Walter Shirlaw - Water Lilies [c.1889]

Walter Shirlaw (August 6, 1838 – December 30, 1909) was a Scottish-American artist. Shirlaw was born in Paisley, Scotland, and moved to the United States with his parents in 1840. He worked as a bank-note engraver, and his work was first exhibited at the National Academy in 1861. He was elected an academician of the Chicago Academy of Design in 1868. Among his pupils there was Frederick Stuart Church. From 1870 to 1877 he studied in Munich, under George Raab, Richard Wagner, Arthur George von Ramberg, and Wilhelm Lindenschmidt.

On his return from Europe he took charge of the Art Students League of New York, and for several years taught in the composition class. He became an associate of the National Academy in 1887, and an academician the following year. He died in Madrid.

[Oil on canvas, 52.3 x 78.1 cm]

Felix Vallotton - Nude at the Stove [1900]

Félix Edouard Vallotton (December 28, 1865 – December 29, 1925) was a Swiss painter and printmaker. By 1892 he was affiliated with Les Nabis, a group of young artists that included Pierre Bonnard, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Maurice Denis, and Edouard Vuillard, with whom Vallotton was to form a lifelong friendship. During the 1890s, when Vallotton was closely allied with the avant-garde, his paintings reflected the style of his woodcuts, with flat areas of colour, hard edges, and simplification of detail. His subjects included genre scenes, portraits and nudes.

[Oil on cardboard]

Cass Gilbert - A Road in Dorset [1931]

Cass Gilbert was born in Zanesville, Ohio in 1858 and died in Brockenhurst, England in 1934.

[Watercolour and pencil on paper sheet, 30.5 x 45.8 cm]

Julia Eckel - Radio Broadcast [1933-34]

Gathering around microphones as in Julia Eckel's painting, actors and musicians of the 1930s created drama, comedy, and musical performances enjoyed by radio audiences across the country. During the Great Depression Will Rogers' humour, Bing Crosby's crooning, Graham McNamee's news coverage, and series like "Fibber McGee and Molly," were part of the American scene. President Franklin Roosevelt explained his decisions to the nation through his famous radio broadcast "fireside chats."

Artist Julia Eckel (Washington, District of Columbia, 1907 - Washington, District of Columbia, 1988) used tightly spaced figures and controlled gestures to illustrate the close cooperation among star actors, secondary players, and musicians performing live on the air. The painting shows musicians playing during an interlude in the action as the leading lady, dressed in red and green, stands poised to speak her next line. Viewers of the painting, like radio listeners, feel the tension as they wait for the action to resume. Eckel kept her visual drama taut by leaving out such distracting practical details as the scripts and sheet music, which are prominent in publicity photographs of radio performances.

[Oil on canvas, 102.0 x 141.2 cm]

Nicolas Poussin - The Holy Family on the Steps [1648]

Nicolas Poussin (June 15, 1594 – November 19, 1665) was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favours line over colour. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century. Until the 20th century he remained the major inspiration for such classically-oriented artists as Jacques-Louis David and Paul Cézanne. He spent most of his working life in Rome, except for a short period when Cardinal Richelieu ordered him back to France to serve as First Painter to the King.

He suffered from declining health after 1650, and was troubled by a worsening tremor in his hand, evidence of which is apparent in his late drawings. He died in Rome and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, his wife having pre-deceased him. Poussin left no children, but he adopted as his son Gaspard Dughet (Gasparo Duche), his wife's brother, who became a painter and took the name of Poussin.

[Oil on canvas]

Louis Bunce - Untitled [1959]

Louis Bunce (Lander, Wyoming, 1907 - Portland, Oregon, 1983) moved to Portland with his parents when he was a child. He attended the Museum Art School (now the Pacific Northwest College of Art) for two years before moving to New York. For roughly the next decade he immersed himself in the city, studying at the Art Students League and becoming friends with several artists who would make art history, including Jackson Pollock and David Smith.

Bunce eventually returned to Portland, where he taught at the Museum Art School from 1946 to 1972. But he exhibited regularly at New York galleries through the 1950s and '60s, and appeared in major shows at The Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Whitney Museum of American Art.

[Oil and collage on paper mounted on fibreboard, 45.7 x 59.8 cm]

Robert Vonnoh - The Ring [1892]

Robert William Vonnoh (September 17, 1858 – 1933) was an American Impressionist painter known for his portraits and landscapes. He studied in Paris under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. He taught at the Cowles Art School in Boston (1884-1885), at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1883-1887), and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1891-1896). Vonnoh became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1906. His wife Bessie Potter Vonnoh (1872-1955) was a sculptor.