, DC as a young man, he enrolled in the Washington Workshop of the Arts. WWA, like the Art Students League in New York City, was a school in which all the classes were taught by a rotating roster of professional artists.

During WW II, his technical artistic training served his country well when he was put to work as a map maker. In the final year of the war, O’Brien married. On his honeymoon in New York City, he found time to paint the rooftop view from his hotel room window. This initiated a lifelong pursuit of city painting (his family was inclined to call it an obsession).

Starting with the founding of Federal Graphics, a commercial art firm he launched with a partner in 1947, he pursued a commercial career for the majority of his life. However, he always considered painting his “real” work, and his dedication to this vocation was apparent in a myriad of ways. He helped to found the Montgomery County Art Association and held memberships in the Arts Council of Montgomery County and American Art League.

Throughout his life, he exhibited widely, both as an individual and in group shows. The Arts Club of Washington, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Montgomery College, and the Rehoboth Art League were a few among the many venues at which his works were shown. In addition, he exhibited in several private galleries.

Charles Lanman (American, 1819-1895)

Oil on paper laid-down, signed.

Lanman is listed in The Artists of Washington, DC 1796-1996 by McMahan.

Painting size: 11” x 15”
Frame size: 16” x 20”

Extensive Woodland Landscape with Stream

Oil on canvas, signed.

Painting size: 20.25” x 26”
Frame size: 31.25” x 47.25”

Decker received his art training from R. Swain Gifford. His first important recognition occurred when he was thirty-six when the the National Academy of Design exhibited one of his paintings. That same year, the Brooklyn Art Association also exhibited one of his works. He went on to become a well known exhibitor in Brooklyn and exhibited at the National Academy of Design from 1883 to 1898 . He was also a professionally successful artist during his life with a record of sales to numerous affluent patrons. He was a member of the Brooklyn Art Club and Society of Brooklyn Artists.

Decker is listed in Who Was Who in American Art by Falk.

Schooner off the Atlantic Coast

Watercolor on paper, signed lower left and dated “1896”

Sight Size:13" x 26"
Frame Size: 23.25" x 36"

Lewis was born and died and Philadelphia where he studied with Paul Weber from about 1850-55. According to Peter Falk ("Who Was Who in American Art"), “he was one of the most popular landscape painters of Philadelphia during the late 19th century. His early works were chiefly scenes of the Lehigh, Susquehana, and Wissihickon Rivers of Pennsylvania, and were in great demand. Before 1860 he also exhibited landscapes of New York and New England and even some Cuban scenes. By the mid 1870’s he turned increasingly to shoreline views with yachting scenes, painting prolifically in watercolor from Cape May, NJ to Narragansett, RI. Wealthy and admired, he entertained in a grand style in his opulent Philadelphia home surrounded by an extensive collection of antique furniture, china and decorative arts.”