Ramon Prats

Abstract Expressionist Latin American Painting

John von Wicht (American, 1888-1970) Oil on Japanese Rice Paper. Hand signed and dated in pencil lower right. Sheet Size: 21 x 29.25 in. Johannes Von Wicht was born in Holstein, ...

David Rankin, American (b. 1946) Rocky Hillside, (1990) Oil on paper Hand signed lower right, signed and titled verso. 30 x 22 1/2 inches David Rankin is a New York-based, British-born Australian post-war and contemporary artist known for his expressionistic abstract paintings. His work can be categorized by his use of quick, loose brushstrokes, reminiscent of scribbles on a page. Rankin works predominantly in oil painting and acrylic on canvas, but also works with paper, prints, sculptures and ceramics. Rankin has held over 100 one-person exhibitions in cities across the world, including New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Mexico, Vienna, Berlin and Cologne, as well as all over Australia. Represented in many of the world’s leading public and private collections and museums, David Rankin’s work is featured in Australia’s leading institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria and Queensland Art Gallery. David Rankin was born in Plymouth, Devon, England in 1946 then emigrated to Australia with his family in 1948. He spent his childhood in the 1950s in the semi-rural Port Hacking region South of Sydney and his teenage years in country New South Wales, from Hay, Wagga Wagga and Albury in the South to Bourke and Brewarrina in the North. Rankin is self-taught, developing his techniques and ideas in the outback towns of his youth. He was inspired by the greats from Leonardo da Vinci to Paul Klee as well as being influenced by the history of Buddhism and Asian art. In his travels before he arrived in Sydney in 1967 he developed a concept of what he wanted to achieve as an Australian artist. His dream was to express the anima, the life spirit or the essence of God in all nature. As an Australian artist he believed could bring the elements of Western Art together with an understanding and love for the cultures of Asia and the Australian Aborigine. He also felt that as Australia was closer to Asia than Europe it made sense to think about the art of Indian, Chinese and Japanese artists, and that one could not be an authentic articulate Australian artist without a love and respect for the artistic and spiritual expressions of the various Aboriginal artists, peoples and cultures. His work combined elements of Abstract Expressionist painting with Jewish and Aboriginal influences. In 1979 his first wife, Jennifer Mary Roberts (née Haynes) died. Rankin subsequently met his current wife Lily Brett, whose own life was etched by tragedy with her parents being survivors of the Holocaust. She too migrated to Australia as a child after the Second World War in 1948. The artist recounts that his empathy for Lily and the pity for his first wife's death fused into what he calls "the dark blessing of my life." The darkness was transformed into images. The author Dore Ashton writes that the events of 1979 and the fire which ravished his studio in 1997 and burnt his art works and many personal possessions, had a profound impact on his work. Having personal life experiences as his subject matter, Rankin's paintings contemplate these things. For example, his Jerusalem series followed a trip to Jerusalem in 1988, which then led to his Golgotha works. His travels to the Australian, American and Mexican deserts became the subject matter for many of his canvases, such as Ridge – Mungo, Golden Prophecy – San Antonio, Grey Sonora Landscape and then led to his Witness Series. From the fire in his studio he then painted Buddha and Flames. He illustrated two books by Lily Brett on the holocaust and explored the theme further in his huge work The Drowned and The Saved from a book by Primo Levi of the same name. Through Brett he encountered Jewish mythology and painted judaica imagery, Black...

