A Resource for Modernist, Vintage, Antique & Contemporary Art & Objects
Our fine art collection is comprised of over 8,000 works of rediscovered, historically significant and contemporary artists. It reflects the major styles and movements of the 20th Century. Every collection is researched, reconditioned and catalogued at our Salon in San Francisco.
With the Paul W. McCoy show, Lost Art Salon continues its mission of posthumously debuting the work of “lost artists” from the Early and Mid-20th Century. McCoy died in 2005 and it is the first time many of these pieces (more than fifty) have been shown to the public and made available for sale. The show chronicles his early years as an artist, following his time in Seattle, Spain and ultimately California. The eighteen months spent in Spain are the centerpiece of this show, and exhibit the dynamic influence of his heroes: Cezanne, Van Gogh, Picasso and Klee. McCoy was a loner, maverick, and a man of very few words. The spare lines and sunny colors of his art were in many ways his voice to the outside. Select poems and items from his studio (including photos, postcards and books) are on display to further illustrate his story.
McCoy intensely studied the Post-Impressionists, spending countless hours in museums and closely studying the books he kept in his studio. From Cezanne he learned to give his paintings (particularly his landscapes) an underlying structure that molded color and line into concentrated forms. Inspired by Van Gogh, McCoy often employed a sun-illuminated palette that used expressive colors to depict his inner emotions and reactions. From studying Picasso, McCoy became a master of the line, making the contours strong and delineated. And from both Picasso and the surrealism of Klee, McCoy was inspired to develop a visual language of secretive symbols charged with meaning. He even reached back to the Romanticism of Delacroix, studying his little known watercolors of Morocco and picking up on their subtle, lyrical qualities.
The summer before McCoy entered college, a friend from New York’s Pratt Institute offered to teach him the basic principles and techniques of art. Though he never received a formal art education, he relentlessly studied the classic and modern masters, painting and drawing every opportunity he could – often outdoors. His preferred mediums were oil, watercolor, graphite and various inks. In 1950 he graduated from Cornell University with an MA in Literature. McCoy was as much a poet as he was a painter and often used art as a metaphor in his powerful poetry.
When McCoy later moved to Seattle, he began working in the aerospace industry as a managing editor for Boeing. But by 1958 he was ready to leave it behind and pursue the life of an artist. He thought Spain would be the ideal place to live cheaply, observe the intense Mediterranean colors and shadow the steps of the European Modern Masters like Picasso and Cezanne. The family lived in the village of Soller on the island of Majorca and Villajoyosa on the Mediterranean Coast. This romantic experiment lasted eighteen months and yielded a rich body of work that includes portraiture, landscapes, village scenes and interiors.
Like most artists, McCoy had to rely on his other career as a writer to provide a steady income, and so the family moved back to the U.S. in late 1959. There, they lived in Anaheim, Orange (in a new Eichler tract home) and near the beach in San Diego – where he found inspiration from the water, boats and activity. Over the years, he rarely showed his work publicly and had no interest in the business side of art. But Paul W. McCoy continued to study art and evolve his style, often reflecting themes inspired by the existentialists. He painted until shortly before his death in 2005.
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Lost Art Salon 245 South Van Ness, Suite 303, San Francisco, CA, 94103
415.861.1530 or partners@lostartsalon.com The Lost Art Collection at Lost Art Salon in San Francisco contains works from the following categories: oil, watercolor, affordable art, vintage art, affordable vintage art, retro art, affordable retro art, affordable period art, original art, fine art, affordable fine art, retro style art, period style art, Mid-Century art, Mid-Century style art, Modern art, 20th Century art, California impressionism art, impressionism art, West Coast art, California art, art deco, art deco art, art nouveau, art nouveau art, post impressionism art, desert art, watercolor art, California scene art, San Francisco scenes art, SF scenes art, surrealism art, modernism art, abstraction art, abstract art, abstract impressionism art, postwar art, hard edge art, outsider art, native art, geometric abstraction art, WPA art, plein aire landscapes, plein aire landscape, portraits, portrait, portrait art, figurative abstract, affordable paintings, affordable painting, cheap painting, cheap paintings, period painting, period paintings, vintage painting, vintage paintings, retro painting, retro paintings, 20th Century paintings, 20th Century painting, antique paintings, original paintings, mid-century paintings, modern paintings, symbolist paintings, arts and craft paintings, impressionist paintings, California impressionism paintings, art deco paintings, art nouveau paintings, desert paintings, watercolor paintings, oil paintings, acrylic paintings, California scene paintings, San Francisco paintings, California paintings, surrealism paintings, abstraction paintings, abstract paintings, post war paintings, hard edge paintings, ourtsider paintings, native paintings, WPA paintings, affordable drawings, affordable drawing, vintage drawings, vintage drawing, antique drawings, original drawings, mid-century drawings, modern drawings, art deco drawings, art nouveau drawings, affordable sculptures, affordable sculpture, vintage sculpture, vintage sculptures, period sculpture, period sculptures, 20th Century sculptures, retro sculptures, antique sculpture, 20th Century sculpture, original sculpture, mid-century sculpture, modern sculpture, affordable ceramics, period ceramics, vintage ceramics, antique ceramics, 20th Century ceramics, original ceramics, retro ceramics, mid-century ceramics and modern ceramics. Lost Art Salon, 245 South Van Ness, suite 303, San Francisco, California, 94103. Master.com.content
