Skip to main content

Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

American, b. 1937
Charles Roger Grooms was born in 1937 in Nashville, Tennessee, a city that, with its lively honky-tonk scene and the theatricality of the historic Grand Ole Opry, would later influence much of his work. Nicknamed for his ginger hair, Red enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1955. A self-proclaimed “restless and undisciplined student,” Grooms spent the next few years moving between schools and cities, including the New School in New York, Peabody College (now part of Vanderbilt University) in Nashville, and Hans Hofmann’s summer school in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Frustrated with the academic track and anxious to enter the New York art scene, Grooms abandoned formal education to focus exclusively on creating art and securing exhibition opportunities in his Chelsea neighborhood. There, he found quick success and a supportive circle of artists that became close friends and collaborators. From the start of his career, Grooms has worked in multiple media, from painting, printmaking, and sculpture, to installation art, filmmaking, and theatrical experiences known as “Happenings.” Much of his art blurs the boundaries between these different forms, such as his large-scale, carefully-crafted environments he calls “sculpto-pictoramas,” and smaller objects like Dalí Salad. In this example, Grooms combines silkscreened and lithographic elements with a wooden base and acrylic dome to create a three-dimensional portrait of the famous Surrealist artist. Grooms is perhaps best known for his colorful and comedic commentary on the culture, politics, and figures associated with the American urban environment and art historical traditions. Relying on satire and caricature, Grooms’ art has paid homage to a wide range of artists including Rembrandt, Auguste Rodin, Thomas Eakins, and Benjamin West, as well as national icons like Thomas Jefferson and Chuck Berry. Grooms’ disparate output is so difficult to classify that he has been compared to the influential Dada artist, Marcel Duchamp. Like Duchamp, Grooms often deliberately confronts the art world establishment, noting in 1974 that “it’s good to have . . . something to go against.” Despite his affinity for defying the mainstream, Grooms is routinely cited by scholars as one of the leading American artists of his generation and was honored with the National Academy of Design’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. The subject of a 1984 mid-career retrospective exhibition held at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the artist’s work can be found in public collections across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, as well as in many international museums. - The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina
(Biography provided by Helicline Fine Art)
to
3
3
2
1
1
2
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
3
1
1
1
1
3
2
1
118
772
326
196
132
2
1
1
1
1
Artist: Red Grooms
For Alice & Bo, Unique drawing of Provincetown Mass. beach, Pop Art figurative
By Red Grooms
Located in New York, NY
RED GROOMS (Untitled), for Alice + Bo, Provincetown 1966 Original ink drawing on paper Signed, inscribed and dated with a dateline of Provincetown on recto. Vintage frame included Th...
Category

1960s Pop Art Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Ruckus Rodeo (unique acrylic painting by famed Pop artist w/ Marlborough label)
By Red Grooms
Located in New York, NY
Red Grooms Ruckus Rodeo, 1975 Acrylic and felt tip pen on paper Signed and dated in black felt marker Unique work Provenance: Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, with original label verso Frame included: in museum frame with UV plexiglass Measurements: 22.75 inches vertical by 19.75 inches horizontal by 1.5 inches Work 16.5 inches vertical by 13.5 inches horizontal This work on paper, Ruckus Rodeo, is a unique study by Red Grooms for one of the most popular works of art in the Museum of Modern Art, Ft. Worth, Texas's collection. Ruckus Rodeo is an immense, walk-through work of art that covers 1,237 square feet of gallery space. It consists of painted two-dimensional surfaces and sculptural three-dimensional figures that re-create the Fort Worth rodeo. Grooms has referred to this work as a "sculpto-pictorama." Sculpture wire, canvas, burlap, acrylic paint, and a fiberglass compound known as celastic were used to construct the work’s Texas-sized, larger-than-life, three-dimensional caricatures of rodeo archetypes, which include the rodeo queen and her steed, a bucking bronc, playful rodeo clowns, and a giant yellow bull named Butter. Ruckus Rodeo was commissioned for the Museum's 1976 exhibition The Great American Rodeo. Grooms was one of eleven artists invited to create a work for this show. In preparation, he attended every rodeo performance during Fort Worth's 1975 Stock Show and made many sketches. From these studies, Grooms drew a panoramic rodeo scene spanning more than seven feet, which served as the basis for Ruckus Rodeo's design. Grooms returned to his studio in New York to fabricate the work's major figures. In 1976, he returned to Fort Worth with the talented fifteen-member group of painters, sculptors, engineers, and carpenters known as the "Ruckus Construction Co.," who helped in the final assembly of Grooms's robust tableau. Associate Curator Andrea Karnes commented, "Ruckus Rodeo portrays the chaos, entertainment, and danger of the Fort Worth rodeo. Grooms's engaging work is characterized by a grand sense of spectacle, encompassing the ritual, pageantry, and disorderly commotion of a real rodeo event. The artist's interest in naive and primitive objects, such as folk art puppets and toys, is easily seen in this work. His rich, arbitrary use of bold and unmodulated colors combined with angular contours creates a loud, brash ambience. Despite the work's cartoonish flair, it is clearly inflected with an urban sensibility. The characters' outfits, for example, are more like the vibrant apparel of the urban cowboy...
Category

