Kevin's Art Collection
copyright 2007-2020

    I like a lot of different styles of painting. I have had an active interest in art for the past few years, and my tastes are still evolving as I learn and live with my growing collection. I do not collect as an investment but for the fun of it and to feed my enjoyment for doing research and learning. Here are some of my favorites. By the way, I am NOT the wildlife artist of the same name.


California Artists   Illinois Artists  Indiana Artists  New York Artists   Ohio Artists

Pennsylvania Artists      Texas Artists     New England Artists    
Other Artists

UK Artists    Canadian Artists    South American Artists    Asian Artists  European Artists

Unknown Artists
    Unknown Artists 1    Unknown Artists 2    Unknown Artists 3

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European Artists











unnamed by F. Wojcik

unnamed, F. Wojcik, 8.25" x 5.75", oil on card


    Franciszek Wójcik was born in 1903 in Wojciechów near Lublin and spent his childhood in Cieszyn. He was interned during WWI and drafted into military service. After the war, he settled in Kresy (the Eastern borderlands of Poland). He later moved to Kraków, where he painted and worked as a coach of the Polish Gymnastic Society "Sokół”.
    In 1923, he completed a course at the art department of the State Industrial School in Lwów and then studied at the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts between 1932 and 1939. After graduation, he received a scholarship at Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. He studied in Kraków under professor Stanisław Kamocki’s direction and their later friendship had a profound impact on Wójcik’s work, which had close connections with the Realism movement in art. Wojcik’s favorite subjects were landscapes, portraits and still-life. He also painted church interiors. Wójcik employed different techniques, including tempera, watercolor and pastel, but he preferred oil painting. When he settled in Zakopane, he painted mostly landscapes of the Tatra mountains and the Podhale region. Many of his paintings can still be found in private collections.

     Wójcik was one of the most prolific post-war painters in the Zakopane region. His works were displayed at more than 50 individual exhibitions in Poland and abroad and at numerous collective exhibitions in Poland. He was closely connected with Zakopane’s artistic milieu and a member of the Polish Association of Artists and Designers. His paintings won several awards.

    He died in 1984. Thanks to David Fallucco for his assistance in identifying this artist.



Wójcik signature

Franciszek Wójcik signature















John Malm

unnamed, J. Malm, 5" x 5", oil on MDF board

   

    John Malm was born about 1900 in Riddarholmen in Stockholm, Sweden. The signature on this work is very typical for him. I have not been able to find out much about this artist. I heard from another collector that this painting is of Sofia Kyrka, Bergsprangargrand, Stockholm. The other collector has an identical painting but in winter snow.





J. Malm signature

John Malm signature


















"Pears and apple" by
                Vitali Kamarov

"Pears and apple", Vitali Komarov, 12" x 16", oil on cardboard, 2010


    Vitali Komarov was born in Russia in 1968. He has a web site and a blog. There are many striking works on his web site. I particularly like the texture of the paint and nature of the brush strokes in some of these paintings.


















Johannes Hubertus Mengeles

unnamed, Johannes Hubertus Mengels, 40" x 20", oil on canvas


    Johannes Hubertus "Ber" Mengels was born 6 May 1921 in Heerlen, Netherlands. There are several web sites devoted to his work. Here is one.






















Hilding oil painting

unnamed, Johan Hilding, 15" x 18", oil on canvas, 1948

    Johan Hilding (aka Johan Hilding Hägleby) was born in 1900 in Häglinge, Scania, a son of John Prine and Emma Smith. He studied at Otte Sköld's painting school in Stockholm  and elsewhere. Sköld founded his school in 1929 and the school became the Arne Pernby school in 1949 when Sköld accepted a position at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Hilding primarily painted landscapes and figurative works. All of the works by Hilding found in auction records were oils, and spanned the 1940s and 1960s. He is not listed in any art reference work but his work appears frequently at auctions in Sweden and Denmark.  He signed both as "Johan Hilding" and as "Johan Hilding Hägleby". It seems that Hilding added his wife's surname to his name sometime after 1948. Her name was Aina Hägleby. I was able to contact Johan's grandnephew and expect to receive more information about this artist.
    Hilding died in 1981.   






Hilding signature


















unnamed by Agne Borgstrom

unnamed, Agne Borgstrom, 8" x 10", pen and watercolor on paper, 1964

    Agne Borgstrom was born in 1902, probably in Sweden. He was the author of several books of drawings of the town of Vaxjo, Kronoberg County, Sweden in the late 1950s and early 1960s. There is little information available about him on Google, but he may have been locally prominent. This was a thrift shop find and appears to be an original ink drawing with watercolor shading. There appear to be pin holes in the upper corners and perhaps some catalog or inventory markings in the lower right corner. There are also a couple of creases in the upper right and upper left corners, or perhaps this drawing was made on artisan paper that contains these flaws.
    Agne Borgstrom died in 1997.



borgstrom signature

Borgstrom signature and catalog markings


















drawing by Pauline Johanna Zwaal











"Huizen in Vreeland", P. Zwaal, 12" x 18.5", charcoal drawing on paper with white accents

    Pauline "Polly" Johanna Zwaal was born on 18 October 1906 in Amsterdam, Holland. She attended the Dagtekenschool for Girls in Amsterdam and the State Academy of Fine Arts, also in Amsterdam. She studied under Jan Uri at the Dagtenschool and under Jan Bronner, John Hendricus Jurres and Hendrik Jan Wolter at the State Academy of Fine Arts. She was a painter and draughtswoman of landscapes, figures, animals and portraits. She was a member of the Dutch Federation of Artists and the Dutch Association of Illustrators. She was a close friend of well known Dutch artist Ro Mogendorff. Mogendorff drew the same scene as that depicted in the work in my collection.


