For the collector of contemporary art, this is an unusual mixed media work signed at lower right by MARGARET HEHMAN (known since 1985 as Margaret Hehman-Smith). The work (11 3/4" by 16 3/8", 20 1/2" by 25 1/4" as framed behind glass) is executed with ochre chalky paint over a thin highly polished aluminum sheet. The artist has a website, which shows that she grew up in Pennsylvania, and studied at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles in the mid 1970s, with some study in Europe as well...

Oil on canvas laid on board, 10 1/4" by 13 1/4" (16" by 19" as framed), the subject snow-streaked brown foothills of the Rocky Mountains in early spring, the main range of the mountains in the distance, signed at lower right in ink "J.D. TURNER", titled on the reverse "Near Cochrane/April 1970/JD Turner". This is a beautiful work by the noted Alberta painter JOHN DAVENALL TURNER (1900-1980)...

Oil on canvas, 13 1/4" by 16 1/4" (20" by 23" as framed), signed in Hebrew at upper left and dated there "68", the scene rather surrealist, with two heads at right superimposed on a deep blue background with decorative device behind them, and a house at left with a figure emerging from it. This unusual modern painting is by the noted Israeli surrealism artist DAN KEDAR (1929-2008). Kedar's works sell at auction in Israel...

Oil on canvas laid on panel by the artist, 22 1/2" by 16 1/4" (25" by 18 3/4" in its original painted vintage frame), titled on reverse "Black Ivory", signed there and again in yellow at lower left corner by the well listed California artist who hailed from Denmark, EINAR CORTSEN PETERSEN (1885-1986). Petersen was a widely traveled artist, who, according to the Hughes biographical listing in Artists of California, studied art in Paris, Rome and Munich, working as a decorator...

This is a lithograph of a partially nude, seated young woman, 20" by 17 1/4" (30" by 27 1/2" as framed), signed in pencil at lower right and numbered 244/300 at lower left, by the noted 20th century American artist RAPHAEL SOYER (1899-1987). Soyer, one of several brothers (the others being Isaac and Moses) who became significant figures in American art during the WPA and mid century period, became known for his sensitive studies of human figures in urban settings and interiors...

Oil on canvas, unframed, 20" by 26", signed at lower right in red "R. MacDonald" and signed/titled/dated on reverse "R. MacDonald/Heat Wave/July 10 1937". The subject appears to be a young man, possibly African-American, holding a hose on a young child at right, a wooden house hidden partially by a huge tree in the background. The artist has painted a very American work, (and possibly southern, as well), squarely in the 1930's style...

Lithograph on paper, the sheet 20" by 14 3/4" (24" by 20" as framed), in black with blue color especially at bottom, not signed in pencil nor in the plate, by important French 20th century woman artist MARIE LAURENCIN (1885-1956). On the reverse is written in pencil in French handwriting "M. Laurencin/j. fille au chien/lith. orig." ("young girl with dog/original lithograph"). The image is typical of the work of this noted artist...

**SEE OTHER WORKS BY THE ARTIST IN MY SHOP**Gouache on a silvery paper, 48" by 19 5/8" and a milky robins-egg light green painted wood narrow frame, signed at lower left by the listed California and Illinois artist MARGO ALEXANDER (1894-1965). This is a whimsical scene of a flowering branch, a bird included in the scene as well. The artist studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and exhibited at the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939...

This is an attractive and elegant poster, issued in 1954 for an exhibition of the works of the ultra famous and important Swiss sculptor, painter and printmaker, ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966). Measuring 29" by 20 1/2", it is simply framed in modern metal with glass and no mat. The edition size of this particular poster, titled "Rue d'Alesia", is unknown. It is signed in the stone at lower right...

Oil on canvas, 14" by 18", (18 1/2" by 22 1/2" in old possibly original frame), the subject given on original Sanborn Studio, Belfast, Maine label as "Bend in Little River" (faint, but still readable with some effort). The work is not signed but is surely by the important Maine artist PERCY A. SANBORN (1849-1929). Sanborn was born in Waldo, Maine and lived for many years in coastal Belfast...

This is an oil on canvas painting of a mounted cowboy in a forested mountain landscape, keeping an eye on several misbehaving steers. The work is signed at lower right by artist WESLEY LE ROY FULLER and is dated there 1993. His interesting cypher appears adjacent to the date. On the stretcher on the reverse the artist has signed again and added the comment "Good luck to the Elks purple pig"; and there also appears to be a price "$600" and title "Keep em out of the tember" (sic)...

Dark brown ink drawing on paper, 11 3/4" by 18", unframed, signed at lower right "John Floyd Morris", titled ISCHIA NAPOLI. The artist is well listed, and is associated with California and the east coast, with askart noting exhibitions in Chicago and Palm Beach. He is perhaps best known for his modern and surrealistic paintings, but painted a wide range of subject matter, including clowns. Interestingly, a big collector of his work seems to have been none other than Noel Coward. When I was vis...

Etching of the famous Chicago River surrounded by the classic skyscrapers, signed in the plate and dated 1927 at lower right, by the listed artist OTTO J. SCHNEIDER (1875-1946). The print does not appear to be pencil signed. Note the fine detail and the 1920's automobiles in the image at right corner. Schneider was born in Illinois and is most closely associated with that state. He exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904, and the Panama Pacific Exposition of 1915. He was a stu...

By the contemporary Japanese artist HIROMICHI YAMAGATA (1948-). this can be described as a collage of tissue like paper on which is drawn in pencil and blue ink an abstract, almost biomorphic decorative design, charcoal used to create a smudged background, then the paper was affixed around the edges to a white canvas background. It is signed at lower right "Yamagata" and dated there 2007. On the reverse is a personal inscription to "Steve", the previous owner, (dated 12.10.07), to whom this w...

Oil on canvas, 18" by 22" (23 1/2" by 27 1/2" as framed), the subject the famous Paris opera house and the Cafe de la Paix at left, executed in the naive style of painters like Emile Blondel, Leon-Alphonse Quizet, and so forth, apparently unsigned, though the word "Lancel" on an awning could possibly be the artist's name. The painting dates to the post war period, likely the 1950's or early 1960's at latest, considering the style of the autos in the scene. The artist most definitely had a comm...

Oil on canvas painting titled on the stretcher in pencil "Superstition Mountain, Arizona", signed at lower left by the well listed California artist PAUL LAURITZ (1889-1975). The scene is of the legendary, rugged and forbidding mountain range just to the east of the metropolitan Phoenix area, said to contain the fabled Lost Dutchman mine. The painting measures 22" by 34" and 28" by 40" framed. Lauritz is considered one of the important plein air painters, a number of works having exceeded $25...

Lithograph on paper, 7 1/2" by 4 1/2" (13 1/8" by 10" as framed), signed in pencil at lower right by the noted German Jewish artist HERMANN STRUCK (1876-1944). The subject is a man wearing a cap. Struck was born in Berlin or Orthodox Jewish parentage. Early in his life he met the Zionist leader Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), a meeting which profoundly influenced the artist. Struck's most desirable subject matter, scenes of Israel from the late 1920's, have brought to the $25,000 area at auction. ...

Oil on canvas, 18 1/2" by 15" (23 1/2" by 20" as framed), the subject a vase of flowers painted in a highly impressionistic manner. The painting is signed in a manner consistent with the notoriously difficult to decipher signature of the artist HENRI d'ANTY (1910-1998) at lower right. The age would appear to be circa late 1950's or early 1960'a. Interestingly, there is a vintage sticker on the frame reverse from the "Maison Franco" framing and art supplies business, which has been serving arti...