Auguste Marie Barreau (French, d.1922)

Young Woman in Grecian Dress

A gilt and patinated bronze statue, signed on the base and inscribed “Médaille d’Or à l’Exposition des Beaux Arts 1865” and “Acheté par l’État”.

Height: 24.5”

Born in France, Auguste Marie Barreau, was a sculptor active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français and the Exposition des Beaux Arts of 1865 where he won a gold medal for this Classical figure. Barreau died in 1922.

Source:

Benezit. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. (1999).

Three 18th-century English Landscapes

Oils on paper, unsigned.

Painting size: 3” x 4.5” (Approximately)
Frame size: 7” x 8.5” (Approximately)

Justin Faivre (American)

Decline of the Windjammers

Watercolor on paper, signed and dated: “1934” and titled in pencil on the reverse.

Sheet size: 12.5” x 18.5”
Mat size: 19.5” x 25.5”
Unframed

Justin Faivre was born in Matthews, Indiana. At the age of 5, however, he moved to Portland, Oregon . As a teenager he studied at the Portland Art Gallery and took private art lessons with Howard Ellis.

In 1923 Faivre left Portland for Los Angeles, but only a few years later moved to San Francisco. In 1934 he had his first exhibition at the Oakland Art Gallery (later to become the Oakland Museum)and continued to exhibit throughout the area. He was a member of the Hayward Art Association, Alameda Art Association, and the Society for Western Artists.

Faivre was influenced by the Society of Six and his early works included landscapes, still lifes, portraits and marine subjects in both oil and watercolor. However, his later work can be characterized as more abstract and nonrepresentational.

Faivre died at his Oakland, California home at the age of 88. Sadly, he died penniless and many of his paintings were stolen shortly before his death.

Source:

Falk. Who Was Who in American Art.
Hughes. Artists in California.
Crocker Art Museum Store.

English School (ca. 1850-1870)

Two Antique English miniature watercolors with printed borders.

Frame size: 7.5" x 8.5"

Antique bronze Paperweight in the form of a of a crushed fedora hat, Continental, late 19th century.

Length: 6.125”
Height: 2.25”

James Francis O’Brien (American, 1917-1996)

Bethesda

Oil on canvas, signed lower left and titled on the reverse.

Painting size: 20” x 24” Frame size: 25.5” x 29”

** 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.

During the course of his painting, O’Brien noticed that the paints on his palette sometimes mixed into designs as interesting as those more deliberately created. From this observation arose the text, Design By Accident, first published in 1968. The book became widely used by art teachers following very favorably reviews by newspapers and magazines. It was even reviewed by Scientific American from a technological-aesthetic.

A draftsman, illustrator, writer and most importantly painter, O’Brien was fortunate to have his work recognised and appreciated during his life. He won awards from The Montgomery County Art Association, Rehoboth Art League and American Art League. Even art critics praised his work with the most succinct calling his paintings, “familiar scenes, fresher and lighter than life”. (Florence Berryman of The Washington Star)

O’Brien believed that the “creative urge” was something all children have. However, as adults, that impulse falls victim to ever growing demands and responsibilities. He maintained that artists are able to keep alive the childlike ability to see beauty and mystery in commonplace things.

Thanks to his sense of wonder, he left us deeply in his debt. His paintings remind us that every day that Washington, DC is full of inspiring sights that fall outside of the traditional “glamour” views depicted by most artists.

Fine pair of Antique French Louis XVI style ormolu candlesticks with circular bases with laurel leaf decoration and tapered, fluted shafts with applied laurel swags. Late 19th-century, now wired as lamps.

Provenance: from the collection of Ron Van Swerengen

Height to Shade: 25.5”

Rare antique British folding campaign desk in mahogany having hinged leather lined writing surface that folds for transport. Circa 1860-70.

Height: 29”
Length (open): 24”
Width: 24”

See British Campaign Furniture, Elegance Under Canvas,1740-1914 by Nicholas Brawer for similar examples.

Eavesdropping

Oil on panel, signed and dated: “1865.”

Painting size: 9” x 6.75”
Frame size: 14.5” x 12.5”

Petrus Theodorus Van Wyngaerdt (also spelled Wyngaerdt or Wijngaerdt) was born in Rotterdam. A student of J.H. Van de Laar, he painted genre scenes and portraits, as did his older brother, painter Anthonie Jacobus Van Wyngaerdt.