Zwaal watermark

Watermark


    Zwaal is listed in the Lexicon of Dutch Artists 1750-1950 by Pieter A. Shinn. She exhibited at the Hueff Art Gallery in Wassenaar in 1972. Her work, a portrait of Catharina Rosa Mogendorff, is included in the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam and the Amsterdam City Archives.


Ro Mogendorff and Polly
                  Zwaal

Pauline Zwaal (seated) and Ro Mogendorff


    This fine drawing was another local thrift shop find. I have no idea how this drawing ended up in this small Midwestern town. The work was indifferently framed with a poor attempt at a French Mat to which it was glued. It was likely purchased at an estate sale by the owner of the thrift shop. There are two universities here, so this may have arrived as the result of academic travel or by way of a returning WWII soldier. No idea of the date of this work, though.
    Polly Zwaal died on 10 January 1993 in Amsterdam.




Zwaal signature and title

Title and signature




















Johann Jakob Zemp still life

unnamed, Johann Jakob Zemp, 6.25" x 9", watercolor, 1940

    I purchased this little watercolor from an ebay seller located in Oak View, California in August 2010. In an email, she told me:

"Thanks for your message. I bought the pieces at an estate sale, from the artist's daughter. She was moving to Mexico with her husband, so they couldn't keep much. The other pieces are at my friend's house now. They are black and white, signed and titled, depicting European buildings. I don't have pictures now, but I can get them back from my friend if it's worth doing so. Thanks! Ginger"

The other pieces mentioned were  two lithographs by Zemp. A couple of mentions of lithographs by Zemp may be found on the Internet. A Johann Jakob Zemp is mentioned in Davenports Art Reference and Price Guide, and on AskArt.com. His dates are given as 1909-1996. No biographical information is available for him and there are no obvious American genealogical records. It is possible that he did not emigrate to the US, but his daughter did. Perhaps the inscription "An Marli Zum" is his daughter's name and the date, 8 May 1982, the date that this painting was framed.



Johann Jakob Zemp
                    signature
















Gregori Andreevich Shponko

unnamed, Grigoryi Andreivich Shponko, 18.5" x 10", oil

    Grigoryi Andreivich Shponko was born in 1926 at Balky, Zaporogsky, Ukraine. He attended the Kiev Art Institute (now the National Academy of Art and Architecture) where he studied under Professors Trofimenko, M. Sharanov, E. Konstantin, and G. Melikov. After graduating in 1954, he became a member of the Union of Artists of the Ukraine upon the recommendation of Tatyana Yablonskaya. Shponko received the "Merited Artist of the Ukraine" award. He assisted in the restoration of Rubo's Sevastopol Panorama and was later a scene painter in the Kiev Opera and Ballet Theater under Anatoli Petritskogo.


Gregori Andreevich
                      Shponko painting

unnamed, Grigoryi Andreivich Shponko, 11" x 14", oil


    Shponko typically painted in the Socialist Realist style. He exhibited his work at several Ukrainian and Union of Artists exhibitions in the Ukraine and Moscow. He is well known for painting industrial scenes. His works is in the collections of several museums, including the Nikolayev Art Museum, Kiev Historical Museum, Dnipropetrovsk Fine Art Museum, and the Donetsk Fine Arts Museum. His work has appeared in several books and magazines including the Moscow "Arts" magazine and the Kiev "Ukraine" magazine.



Gregori Andreevich
                      Shponko painting

unnamed, Grigoryi Andreivich Shponko, 15" x 10", oil


    Shponko is listed in Davenport's Art Reference and Price Guide and Russian and Soviet Painters 1900-1980 by Matthew Cullerne Brown. He is also mentioned in on line sites like AskArt and ArtPrice.
    Shponko died in December 2006 in Kiev.