Sergio de Castro (15 September 1922 – 31 December 2012) was a French-Argentinian Sergio de Castro was born in Argentina, in an aristocratic family of Spanish origins (Galicia and the Basque Country), the House of Castro. His father was a diplomat, which is why, from 1923 until 1932, Castro lived in Switzerland with his parents and his two sisters. During these years he visited cities like Lausanne, Geneva and Turin. In 1933 he entered a Jesuit school in Montevideo and he started studying music. He discovered poetry by learning to speak and write in Spanish. He was specially touched by the works of César Vallejo. Through the years Castro would become close friends with writers like Octavio Paz, Julio Cortázar, Samuel Beckett, Kostas Papaioannou and Georges Schéhadé. Later, during a trip to Uruguay, he met Joaquín Torres García, with whom he studied painting and monumental art from 1941 until 1949. In 1942 he moved to Argentina, where he would live until 1949. Castro was also friends with other artists like Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Arpad Szenes. In 1945 he found a job as a secretary in the Astronomy Observatorium of the city of Córdoba, where we also worked as the assistant to the musician Manuel de Falla in Alta Gracia, until his death in 1946. In 1945 and 1946 he had a grant from the French government to study musical composition. During the year of 1946 he had an exhibition in New York City among other members of Torres Garcia's workshop. That same year he traveled to the northeast of Argentina and the south of Perú to study pre-columbian art with Gonzalo Fonseca, Julio Uruguay Alpuy and Jonio Montiel. In 1949 he started teaching History of Music in the new music school of the city of La Plata. His work as a musician drew attention from relevant figures such as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Aaron Copland and Juan José Castro. He quit this job when he got a grant from the French government to improve his musical studies in Paris, where he settled in November 1949. Since 1951 he devoted himself exclusively to painting. In 1955, his friend the German writer and translator Edith Aron introduced him to Julio Cortázar, who would become a close friend of him. Castro inspired the character of Etienne in Cortázar's novel Rayuela (Hopscotch). In the book is featured the intimate friendship of the protagonist, Horacio Oliveira, with his companion in the Serpent Club, whom he often visited in his studio in Paris. In 1960 he won the Hallmark Prize in New York. In 1979 he obtained the French nationality. In 1980 he showed his works at the Argentinian pavilion in the 39th Venice Biennale. He was associate professor in the Human Sciences Faculty of the University of Strasbourg from 1981 until 1986. In 1997 he became Officer in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2006, Sergio de Castro made a 220-work donation to the Fine Arts Museum of Saint-Lô. He was also a close friend of the musician Alberto Ginastera, who made reference to Sergio de Castro and his first works in his notes on modern Argentinian music. Castro died 31 December 2012 in Paris. He is buried in the Montparnasse cemetery, in Paris, close to his dear friend Samuel Beckett. Monumental works Two wall paintings for the Martirené Pavilion of the Hospital Saint-Bois (1942), in Montevideo (Uruguay), in collaboration with Joaquín Torres García and his disciples, among which Castro was the youngest. The Creation of the Universe (1956–1958), 6m x 20m stained-glass window. Castro worked with painter and glass-maker J. J. K. Ray (1898–1979) in Paris. Selected Exhibitions 1952 Galerie Jeanne Castel Paris 1954 Galería Bonino Buenos Aires and Galerie Pierre Loeb, Paris 1956 Galerie Rive Gauche, Paris 1958 Matthiesen Gallery, London 1959 documenta 2 Kunst nach 1945 Kassel 1961 Matthiesen Gallery, London 1963–64 Galeria Lorenzelli, Bergamo and Milano 1964 Galería Bettie Thommen, Basel 1965 Kunstverein Hamburg Retrospektive 1966 Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Fribourg, Switzerland (retrospective) 1966 Recklinhausen, Variationen über ein Thema, Städtische Kunsthalle 1970 Retrospektiven in Oslo, Kunstforering, and Kunst Industriemuseet, Copenhagen, Kunstforening, Oslo, Kunstforening, Holstebro 1972 Wildenstein Gallery, London Landscapes of Light 1974 Galerie Jacob, Paris 1975 Kunsthalle Bremen, Retrospektive, Berlin Tempelhof, Kunstamt (Berlin Festival) 1975–76 Retrospective exhibition the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen (68 artworks from 1956 to 1966), France 1979 Hommage à Pierre Loeb, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris 1980 39th Venice Biennale 1987 French Institute London. Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires 1988 Galerie des Ambassades y Galerie Galarte, Sergio de Castro, Natures Mortes, 1958–1965. Paris/ Bayeux, Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art 1989 Galerie des Ambassades, Paris 1991–92 Romont, Swiss Stained Glass...

