(ONE OF FOUR BY MERRIAM IN MY SHOP) Large oil on canvas, 30" by 40" (38" by 48" framed), in its vintage original frame, the subject California's world famous Yosemite Valley, signed at lower left by the talented California painter JAMES MERRIAM (1880-1951). This work is very typical of the artist, both in its impressive size and in the characteristic impressionistic style of the artist. Merriam was born in Canada and was studying in Detroit, before arriving in Southern California...

Impressionist seascape oil painting on canvas board, 8" by 10" (13 1/2" by 15 1/2" framed) signed at lower right by Colorado artist ALFRED JAMES WANDS (1904-1998). On the reverse in pencil is written "Artist---Alfred Wands/2065 Ivanhoe St./Denver 7 Colo.". The work likely dates to the 1950's. Wands was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended the Cleveland Art Institute, then went to Europe for studies in Brussels and Munich...

Large mixed media abstract painting (28 3/4" by 39 1/2", 31 3/4" by 42 1/2" in gold leaf frame) on plywood panel, signed at lower right "WAHL", and dated there 2001. The painting is striking and handsome, the color combinations very in tune with today's retro contemporary look. A brief search of the name does not immediately point to a known artist. Medium is perhaps a thinned oil or gouache possibly, with some pencil lines drawn as well...

Oil on canvas painting of the arcaded breezeways at the famous Mission San Juan Capistrano in Southern California, 8" by 10", unframed, signed with initials at lower right and possibly again by the artist on the reverse. In addition there is an original old slip of paper giving the artist's biography. Schmidt was born in Gladbeck, Westphalia, Germany after the end of World War I. By age 15 he was already receiving art instruction...

Oil on canvas of a blue-eyed elderly lady wearing a white bonnet, 27" by 22" (34" by 29 1/2" in the 19th century frame), that attractive old frame bearing a placard giving the name of the artist as WILLIAM MATTHEW PRIOR (1806-1873). Images of the unsigned painting, which was found in Downeast Maine, were sent to major auction houses in New England and New York City. None disputed this being a work by the famous itinerant portraitist...

An unusual and decorative circa 1930's unframed 16" by 20" oil on canvas painting featuring a beautiful young maiden centered in a tawny, mountainous Southwest landscape, Native Americans surrounding her, signed lower left rather illegibly. I have long studied the signature and believe it might be "Ben Mead", (1902-1986) who was a southwestern (Texas and California) artist-illustrator based in Amarillo and Dallas. Mead focused on illustration for publication...

Florine Hyer was an Iowa-born artist who became known for her exquisite paintings of roses. She was in Los Angeles by 1898, and remained there her entire life with the exception of the year 1908, when she assisted the botanist Luther Burbank at his home and gardens in Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County north of San Francisco. Burbank is reputed to have said, "Florine can paint roses better than gardens can grow them"...

Oil on canvas still life painting, including a red teapot, plates, funnel, cup, and fruit, all on a striped table cloth with further drapery in the background, 20" by 24", unsigned on front and bearing the name "H. HOWARD" and date "OCT. 74" on the stretcher. There is an African-American artist by the name Humbert Howard but this work does not resemble the work I see out there on the net...

Acrylic on canvas painting titled on reverse "Memory of Rosie", 17" by 24" (21 1/2" by 29" framed). The image is whimsical and rather mysterious, consisting of three white vases or pots each bearing an image, one of a cat, one a bird, one a jester; one speculates that perhaps, Rosie was a beloved cat. Highly stylized plants or flowers emerge from the pots. The artist signed at lower right and dated the painting 1984...

A rare opportunity to acquire a work from close to the heart of American naive painting in the folk art style: an original oil on board painting, 11 1/2" by 35 1/2" plus narrow dark green contemporary framing, signed at lower left by FRED ROBERTSON (1878-1953), and titled on handwritten label by the artist "My Hills of Home". On that label written by the artist is also "Eagle Bridge, New York", considered the home of Grandma Moses...

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...

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. By the year 1912 ...

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. I have searched the databases and cannot seem to tie this t...

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. He is well known for his marine oils of clipper ships, some of which exceed $20,000 at auction, but he wa...

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). The painting...

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 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...

Oil on canvas paintings laid on board, each 5" by 9 3/4" (8 1/2" by 13" framed), unsigned, the pair appearing to depict the exact same coastal dune, with interesting perhaps seasonal differences----one showing spring dune flowers, the other not----. The scene could possibly be dunes at the beach in San Francisco, where Golden Gate Park meets the ocean. Although unsigned, the handling, subject matter and color palette are immediately identifiable as by the hand of the noted California painter R...