Waller-Yoblonsky Fine Art

Mention the name of Sol Wilson in the art world today and you’ll likely get a puzzled look. From the American mid-century, Wilson was one of the best-known artists. He was included in art books and exhibits, with great gallery representation. Today he is still celebrated in Provincetown and other locations along the upper north-east coast. Wilson was man’s artist. He painted the sea, wharves, fishermen and shore-men who worked the pier. These dark broody paintings with his navy-blue brush "sketch-technique" reflected his educational influences. His famous instructors, George Bellows and Robert Henri were instrumental in developing his style of Expressionist Realism. Wilson arrived in America at the age of fifteen from present day Lithuania. He had worked in his father’s lithography shop as a boy. Here in the states, Wilson attended art classes at Cooper Union, the National Academy, and the Ferrer School. This education enhanced his talent and provided the artisti...

1945 started a new beginning for New Mexico, on July 16th was the first test detonation of the atomic bomb, and the state served as stage for young artists that were returning home from World War II.  The New Mexico mountains  had always served as an inspiration and an artist mecca, now it would grow a new generation of artists.  Douglas Denniston arrived 1945, attracted to the Taos School of Painting and the Transcendentalist Art concepts preached by Raymond Jonson, the University of New Mexico Art Professor. It was there Denniston got the opportunity to interact with now famed artists and instructors Agnes Martin, Enrique Montenegro, and Adja Yunkers. All four of these artists influenced and launched Denniston’s historic and varied six decade career in American Modernism and Abstraction.  It was at the University of New Mexico that he shared exhibit space with noted artist Richard Diebenkorn. It was the 1951 Master Theses Show in the Fine Arts Building w...

Once a year most of the country springs forward and falls back with seasonal time-changes.  Clocks and time-pieces remind us of upcoming appointments and schedules.  Clocks can be functional or decorative, and in the case of Richard Birkett, clocks are functional sculpture. Birkett has been making his version of unique clocks for numerous years. Some are assemblages, in the case of Birkett he creates three-dimensional, sculptural clocks of found objects. This clock is filled with a plastic toy dinosaur, a cow, a palm tree, a saxophone and then a vintage hair dryer hose with wooden blocks and a wooden spool. All these elements are non-art objects, including the triangle shapes which are glued together, creating a structure that becomes sculptural and when painted it takes on a transformational shape. Upper Back Portion with Cow and Palm Trees, and Hair Dryer Hose The clock has a large metal circle on the front. This section of the clock is a music box, when wou...

Every once in a while three different stories collide, from three different locations, and it becomes a serendipitous event.  To create this story, a northern Virginia thrift store, a former ladies dress shop in Bozeman, Montana and a purse company founded in Jackson, Mississippi, all converged. Most of us have never lusted after a vintage woven basket purse.  Instead, it is not uncommon to see a Louis Vuitton handbag on New York's Fifth Avenue; a Kate Spade bag coming out of Neiman Marcus in Dallas; or at the worst case, a Coach clutch by Tapestry coming out of a store at the Tampa Premium Outlet Mall.    This hand crafted purse came out of a thrift store adventure in northern Virginia.  It started out by being an unknown basket purse.  It was handcrafted and upon further inspection, it looked like it was made for someone in Bozeman, Montana. The hand-painted street scene had storefronts with " MSU " and " Bobcats " written in the store windows.  ...

Throughout history, man's imagination has populated the world with monstrous creations:  Satyrs, Cynocephali, Harpies, Centaurs, and today we look at Dzunukwa. Shaughnessy was born into Kwakwaka'wakw royalty. His grandfather, Arthur Shaughnessy was the Chief of Kingcome Inlet, a principle fjord of the British Columbia coast.  He started his art carving apprentice under the coaching and mentoring of noted carvers, Kelvin Hunt and Jonathan Livingston at the Arts of the Raven Shop. Cedar is plentiful along the northern Pacific Coast, and an excellent carving wood as it splits easily. Throughout his upbringing, he listened to the stories and myths of his people and developed the skills to portray these recited myths into Kwakiutl art, as in the cedar mask below. Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwakiutl), British Columbia, c. 1978 Ceder, under Black and Red/Orange Pigment, Horse Hair  Alert Bay, Canadian Government Tag Shaughnessy understood that Kwakiutl mythology is bas...