Erin Parish (American, b. 1966) 40004"Sugar High Undertow" Hand signed and dated 2005 verso, Oil and resin on panel. 18"h x 24"w Erin Parish ( 1966 -, St. Louis, MO) is an American painter and independent curator. She graduated from Bennington College in 1988 with a B.A. and Queens College with an M.F.A. in 1990. Parish is the daughter of four artists. As a child growing up] talk in her family focused on the New York Times and the changing commercial and philosophical views of the art world. She has been exhibiting regularly since the age of 18 and has been a practicing artist for nearly four decades. While her early influences range from Joseph Cornell to the German Expressionist artists and the Neue Wilde artists of the 1980s, she now draws inspiration from the Hudson River School artists, as well as Mariko Mori, Yayoi Kusama and Japanese woodcuts by Hokusai and Hiroshige. She is also influenced by the Japanese principles of Wabi-sabi and Yugen. She has been represented by Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York, NY, Spanierman Modern, New York, NY and Andra Norris Gallery, Burlingame, CA. SELECTED GALLERY GROUP EXHIBITIONS ​​2023 "Artistry and Alchemical Process," Spanierman Modern, New York NY (artists included: Steven Alexander, Dan Christensen, Elaine De Kooning, Sam Middleton, Joan Mitchell, Andy Moses, Erin Parish, Dan Rizzie) ​2021 "Twenty-five-year Anniversary Exhibition," Winston Wachter Fine Art, NY NY​ 2020 "Abstract Allegories," Spanierman Modern, Miami Beach, FL "Summer Mood," curated by Natasha Schlesinger at Topping Rose House, Easthampton, NY 2019 "Portfolio Review Series the Laundromat Art Space," Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL "Full Spectrum: Lynne Cook, Erin Parish, William Rushton" Andra Norris Gallery, Burlingame, CA 2017 "Parish, Parish, Parish" Ellen Kayrod Gallery, Detroit, MI "Detroit Abstraction," Janice Charach Gallery, curator Rick Vian, West Bloomfield, MI 2015 “Creating A Scholar,” Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, Miami, Fl with the American Institute of Architects “Gallery Artists for the XII Havana Biennial,” Bustamante Fine Art, Havana, Cuba 2013 Documenta USA,” Museum of New Art, Detroit, MI 2001 “Father/Daughter, Tom Parish...

This is from her celebrated Drip Series, Titled, "Small Dark Center" Signed and dated verso 1980. Berenice Dvorzon was an extraordinary artist who began as an active young painter during the heydey of the abstract expressionists. Her art was heavily influenced by her love of water and her travels to Europe, China, Israel, Bali, and the deep South. Her commitment to feminism, Judaism, and environmental issues was reflected in much of her work. She exhibited throughout the United States in many galleries and museums, is included in private collections, and received numerous awards. Berenice taught at Wilkes University from 1968 to 1988, where she served as an associate professor of studio art. “Most of my work deals with water images...

Flowers in a Vase, intensely and seductively colored: almost in a Japonaise style. Swooning purples and reds, ecstatic lemon yellows, Jostling shapes, lyrical and soft-edged, refuse ...

Artist: Claude Lagouche (French 1943-2020), signed and dated 1986 Claude Lagouche was born January 2, 1943 in Naves, died January 16, 2020. He quickly gained recognition for his t...

Bay Area Abstract Expressionist Composition in Oil on Cardboard San Francisco Bay area abstract expressionist composition by Honora Berg (American, 1897-1985). Blue, red, and yellow-green patches swirl around each other, evoking the image of a nebula or body of water with leaves floating on top. The bold colors contrast with each other, creating a strong impression even from a distance. Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of the artist's work. Estate stamp on verso "Estate of Honora Berg - Miller Fine Art" Unframed. Paper size: 29.75"H x 22"W Larry Miller 1958-2003, Larry was a specialist in bay area abstract artists and purchased numerous bay area artists estates. He purchased the entirety of the Honora Berg Estate and we purchased many of those works directly from Larry. Honora Berg, an Abstract Expressionist and Bay Area Figurative School artist, studied at the San Francisco Art Institute with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and James Budd Dixon...