In "Eavesdropping", Van Wyngaerdt depicts a well-known theme from popular 19th-century French and Dutch prints-- a Roccoco figure listening at a door while a private conversation (or event) is underway. The women’s yellow skirt, pink bodice and lacy cap suggest that she is a lady (of sorts) and her plump arms, pretty features and sly expression suggest what may be going on behind closed doors.

Van Wyngaerdt’s work can be found in the collections of the Haarlem Museum. He is listed in Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs (Bénézit, 1999).

Augustus John: Fifty-Two Drawings

Signed, limited edition, with an introduction by Lord David Cecil. Published by George Rainbird, London (1957). Hardcover folio, 16.5 x 11.75 inches. Limited to 150 copies of which this is Number 107 with slipcase. Signed by Augustus John and Lord David Cecil and inscribed to the art collector Emily Chadbourne and signed a second time by Augustus John. The book was designed and produced by George Rainbird and Ruari McLean.The lithograph self-portrait was drawn by the artist in July, 1955 and directly printed from the plate at the Curwen Press which also printed the text. The plates were printed in photo-litho offset by Van Leer of Amsterdam. The text is printed on Abbey Mills Suede Text Antique laid. Bound by Zaehnsdorf of London in half vellum over brown paper with gilt title on spine. Lithographic plate to the top board. Very good condition; a handsome copy of an important work.

Antique English Regency style child's high chair in mahogany with caned seat and back, with a replaced adjustable footrest, turned cross stretcher and detachable turned leg stand. The stand can then serve as a small table when used with the chair.Late 19th century.

Height: 36”
Width: 17”
Depth: 14.5”

Ethel M. Stilson (American)

Hayfield in Summer

Oil on canvas, signed and dated: ‘1905’.

Stilson was an Ohio artist and member of the National Association of Women Artists and the Cleveland Woman’s Art Club. She is listed in Falk, Who Was Who in American Art.

Painting size: 15”x19”
Frame: 23.5”x27.5”

Theodore Hermann William Koppen (German, 1828-1903)

California Condors, Morro Bay

Oil on canvas, signed and dated: “1893”.

Painting size: 21.5” x 29.5”
Frame size: 30.25” x 38.75”

Koppen was born in Brake, Germany and died in Nymphenbourg. He was known for his paintings of marine and historical scenes, as well as portraits.

He is listed in Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs by Bénézit.

Rare set of English Regency bedsteps in mahogany with caned sides and back, having a turned gallery above three tooled leather treads, the first with tambour doors below, the second now with drawer below. Circa 1800-1815.

Height: 27” (top of top step)
Depth: 31.75”
Width: 20”

Exceptional George III bachelor’s chest in nicely figured mahogany with good color and patina, having a rectangular, cross banded top above an oak brushing slide and four graduated drawers flanked by canted, reeded corners and raised on straight bracket feet. English, circa 1780 (brasses replaced).

Length: 33.75”
Depth: 19.75”
Height: 32.5”

**Please note: This item is not currently on view in our gallery. If you would like to see it, please call at least 48 hours in advance.

Henry Perlee Parker (1795-1873)

“On the qui vive” (The Smuggler)

Oil on canvas , titled, signed and dated on the reverse

"QUI VIVE" (A French phrase meaning long live who? (a sentry’s challenge), used to mean a state of alertness or watchfulness.)

Painting: 30" x 25"
Frame: 36.5" x 31.5"

One of the best-known painters working in north-east England during the early nineteenth century Henry Perlee Parker specialized in pictures of marine subjects and smugglers and came to be known as "Smuggler" Parker. He was a leading artist in Newcastle in the 1820s and 1830s, a member of the Northumberland Institution, and a co-founder (with T.M. Richardson) of the ill-fated Northern Academy of Arts. He died penniless in Shepherd's Bush in 1873. There was an exhibition of his work at the Laing Art Gallery, 1969-1970.

See Wiikpedia entry for a more complete biography

Impressive large-scale Black Forest carved armchair in walnut with all over carved decoration of bark, branches, leaves and berries. Swiss. Circa 1870-1880. * Provenance: Anniee McCarthy, Newport, RI and NYC (label). Minor loss to tips of leaves on crestrail, caned seat was once over upholstered.

*See “History of Black Forest Furniture”

Height: 39.5”
Width: 25”
Depth: 24”

Edmond Darch Lewis (American, 1835-1910)

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.”