Morris Kantor, 1930 Oil Painting Sea Side Sailboats American Modernist WPA Artist Morris Kantor, 1930

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Morris Kantor, American, 1896-1974 Seaside View, 1930 Hand signed M. Kantor and dated 1930 lower right Oil on canvas 22 … Read more Morris Kantor, American, 1896-1974 Seaside View, 1930 Hand signed M. Kantor and dated 1930 lower right Oil on canvas 22 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches 24 1/2 x 21 (frame) Morris Kantor (Belarusian: Морыс Кантор) (1896-1974) was a Russian Empire-born American painter based in the New York City area. This is a beautiful boat scene with a river or lake probably on Long Island. Born in Minsk on April 15, 1896, Kantor was brought to the United States in 1906 at age 10, in order to join his father who had previously relocated to the states. He made his home in West Nyack, New York for much of his life, and died there in 1974. He produced a prolific and diverse body of work, much of it in the form of paintings, which is distinguished by its stylistic variety over his long career. Perhaps his most widely recognized work is the iconic painting "Baseball At Night", which depicts an early night baseball game played under artificial electric light. Although he is best known for his paintings executed in a realistic manner, over the course of his life he also spent time working in styles such as Cubism and Futurism, (influenced by the Art Deco movement) and produced a number of abstract or non-figural works. A famous cubist, Futurist, painting of his "Orchestra" brought over 500,000$ at Christie's auction house in 2018. Kantor found employment in the Garment District upon his arrival in New York City, and was not able to begin formal art studies until 1916, when he began courses at the now-defunct Independent School of Art. He studied landscape painting with Homer Boss (1882-1956). In 1928, after returning to New York City from a year in Paris, Kantor developed a style in which he combined Realism with Fantasy, often taking the streets of New York as his subject matter. He did some moody Surrealist Nude paintings and fantasy scenes. In the 1940's he turned towards figural studies. Later in his career, Kantor himself was an instructor at the Cooper Union and also at the Art Students League of New York in the 1940s, and taught many pupils who later became famous artists in their own right, such as Knox Martin, Robert Rauschenberg, Sigmund Abeles and Susan Weil. He married fellow artist Martha Ryther (1896–1981). He taught at the League from 1936 to 1972, until his illness prevented him from continuing to teach. In addition to his downtown Manhattan studio adjacent to Union Square, he also maintained a studio on Cape Cod in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Like many American artists, in the 1920s he also spent time working in Paris, where his circle included sculptor Isamu Noguchi among others. The 1930s found him in the position of supervisor of the Federal Art Project Easel Painting Project in Rockland County, New York. In the 1940s some of his summers were spent in Monhegan, Maine. In the 1960s, Kantor exhibited his work at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY. He was active in sketching and drawing through the early 1970s, until shortly before his death. He died at the age of 77, after battling a two-year illness. Kantor's work is on display in many prominent museums, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum. Awards and honors Logan Medal of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1931 Temple Medal of the University of Illinois, 1951 Active in both the Public Works of Art Program (PWAP): A federal New Deal program designed to support artists. and the Works Progress Administration or Work Projects Administration (WPA): He was counted amongst the American Scene and Regionalist painters who focused on scenes of rural life. These painters used a naturalistic style that romanticized life away from industrial settings. Some other well-known artists of this movement are Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and John Steuart Curry. He was also a proponent of Social Realism, focused on issues of social, racial, and economic injustice and hardship. Artists Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Reginald Marsh, and Dorothea Lange were all part of the Social Realism movement. During its eight years of operation, the WPA would include within its ranks such iconic artists as Adolph Gottlieb, William Gropper, Philip Guston, Morris Kantor, Lee Krasner, Louise Nevelson, Diego Rivera, Mark Rothko, Ben Shahn, the Soyers (Isaac, Moses, and Raphael), and many other Jewish artists. Today Kantor's work can be found in such institutions as: the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Source: Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art His work is in a current show, Alone Together: Encounters in American Realism at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. The exhibition includes major magic realist and American scene paintings from the collection of Jason Schoen, one of the most important holdings of such work in private hands. Including George Tooker. Grant Wood, Morris Kantor, Pavel Tchelitchew and Thomas Hart Benton.‏ See less