1970s Pop Art Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Acrylic, Felt Pen

Study for Way Down East, Color Pencil Drawing by Red Grooms
By Red Grooms
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Red Grooms Title: Study for Way Down East Year: circa 1965 Medium: Color Pencil and Watercolor on Paper, Signed verso Size: 17.5 x 22 inches Frame: 26 x 32 inches "Way Down East" is best known as a 1920 American silent romantic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish...
Category

1960s Pop Art Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Color Pencil, Watercolor

Related Items
Golf Bags, Caddy with Golf Bag on His Back
By Frederick Conway
Located in Missouri, MO
Framed Size: approx 17 3/4 x 20 3/4 inches Fred Conway (1900-1973) "Golf Bags, Caddy with Golf Bag on His Back" Pen/Ink/Watercolor on Paper Site Size: approx. 10 x 13 inches Framed Size: approx. 17 3/4 x 20 3/4 inches A member of the faculty of the Washington University Art School from 1929 to 1970, Frederick Conway...
Category

1960s American Modern Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Pen

Liber Mystia XLIII
By Henry Hablak
Located in Philadelphia, PA
"Liber Mystia XLIII" is an original artwork by Henry Hablak made of gouache, ink, and colored pencil on paper measuring 16.25"h x 12.25"w framed and 14"h x 11"w unframed. Henry Habl...
Category

2010s Contemporary Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Paper, Gouache, Color Pencil

Fawn
By Henry Hablak
Located in Philadelphia, PA
"Fawn" is an original ink, colored pencil, and gouache on paper artwork by Henry Hablak measuring 30"h x 22"w. Henry Hablak is a tattoo artist and illustrator based out of Philadel...
Category

2010s Contemporary Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Color Pencil, Gouache, Paper

Fawn
Fawn
H 30 in W 22 in
Train Attendant, c. 1917 - Original Handsigned Etching and Drawing
By Louis Icart
Located in Paris, FR
Louis Icart Train Attendant, c. 1917 Original dry point etching Watercolor and pencil drawing in the lower margin Handsigned in pencil On Japanese paper, 47,5 x 32,5 cm (c. 18,7 x 1...
Category

1910s Art Deco Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil, Watercolor, Color Pencil, Etching

Portrait of Paris, Abstract Acrylic Painting on Paper
By a.muse
Located in New york, NY
Portrait of Paris is a colorful mixed-media painting on paper, an homage to Greek mythology. Portrait of Paris, 2019 by a.muse is a 15" x 11" brightly colored work on paper: acrylic...
Category

2010s Abstract Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Mixed Media, Acrylic, Archival Paper, Oil Pastel

"Indian Dance", Multicolor Abstract Geometric Composition
By Ellwood Graham
Located in Soquel, CA
Bright and colorful abstract geometric watercolor with multicolor connected forms cascading in a dynamic vertical composition by Ellwood Graham (American, 1911-2007). Signed "GRAHAM" in the upper right corner, and "Ellwood Graham" on verso. Circa 1961-1966. The title "Indian Dance...
Category

1960s Abstract Geometric Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Pen, Pencil

KAJ-FICAJA Sans Titre - Dessin - Chantal Ficaja & Alexander Kaj Lindström France
Located in Meinisberg, CH
KAJ-FICAJA French, Artist Couple: Chantal Ficaja-Lindström (1959) & Alexander Kaj Lindström (1959), Sans titre • Pop/ Street Art • Coloured felt pens on paper ca. 40 x 50 cm • Si...
Category

20th Century Street Art Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Felt Pen

Art deco mixed media on paper - Panther in a forest of bamboos by Gaston Suisse
Located in Carouge GE, GE
Panthère dans les bambous, 1926 Gouache, or et traits de crayon sur papier Signé et daté en bas à droite 15 x 15 cm (sujet) Panther in the bamboos, 1926 Gouache, pencil and gold on paper Signed and dated to the lower right Provenance Collection particulière, France - Private collection, France Bibliographie/Literature : Emmanuel Bréon "Gaston Suisse, splendeur du laque art déco", Somogy Editions d'art, Paris 2013, oeuvre décrite et reproduite page 104. (l’oeuvre décrite et reproduite est la lithographie tirée d'après l’oeuvre originale que nous présentons.) Nous présentons ici l'oeuvre originale à la gouache, or et crayon de la panthère noire. L’artiste en réalisa une gravure sur bois dont il tira lui-même une vingtaine d’épreuve. Ces épreuves ne furent pas commercialisées telles quelles, Gaston Suisse reprit chacune des épreuves en utilisant des lavis d’encre de Chine et des ors de différentes couleurs, afin d’obtenir des effets différents pour chaque épreuve, qui sont donc des œuvres originales uniques. We present here the original work in gouache, gold and pencil of the black panther. From this original, the artist made a wood engraving of which he made about twenty prints himself. These proofs were not marketed as they were, Gaston Suisse reworked each of the proofs using Indian ink washes and golds of different colors, in order to obtain different effects for each proof, which are thus unique original works. Born in 1896 in a family of artists, his father Georges was a close friend of Siegfried Bing and a great lover of Japanese art and a bibliophile. He passed his taste for art to his son whom he often took to draw at the Botanic Garden . Around 1910, Gaston Suisse, who hasn't entered yet the artistic school, met Paul Jouve, then 18 years his elder, who was already famous. In 1911, at the age of 17, he entered the National School of Decorative Art where he followed the teachings of Paul Renouard. Thanks to his knowledge and taste for the Japanese art, he chose lacquer painting as his specialty. His practice of this noble and demanding subject were so much appreciated that he was awarded with two gold medals in 1913 and 1914. Mobilized during the war , he joined the army and go in Salonika where he found his friend Jouve. In 1918, he finished his studies at the School of Applied Arts in order to perfect his training. He learned in particular the techniques of gilding and oxidation of metals. The first productions of Gaston Suisse, furniture and objects in lacquer with geometrical patterns, were an instant success and Suisse was appointed as member of Salon d'Automne in 1924, the very year of his first exhibition. Considered as an artist-decorator, his sincere and deep friendship with Jouve linked him in parallel with the groups of the animaliers of the Jardin des Plantes and became a close friend of Edouard-Marcel Sandoz. When travelling to Maghreb and Middle-East between 1923 and 1925, he produced numerous drawings representing antelopes, apes and fennec foxes...
Category