Grigori Shponko unnamed
                  oil

unnamed, Grigoryi Andreivich Shponko, 11" x 14.5", oil












Veder etching

Eugene Veder, 8" x 10", print


    I am not big on collecting prints or etchings, but happened on half a dozen of these little 1920ish prints and, as they were cheap, and a research opportunity, I picked them up. At first I thought they might be hand colored etchings, but I later saw others that were identically colored, so my current guess is that they are possibly the French equivalent of pochoir prints. Each is signed in the plate, but also signed and titled in pencil by Veder, or one of Veder's lackeys. I have not spent much time researching this artist, but he seems to have been active in France in the 1920s and 1930s.




veder
                etching

Eugene Veder, 8" x 10", print



    Eugene Veder reportedly lived 1876-1976, but I have not been able to confirm this. Veder seems to have had a long and active career and there are lots of these prints out there, so I don't think they have much value, but they are quaint and cool, and I like them.



veder
                etching

Eugene Veder, 8" x 10", print



veder
                etching

Eugene Veder, 8" x 10", print
















Moriera Aguiar watercolor

unnamed, Moreira Aguiar, 9" x 14", watercolor, 1971


    Moreira Aguiar was born in 1947 in Portugal and lives in Lisbon. I purchased this painting from a seller in Santa Cruz, California and he could not remember the name of the artist and could not read the signature. I could not read the signature, either, but conjectured that it might me the work of Mr. Aguiar. Luckily, Mr. Aguiar came across my web site and contacted me, confirming that this is one of his early works. Mr. Aguiar has exhibited all over the world, most often in the US. He now works in oils and palette knife.
    Though Davenports Art Reference and Price Guide says he is from Mexico, Mr. Aguiar assured me he is from Portugal. Moreira Aguiar has a brother, Armando, who is also an artist. Moreira Aguiar is listed on all major on line art sites. I really like this work. The artist did a really nice job catching a moment in time, and I really like the workaday subject matter. I hope to add more information about this artist.


Moriera Aguiar signature


Moreira Aguiar signature
















b

unnamed, Francois Blin, 18" x 24", oil, 1986

    Francois Blin is a French artist who specializes in naturalist subjects. He attended the Ecoles des Beaux-Arts de Rouen et de l'Ecole Camondo de Paris, from which he received a diploma. He is best known for his paintings of birds. As of mid-2009 there have been nearly 100 exhibitions of his work worldwide, including France, Japan, Canada, Korea, and the US. Mr. Blin has a web site. He is a member of the Society of French Artists. I will get a better image when time permits. The detail of this painting is incredible.



b
















m   

"A Picturesque Balcony", Paulo J. Mendes, 5" x 7"         

    Paulo J. Mendes was born in Porto, Portugal in September 1965. He worked as a layout illustrator at a phone book company until 2001 when he began to work as a ceramic wall tile painter. He started to paint in watercolors in his spare time in 2001, usually large paintings of abandoned traditional Portuguese houses which are a passion of his. The complex, battered surfaces of these old houses challenged him to learn techniques for realistically reproducing them in watercolor. While rewarding, these larger paintings were very time consuming to complete, usually amounting to only a handful of paintings each year as they were done in his spare time and very detailed. Starting in late 2007 Mr. Mendes began painting smaller paintings, typically of fanciful scenes created from his memory and imagination. He especially likes to reproduce the types of architecture and scenes that are rapidly disappearing from his country due to modernization. He decided to try selling his work on ebay and has been very successful.



m


"A Big House and Windmill". Paulo J. Mendes, 5" x7"


    As you can see from the paintings in my collection Mr. Mendes' work remains detailed and charming. I like his work very much. Each one seems to tell a story, to provide a glimpse into every day Portuguese life. I discover something new I hadn't noticed before almost every time I examine one of these paintings. I also like the color palette that he uses. I will get more detailed photographs of these paintings as time permits.




m

"The Fountain's Tavern", Paulo J. Mendes, 7"x 5", watercolors


     Mr. Mendes has a blog though it is primarily devoted to photographs of the types of scenery that inspires him to paint. His ebay id is pjorge1808, in case you would like to see more of his work.



m

"Bunch of grasses", Paulo J. Mendes, 5" x 7", watercolor














d

unnamed, Antonio Devity, 11" x 15", oil on canvas.

    Antonio DeVity painted what I call "sofa art" because in the '50s and 60's his Paris and Venice street scenes must have hung over half of the sofas in the US of A, judging by the number of his paintings I see for sale. I really like his work, however, and think it has a bit more going for it than the typical "sofa art" of that period. I love the sense of motion and warmth of color in his paintings along with his unmistakable style. Many of his paintings are huge, almost murals on canvas. Some of his early works were done using watercolors.

    Antonio DeVity was born in 1901 in Reggio-Calbria, Southern Italy. He lived in Naples and later moved to Rome where he studied with Giacomo Balla, creator of futurism. He spent time in Paris and was heavily influenced by Impressionism. DeVity opened a studio in Naples, and his works have won many international awards and he is recognized for his modernist street scenes of Paris and Italy as well as landscape scenes of Venice. He was also a student of Antione Blanchard. DeVity died in 1993.







    Here are some artists whose work I really like but have not yet added to my collection:

    Michael McKee      Michael does beautiful work with pastels.

        

Some Helpful Links
  • On line appraisal service from John Sewell well known Canadian expert on fine art and antiques. This is a very reasonably priced on line service from a well respected expert. Fill out an on line form and send images of your art objects. No need to send your art objects through the mails. I am a satisfied customer! Highly recommended!
  • Here is a list of common British art society abbreviations.
  • Images of art works by 29,000 artists. I use this site to compare works that I am interested in or own to other works by the same artist. A good place to spend some time just cruising, too!



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