Signed lower right, 'Thall V' for Victor Thall (American, 1902-1983) and painted circa 1950. A mid-century, abstract oil comprising a centrally placed and expansive star-shaped form accompanied by jagged, linear elements and superimposed on a background of ivory and midnight-blue; a dynamic and elegant New York School work showcasing the artist's characteristic, energetic and painterly brushwork. Born in New York in 1902, Victor Thall first attended the Art Students League in New York City where he studied under Arthur B. Davies, George Bellows, John Sloan and Robert Henri. He furthered his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before leaving for Paris, in 1924, to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Academie Julien. He remained in France for six formative years before returning to the United States in the early 1930's. Back in New York, he became friendly with Willem de Kooning and Arshile Gorky and was both influenced and inspired by the ferment of ideas that developed around the New York School during the late 1940's and early 1950's. Thall was also an active participant in the WPA New Deal Art Project of New York City between 1935 and 1939 and returned to the Art Students League as a teacher from 1947-9. He exhibited widely and with success including at the Whitney Museum Annuals of 1949 and 1950 and the Leicester Gallery, London, in 1961. Victor Thall's paintings are held in numerous private and public collections including the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Newark Museum and the artist is listed in all relevant reference works including Who Was Who in American Art. Reference: Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 3, p. 3273; Falk, Peter Hastings , ed. The Annual and Biennial Exhibition Record of the Whitney Museum of Art 1918-1989. (New York): Sound View Press, 1991; Levick, L.E., "A Guide to the Art Galleries," New York Journal American, May 23, 1964. Review of one-man show at Southampton Gallery; 1950 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1950; Coates, Robert M., "The Art Galleries: Paul Klee, The Whitney Annual, and John Marin, The New Yorker, December 31, 1949, pp. 42-43; 1949 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. New York: Whitney; Museum of American Art, 1949; Lansford, Alonzo, "Thall at Binet," The Art Digest' December 15, 1947, ill; Upton, Melville, "George Binet Gallery," Sun, December 13, 1947; Devree, Howard, "Victor Thall at the Binet Gallery," New York Times, December 10, 1947; "Victor Thall at Binet Gallery," Art News, December 1947, p. 59; Oil Paintings by Victor Thall, New York: George Binet Gallery, 1947; et al. Select Exhibitions: 1968 DePoliolo Gallery, Palm Springs 1965 Studio Gallery, Naples, Florida 1964 L’lnstitute Francais d’Haiti 1964 Summit Gallery, New York City 1964 Southampton Gallery, New York City 1963 Guildhall Gallery, Chicago 1961 Leicester Gallery, London 1950 Whitney Museum , New York City 1949 Whitney Museum, New York City 1947 Binet Gallery, New York City 1946 Chinese...

Signed lower left, 'Thall V' for Victor Thall (American, 1902-1983) and painted circa 1950. A mid-century, American abstract oil comprising complex, contiguous and superimposed, linear and ovoid forms painted with an energetic and painterly brush in primary and secondary colors in both pure and pastel tints. Born in New York in 1902, Victor Thall first attended the Art Students League in New York City where he studied under Arthur B. Davies, George Bellows, John Sloan and Robert Henri. He furthered his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before leaving for Paris, in 1924, to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the Academie Julien. He remained in France for six formative years before returning to the United States in the early 1930's. Back in New York, he became friendly with Willem de Kooning and Arshile Gorky and was both influenced and inspired by the ferment of ideas that developed around the New York School during the late 1940's and early 1950's. Thall was also an active participant in the WPA New Deal Art Project of New York City between 1935 and 1939 and returned to the Art Students League as a teacher from 1947-9. He exhibited widely and with success including at the Whitney Museum Annuals of 1949 and 1950 and the Leicester Gallery, London, in 1961. Victor Thall's paintings are held in numerous private and public collections including the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Newark Museum and the artist is listed in all relevant reference works including Who Was Who in American Art. Reference: Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 3, p. 3273; Falk, Peter Hastings , ed. The Annual and Biennial Exhibition Record of the Whitney Museum of Art 1918-1989. (New York): Sound View Press, 1991; Levick, L.E., "A Guide to the Art Galleries," New York Journal American, May 23, 1964. Review of one-man show at Southampton Gallery; 1950 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1950; Coates, Robert M., "The Art Galleries: Paul Klee, The Whitney Annual, and John Marin, The New Yorker, December 31, 1949, pp. 42-43; 1949 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. New York: Whitney; Museum of American Art, 1949; Lansford, Alonzo, "Thall at Binet," The Art Digest' December 15, 1947, ill; Upton, Melville, "George Binet Gallery," Sun, December 13, 1947; Devree, Howard, "Victor Thall at the Binet Gallery," New York Times, December 10, 1947; "Victor Thall at Binet Gallery," Art News, December 1947, p. 59; Oil Paintings by Victor Thall, New York: George Binet Gallery, 1947; et al. Select Exhibitions: 1968 DePoliolo Gallery, Palm Springs 1965 Studio Gallery, Naples, Florida 1964 L’lnstitute Francais d’Haiti 1964 Summit Gallery, New York City 1964 Southampton Gallery, New York City 1963 Guildhall Gallery, Chicago 1961 Leicester Gallery, London 1950 Whitney Museum , New York City 1949 Whitney Museum, New York City 1947 Binet Gallery, New York City 1946 Chinese...

Large-scale abstract assemblage by Bay Area artist Michael Pauker (American, b.1957). Unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of his work. Unframed. Circa 2010. Canvas size...

Syril Frank (American, 1929-2021) 1. Untitled, 1966 Mixed media collage; oil paint, paper, pen, canvas 19 5/8 x 24 in. Framed: 20 1/2 x 24 3/4 in. 2. Unt...