Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Leon Kelly
Green Landscape, Watercolor and Ink on Paper, circa 1926

1926

About the Item

"Green Landscape" by Philadelphia born modernist and surrealist painter Leon Kelly, is a framed and matted landscape painting. The 17.5" x 23.5" watercolor and ink on paper is signed "Leon Kelly" on the lower left. Provenance: Private Collection, New Hope, Pennsylvania Leon Kelly (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1901 - 1982) was a student and teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, studying under controversial teacher and modernist Arthur B. Carles who greatly impacted and influenced Kelly's career and painting style. Having been awarded the prestigious Cresson Traveling Fellowship, he was able to study in Europe and gained much recognition in the Paris art world. His striking modernist, surrealist, cubist, and abstract paintings in figure genre, landscapes, and still lives have been widely exhibited throughout the United States, including Philadelphia and New York and can be found in numerous national and international, permanent collections, including but not limited to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Kelly was a regular exhibitor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Annuals. In the 1920's Kelly created mostly paintings of Cubist style. By the 1940's he moved towards Surrealism and in 1942 earned himself a one-man exhibition by Julien Levy, the most preeminent gallery dealer for European Surrealist painters and the Avant Garde in the 1930's and 40's. Levy was a strong advocate of Kelly's work, exhibited his paintings many times throughout the years, and the two of them remained in close contact even after the closing of the gallery in 1948. Leon Kelly taught at the Academy from 1961 - 1973 and died at age 81, living in isolation on an island off the coast of New Jersey.
More From This SellerView All
  • Double Sided Watercolor on Paper, 1965, Woodland Interior and Maine Seascape
    Located in Doylestown, PA
    "Woodland Interior" and "Martinsville, Maine" is a double sided watercolor painting by American painter Ranulph Bye. One side features a thick interior woo...
    Category

    1960s American Realist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor, Archival Paper

  • Pennsylvania Farmhouse, American Impressionist Landscape, Watercolor on Paper
    By Albert Van Nesse Greene
    Located in Doylestown, PA
    "Pennsylvania Farmhouse" is a beautiful spring landscape with rolling hills and countryside farmhouses. The watercolor on paper is painted by American Impressionist Albert Van Nesse Greene. The painting is a 14" x 19" watercolor on paper, matted, framed under glass, and signed "A V Greene...
    Category

    Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Waterco...

    Materials

    Watercolor, Archival Paper

  • Thomaston Maine, Original Rooftop View Townscape in Watercolor
    Located in Doylestown, PA
    "Thomaston, Maine" is a 15 x 13.5 inches, watercolor townscape, signed in the lower left, and framed behind glass. Ranulph Bye was born in 1916 in Princet...
    Category

    20th Century American Realist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor, Archival Paper

  • Near Pueblo Canyon, Los Alamos County, New Mexico, Watercolor on Paper Landscape
    By Peter de la Fuente
    Located in Doylestown, PA
    "Near Pueblo Canyon" is a watercolor on paper landscape by American artist Peter De La Fuente. The painting is matted and framed under glass, it is signed "Peter De La Fuente" in the lower left and comes from the Estate of the Artist, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pueblo Canyon is a deep gash in the Pajarito Plateau that runs through the center of Los Alamos...
    Category

    Early 2000s American Realist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor, Archival Paper

  • Country Farmhouse with Dog, Watercolor on Paper, Landscape, Original Art
    By Henry Soulen
    Located in Doylestown, PA
    "Country Farmhouse" is a 9 x 10.5 inches, watercolor on paper painting by American illustrator, Henry James Soulen. The landscape is signed "H J Soulen" in the lower left, it is newl...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century American Realist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor, Archival Paper

  • 59th Street Bridge, Pennsylvania Impressionist Watercolor Cityscape
    By Walter Emerson Baum
    Located in Doylestown, PA
    "59th Street Bridge" is a 22" x 30" watercolor on paper cityscape of the Brooklyn Bridge and city skyline, painted by Pennsylvania Impressionist and...
    Category

    1940s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor, Archival Paper

You May Also Like
  • Second Mesa (Hopi Pueblo, Arizona), Multicolored Southwest Mixed Media Landscape
    Located in Denver, CO
    'Second Mesa (Hopi Pueblo, Arizona)' is a watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper by Bert Van Bork (1928-2014). Signed by the artist in the lower right co...
    Category

    1980s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Charcoal, Archival Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper

  • 'Evening Landscape' Bay Area Abstraction, San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, CWS
    By Robert George Gilberg
    Located in Santa Cruz, CA
    Signed lower right, 'Gilberg' for Robert George Gilberg (American, 1911-1970) and painted circa 1965. Born in Oakland, Robert George Gilberg first studied at the Oakland Art Center during the 1930s. Following service during WWII, he settled in Nevada City, California where he lived and painted until shortly before his death in San Francisco. Gilberg exhibited widely and with success and was the recipient of numerous medals, prizes and juried awards, including at the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts...
    Category

    1960s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Ink, Watercolor

  • Forest Scene, Study in Yellow by artist Harold Haydon
    By Harold Haydon
    Located in Chicago, IL
    A ca. 1931 charming watercolor forest scene; a study in yellow by artist Harold Haydon. Harold Emerson Haydon was born in Fort William, Ontario, Canad...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Ink, Pen, Watercolor, Paper

  • Magazine Cover Illustration Mid 20th Century Modern Theatre Broadway Realism WPA
    By Ernest Hamlin Baker
    Located in New York, NY
    Magazine Cover Illustration Mid 20th Century Modern Theatre Broadway Realism WPA Ernest Hamlin Baker (1889 – 1975) “Today Magazine” Cover ...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Gouache, Paper, Watercolor, Ink

  • Windmill on the Plains, 1940s Watercolor and Ink Mixed Media Modernist Painting
    By Jenne Magafan
    Located in Denver, CO
    'Windmill on the Plains' is watercolor and ink on paper painting by Jenne Magafan. Depicting a large windmill on a 1940s Colorado farm scene with sheds and a fencing in the background. Presented in a custom frame, outer dimensions measure 24 ½ x 20 ½ inches. Image size is 14 x 11 inches. Provenance: Estate of Ethel Magafan Expedited and international shipping is available - please contact us for a quote. About the Artist: Jenne and Ethel Magafan were identical twins, born in Chicago to a Greek immigrant father and a Polish mother. Due to health concerns about their father, the family moved to Colorado, living first in Colorado Springs and then in Denver. He was a proud supporter of their artistic ambitions but died suddenly 1932, a heavy blow to both of them. They attended East High School in Denver, where they found a mentor in their art teacher Helen Perry. She had studied at the Art Institute of Chicago but had later abandoned a career as an artist, making her all the more determined to help the Magafan twins succeed artistically. While still in high school, the twins impressed artist Frank Mechau, and Helen Perry paid for their lessons with him. He subsequently invited them to apprentice with him at his Redstone studio. In 1936, Jenne won the Carter Memorial Art Scholarship and shared it with her sister so that they both could attend the Broadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs. Once they ran out of money, Mechau, now teaching there, hired them as assistants. Through their involvement at the Academy, the twins entered into careers as muralists, working at first with Mechau and then with Peppino Mangravite. In 1939, Jenne was awarded her first commission for a mural at the Albion, Nebraska Post Office. Eventually she won a total of seven commissions. For the work, she traveled across the country in a station wagon. Her daughter has said of her mother’s experience that, "They saved up gas coupons as fuel was rationed and drove cross country on ‘retreads’-- refurbished old tires.” Federally sponsored murals could stir up excited responses from local citizens. Jenne’s favorite mural was Cowboy Dance at the Anson, Texas post office, but the local newspaper took offense to a whiskey jug painted in the lower corner, citing that “Throughout the history of Anson there has never been an open saloon.” Meeting the artists Doris Lee and Arnold Blanch in Los Angeles, the twins learned of the art colony in Woodstock, New York, and in 1945 they went to visit. That same year, their work was exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design. Marrying her longtime love, Edward Chavez, Jenne moved to Woodstock along with her sister where, for the first time, the sisters didn’t live together. When Chavez won a Fulbright scholarship, the couple traveled to Italy. During this time, Jenne went to visit her sister in Greece, where Ethel was fulfilling her Fulbright. In 1952, the Magafans and their husbands returned to the States, and less than a week after their return Jenne died in Albany Hospital of a cerebral hemorrhage. Awards: State of Colorado Arts and Humanities Award, 1971; Received the first solo exhibition at the Denver Art Museum; Honored posthumously by Historic Denver as part of the Colorado 100. Education: Cleveland Schools of Art (B.E.A.); Western Reserve University with Henry Keller; Frank Wilcox, William Joseph Eastman...
    Category

    1940s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Ink, Watercolor

  • Untitled
    By Francis Chapin
    Located in Dallas, TX
    Francis Chapin was one of the most celebrated painters in Chicago during his lifetime. When he was a young art student, Valley House founder, Donald Vogel, painted with "Chape" on th...
    Category

    1930s American Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Recently Viewed

View All