1920s Art Deco Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

Disappearances / Extinctions #1 Hélène Duclos 21st Century drawing landscape art
By Hélène Duclos
Located in Paris, FR
This drawing is part of the current exhibition entitled "The fantastic story of the liquid mountain" at Claire Corcia Gallery in Paris. The liquid mountain is populated by living be...
Category

2010s Contemporary Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Color Pencil, Graphite, Paper, Gouache

Blossom Light from Blood- Drawing by Parimah Avani - 2022
Located in Roma, IT
Blossom Light from Blood is a Drawing realized by Iranian Painter and Poet Parimah Avani in 2022. China ink and acrylic on ivory-colored paper. Hand-si...
Category

Early 2000s Abstract Expressionist Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, India Ink, Acrylic

Love is Love, 2021
By Ayse Wilson
Located in Westport, CT
Ayse Wilson is a Turkish-American artist who lives and lives and works in Connecticut. Her work draws from memory and emotion to remind viewers of youth, innocence and the timeless space we occupy when we are young. She creates lively and childlike characters, finding inspiration in the works of early Italian Renaissance masters such as Fra Angelico. Wilson graduated from Wellesley College in 1991, and pursued her education in Florence. She received her MFA at New York Academy of Art, and later worked as a painting assistant to Jeff Koons for two years. This current series employs the toile wallpaper samples that the artist had lying around her house during lockdown as a backdrop for ambiguous and complicated feelings toward quarantine and domestic confinement. In this work, she is hoping to narrate how fear of the pandemic unknown, coupled with household anxieties, and increased self-awareness contributed to the mixed emotions of security and hostility towards enforced domesticity within a masked world. The toile tradition represented a coincidental parallel with the COVID era rediscovery of old-fashioned pastoral lifestyles, and the embrace of self-reliant artisanal practices like cooking, gardening, sewing, and prescribed homeschooling. Her colorful inscriptions, some original, some appropriated, layer in our contemporary lifestyle, our modern methods of connectivity as well as our high-tech world. The punky playfulness of the neon and fluorescents contrasts with the backdrop of Fragonard-esque imagery and hopes to delivery her messages of love and connection, awareness and newness, hope and emotions, as well as the occasional glossily veiled hostility expressed in certain so-called “love” declarations. The phrases evolved from a previous series addressing the Me Too movement...
Category

2010s Contemporary Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Acrylic

"Great Pine", Tree Inhabited by Human in Nature, Drawing and Pigments on Paper
By Frank Girard
Located in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
This drawing by Frank Girard is created with pigments, Chinese ink, watercolors, acrylic, and colored pencils on 300g/m2 neutral white paper. It is not fr...
Category

2010s Realist Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Color Pencil, Acrylic, Ink, Watercolor, Pigment

Red Grooms figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Red Grooms figurative drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. If you’re browsing the collection of figurative drawings and watercolors to introduce a pop of color in a neutral corner of your living room or bedroom, you can find work that includes elements of blue and other colors. You can also browse by medium to find art by Red Grooms in paint, acrylic paint, color pencil and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Pop Art style. Not every interior allows for large Red Grooms figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 20 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Keith Haring, Larry Rivers, and Jules Engel. Red Grooms figurative drawings and watercolors prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $7,000 and tops out at $10,000, while the average work can sell for $9,500.
Questions About Red Grooms Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Red Grooms, an American painter and sculptor, is best known for his life-size Pop art, which are known as “sculpto-pictoramas.” Ruckus Manhattan is the most famous of these, created by Grooms in 1975 with help from his assistants. It includes a model of the World Trade Center that’s 30 feet tall, a swaying Brooklyn Bridge, and a 15-foot-tall Statue of Liberty. On 1stDibs, shop a selection of Red Grooms artwork from top sellers worldwide.

Recently Viewed

View All