LISTED AMERICAN RUTH GIKOW Sd ORIGINAL O/C MOTHER & CHILD INTERIOR FIGURAL

Description: Listed Ukrainian born, American (New York) Artist Ruth Levine Gikow Signed, on lower right, this Touching Figural. It is an Original Oil on Canvas, c. 1950's or before. She was the wife of Social Realist artist, Jack Levine (1915-2010) and worked with the WPA (Works Progress Administration) in the 1940's. Depicted here is heartfelt, Mother & child scene, where a young girl kneels in front of her mother as she brushes her hair. The mother looks down lovingly as the girl has a good, tight grip on her mother's left hand. Beautifully colored and the shadowing effects give real depth to the piece. This piece is unframed.Canvas measures 22 X 32 and is in Good to Very Good Vintage condition.Please carefully examine all images for condition.Apologies for slight glare from above lighting. *Ruth Levine Gikow (1915–1982), Ukrainian born, U.S. artist, known primarily as a figurative painter of murals and easel paintings. Gikow was also involved in socially conscious organizations, worked on WPA-sponsored murals, and held several gallery exhibitions before her death. Gikow was born in Ukraine. Her family fled after a pogrom and spent the first years of Ruth's life wandering in Eastern Europe, at one point living in a Gypsy (Roma) camp outside Bucharest. They immigrated to New York City in 1920, when Ruth was five years old. After graduating from Washington Irving High School with honors in art, Gikow won admission to Cooper Union, where she studied with regionalist painter John Steuart Curry. A scholarship enabled her to study with social realist painter Raphael Soyer, whose progressive sympathies were more to Gikow's political tastes. Another lasting influence was Cooper Union's director Austin Purvis, who took students into the urban streets, encouraging them to represent daily life in their art. Gikow began to paint scenes of common people on the street, in stores, and in parks, exhibiting a dedication to figurative art and humanity that would characterize her art throughout her life. During the 1930's Gikow became involved with activist artists' organizations like the Artists' Union and the American Artists' Congress. In the late 1930's she taught at the American Artists School, successor to the radical left-wing John Reed Club Art School. In 1940, while working with the Mural Division of the New York City WPA Art Project, Gikow executed a mural for the children's wing of Bronx Hospital. Entitled Children's Indoor and Outdoor Activities, the mural depicted a world with children and animals living together in harmony. In 1943, the artist was featured in live demonstrations of mural painting at the World's Fair, in which Gikow stood on a 12-foot scaffolding while visitors watched her paint and listened to her explain the process. She also painted commercial murals for retail stores, including Macy's. By 1946, when the artist held her first one-person show of oil paintings, she had participated in group shows at the A.C.A. Gallery and elsewhere, designed textiles, and produced illustrations for such books as Crime and Punishment and History of the Jews in America (a children's text). Gikow was a strong colorist, often mixing her oil paints with turpentine to achieve a more fluid effect. In 1946 she married painter Jack Levine and had one daughter. Her paintings were purchased by major art museums including the Metropolitan, the Whitney, the Museum of Modern Art, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters in New York, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Tel Aviv Museum, as well as collections at Brandeis University, New York University, and elsewhere. By the time of her death, Gikow had received several honors, including a National Institute of Arts and Letters grant in 1959, two Childe Hassam awards, and a Smith College citation as one of America's ten outstanding women artists. Combined Shipping Discount Policy: 20% off all combinable items. Check out our other art work auctions. You never know the gems you will find! No International Shipping. Continental Shipping Only (Contiguous U.S. 48 States).Alaska & Hawaii may increase shipping charge.All returns must be pre-approved.Full refund if item is not as described.Apologies but NYS residents must pay 8.875% NYS sales tax.Payment expected 3 days after end of auction or the item will be re-listed.We reserve the right to remove glass/frame from the Artwork to Protect Artwork from damage and/or decrease shipping charges.Each and Every day we strive for 5 ☆'s.Please contact us if you feel we have not achieved the full 5 ☆'s as 110% Customer Satisfaction is our mission!

Price: 1499.99 USD

Location: Forest Hills, New York

End Time: 2024-11-29T19:18:51.000Z

Shipping Cost: 49 USD