Berndt Friberg, in the world of Scandinavian ceramic design, he is just plain famous, there are no other words to describe this illustrious designer of the 20th century.  Perfection was in his blood and in his hands, creating delicate forms with magnificent glazes put him on the forefront of Swedish ceramic design. Friberg worked for Gustavsberg factory (a Swedish porcelain company) from 1934 until his death in 1981. Friberg was born in 1899 into a family of noted potters in Höganäs, Sweden. He started as an apprentice in pottery at the age of 13 in Höganäs, and continued to work for various studios until he was 35, developing and perfecting his pottery skills. In 1934 he joined Gustavsberg working as a thrower and an apprentice to the famed art director, Wilhelm Kåge. In 1944, he started producing his own line of pottery at Gustavsberg. Friberg’s technical perfection along with his simplicity of form and the use of glazes, plus his attention to detail was perfected during his...

For nearly a lifetime, Lubeck has been creating bucolic pastoral scenes and the elements of country life.  Many have guessed that it is the Vermont countryside and lifestyle that provides inspiration.  He paints chickens in the farmyard, fresh new lambs in the pen, and dairy cows in the pasture.  His artwork is pleasant without being contrived and his brushstroke is intensely detailed.  It is this skill that allows me to share one example:  Lubeck was selected as the Judge for the International Miniature Art Show - Florida, 1984.  These artists frequently paint with one hair paint brushes, detailed, tedious and slow. In the painting below, the location could be anywhere; eastern Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Nebraska or somewhere else in the heartland.  It speaks to the viewers who understand farming: It is the struggle of being too wet to plant in the spring and the desire to fill the grain-silos before the first major hail storm.  The farmer...

As a college senior I spied a bulletin board notice: Kennedy Center Internships. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC, send out the notices to over 300 colleges in 1979, including Montana State University. I put my entire effort into my application, now realizing that my childhood and background was lacking. They sent a nice letter back, saying that I was not selected but I had been a runner up and should someone drop out I would be contacted. It was like saying "thank you" but don't call. I have always possessed tenacity, a sense of persistence that was beyond my control. I proceeded to write to both of my US Senators and Congressmen (at that time Montana had two Congressmen). I told them about the internship program and figured out how to visit the Kennedy Center offices that summer in Washington. My letters and visit caused a stir and even the Dean for the College of Arts and Architecture was wondering what I was up too. In the end, I think...

Sascha Maurer (1897-1961) could be described as a bipolar or maybe a tri-polar artist. He is now the famed poster illustrator-graphic designer, whose works are highly collectible and if original, very expensive. Likewise, he was a major contributor to the magazine: Ford Times . The Ford Times , was a free magazine to everyone that purchased a Ford and he handled that account from 1953-58. And his career as a watercolor artist, that created tightly illustrated rural and small town landscapes of New England. The Community Church Watercolor Detail By Sascha Maurer Maurer's Background and Graphic Design: Maurer was German-born, the son of an artist and it is said by some accounts that he descended from Russian royalty. He studied at the School of Applied Arts and the Academy of Fine Arts, both in Munich. Additionally, some report that he studied independently with noted designer Ludwig Hohlwein. Hohlwein created the German “plakatstil” (poster style) wherein he elimin...

The Tower Commission Report on the Iran-Contra Affair for President Ronald Reagan Around 1986 as a designer for the US General Services Administration, I had finished designing space for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). There new location was right on New York Avenue in Washington, DC, and the project was most interesting.  The Division was handling a large telecommunication concern. It was my job to create space where both sides of the legal case could not know what the other side was doing. The case was United States v. AT&T. The design project turned out successful, and in August of 1987, DOJ offered me a job. I was attending a church retreat at the University of Maryland, staying in the dorms, when the phone rang out in the hallway. In those days, no one had a cell phone. I picked it up, and there was DOJ Personnel offering me a job. It was one of those moments that I knew that the Department could find you in the bottom of a ha...

Japan's new Emperor Naruhito, left, delivers a speech, accompanied by Empress Masako, right, to well-wishers from the balcony during his first public appearance with his imperial families at Imperial Palace Saturday, May 4, 2019, in Tokyo. Image Credit: AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko The Audience with His Imperial Highness and Her Imperial Highness: The Crown Prince and Princess of Japan In a previous life, I was a Maureen and Mike Mansfield Fellow from the US Government to the Japanese Government. In those days the selection process was rigorous, it consisted of a review of your academic and work background, your understanding of Asian cultures, interviews by Japanese experts (business, Fulbright, etc.) that evaluated your study and work proposals. In the fall of 2007, my name appeared in the Washington Post. The announcement changed the next two years of my life: Fiscal Years 2008-2009. I attended Japanese language school and US State Department's Foreign Servic...