An attractive plein air oil on canvas painting of the desert in spring with blooming pink verbena on the dunes, 13" by 15", unframed, signed at lower left by listed California artist GRACE T. HOWELL (1876-1966). Howell was born in Denver and showed early art talent. Married in 1897, she moved to Southern California in 1927, living in La Mesa, near San Diego. She painted the California deserts and coast. This oil could use a light cleaning to bring it to optimum condition...

Oil on canvas landscape of country cottages and feathery trees on the banks of a small pond or marsh, 9" by 12" (13" by 21" in its modern frame), signed at lower right "S. Clark", the subject given on the framing label as "On the Arun--Sussex". This is a painting by SAMUEL JOSEPH CLARK (1841-1928), a noted 19th century painter of rural landscapes and genre. Sometimes he is listed as Samuel JAMES Clark--there appears to be some confusion in the auction record...

Oil on canvas painting of a small house in the trees, 20" by 24" plus narrow strip wood frame, signed at lower right "Stahl" and dated there "42", titled on reverse "Laurel Ave." and signed and dated again there. This is an early work (**ONE OF TWO IN MY SHOP, THE OTHER VERY SIMILAR, JUST A BIT LARGER; I would like to keep them together because they make a most interesting pair), by the important, well-listed American illustrator artist and art educator BENJAMIN A. STAHL (1910-1987)...

Found locally in Los Angeles, this is a large oil on canvas still life of orange and yellow garden nasturtiums in a blue and white old ceramic vessel, a ladies' fan and blue beads resting at its base, the colorful subjects placed elegantly in the neutral space of a cloth covered table and gray-white background, the work signed at lower right by the noted Spanish artist VICENTE SANTAOLARIA (1886-1967)...

From a local estate, the homeowners having spent much time in Southeast Asia, an oil on panel unframed and unsigned painting of a younger man wearing some traditional simple clothing. The piece measures 26 3/4" by 23 3/4" and dates to the late 20th century. It is competently painted, the figure tightly outlined, the colors muted gray and tan and white, his waistband area providing a spare touch of bright color.

A genuinely antique, late 19th century oil on canvas scene of distant snowy sunlit mountains and closer mountains surrounding an inlet or fjord, several small figures at center, wood-frame structures at left, and long wood canoes in the foreground shore. The work measures 20 1/2" by 30 1/2" (27 1/2" by 37" as framed). I have carefully searched canvas, stretcher and frame for any evidence of a name, or other information, and have come up empty...

An impressionistic landscape of the arid American Southwest, possibly California, 20" by 30" (24" by 34" framed), signed at lower right by noted listed artist CHARLES DAMROW (1916-1989). The work features rugged mountains with no figures included. Damrow was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and headed west at age 13 on his own (the youngest of 15 children). He became infatuated with everything western, in the course of his life painting cowboys, Indians, tipis, bison, bears, horses...

A small landscape painting on canvas, (actually a very nice size for a small wall, 12" by 16", and 15" by 19" framed), signed at lower right by listed artist ANTON GUTKNECHT (1907-1988). We see a dirt road winding around the edge of a wooded area, a European village and small church seen in the far distance. Gutknecht was born in Dusseldorf and studied art in that German city, as well as Munich and Hamburg. For a time he taught at the Royal Academy in Vienna...

Oil on canvas laid on board painting of a windswept cypress type tree by the coast dunes, 8 1/2" by 4 1/4" (14 1/2" by 10 1/2" attractively framed). Although unsigned (and Detreville's output frequently WAS unsigned), the handling, subject matter and color palette are strong indicators of the hand of the noted California painter. I have owned and sold other unsigned paintings as being by Detreville, and I will stand by this being one of his works...

Oil on canvas painting of a coastal bluff with gentle incoming waves, possibly Rhode Island near Newport but most certainly New England, 12" by 16" (20" by 24" nicely framed), signed at lower right and dated there (likely, a little hard to read) 1908, by Massachusetts artist of the famous Fall River School, BRYANT CHAPIN (1859-1927)...

A twentieth century Italianate landscape painting in convincing Old Master style, unframed, impressively large at 23 3/4" by 47 3/4", signed at lower left by noted Old Master style painter TONI BORDIGNON (born 1921). Bordignon's mastery of the subject matter and techniques of masters of previous centuries has led to his decorative and popular paintings being offered at auctions in Europe and America...

Oil on canvas, 18" by 30" (20" by 32 1/2" framed), the subject a very English one----a peaceful summery millpond or riverside scene of low, forested hills and their feathery trees, a small peaceful settlement, and a total of six figures, three out in a rowboat for an outing, and three tiny people gathered in the village of thatch roofed buildings, engaged in conversation, beneath a pretty sky...

Oil on canvas painting of California mountains, a line of back lit trees in the middle ground, 18" by 23 1/2" (26 1/2" by 33" in vintage frame), signed at lower right by well listed California and western artist JOE WAANO-GANO (1906-1982). Waano-Gano was of Cherokee heritage. Born in Salt Lake City, he moved to Los Angeles while still young, studying at UCLA and USC with Theodore Lukits and Christian von Schneidau...

Oil on board still life of red roses, and a few bumble bees in the composition as well, 24 1/4" by 18 1/2", 31 1/4" by 24 3/4" in likely original old gold frame, signed at lower left "N. Miller" and dated there 1910 or possibly 1916. This was executed in the early 20th century, but takes from a nineteenth century tradition in Victorian times----painting roses. In this case, the artist seems to have been familiar with the widely known artist Paul De Longpre (1855-1911), who painted flowers, oft...

A portrait of Hollywood actress Natalie Wood (1938-1981), painted by an unknown artist, showing the artist as she would have appeared in the 1970's. The image shows a sultry Wood in her prime, staring at the viewer with her famous brown eyes. She is of course known for her roles in the films Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), West Side Story (1961) and Gypsy (1962), and she received Academy Award Best Actress nominations for her performances in Splendor in the Grass (1961) a...

A naive or self-taught style painting of a colorful hillside neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, known as Rocinha, signed at lower right by the artist "Jonathan", and dated there 27/02/04. The unframed 9 1/2"by 6 1/4" work pictures the Rocinha slum neighborhood. The artist has turned a place of notorious grinding poverty, despair and violence into a beautiful little work of art that transmits only happy thoughts. On the reverse, the artist wrote, "Jonathan/20/02/04/ Favela com dois Ismaos...

Colorful, heavily impressionistic acrylic painting with palette knife, the subject beached wooden boats in a sunny Mediterranean coastal landscape, signed at lower left by listed French artist PIERRE MAS (1933-). The work measures 11 1/4" by 27" as framed. Mas used copious amounts of wet-looking, lush paint, creating an interesting surface and texture. Colors are very complementary and harmonious, the turquoise particularly pleasing. Overall, the painting is a most attractive Mid Century wor...

Dynamic and complex, this is a colorful oil on canvas abstract, 40" by 18" (vertical format), 45" by 23" in the wood frame, titled on the stretcher "Figure in Movement" and signed nearby on the reverse canvas (a little hard to see in the photos). but, it has a significant, jagged unrepaired rip in it. I imagine the painting dates from the late 40's or the 1950's. It and another Schanker painting I will be listing came from the Marina del Rey (near Santa Monica) estate of Alice Himmelstein, dau...