Signed Morris Kantor Painting, "Lamp and Grapes" (1931)

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Art & Artifacts of North America

By Artemis Gallery

Nov 18, 2021

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• Lot Description
  Morris Kantor (Russian-American, 1896-1974). "Lamp and Grapes" oil on canvas, 1931. Signed and dated by the artist on the lower left. Morris Kantor's painting entitled "Lamp and Grapes" demonstrates the artist's intriguing blend of realism and surprising visionary effects. The composition features traditional still life elements - a bowl of grapes and a decorative lamp on a tabletop that is dressed with a white cloth, an upholstered chair behind the table, and a portrait of two girls and their cat hanging on the wall. Kantor is depicting the furnishings within a traditional New England house; however, certain things create a sense of instability. For example, the scales of a few elements make no logical sense; notice how the lamp dwarfs the table and the grape leaves are enormous. What's more, the scene includes no human inhabitants besides the girls in the photo on the wall. Kantor is conveying an eery quality of loneliness. The lamp is lit, but no one is seated at the table to enjoy those luscious grapes. Size: 32.2" L x 24" W (81.8 cm x 61 cm) Size of frame: 32.75" L x 24.75" W (83.2 cm x 62.9 cm)
  
  Born in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus) Morris Kantor immigrated to the United States in 1906 when he was just a child. There is some debate as to whether he was with family or alone, but we know that he was very young, lived in New York City, and earned enough money working in the Garment District to enroll in art school by age 20. Kantor began attending the Independent School of Art in New York in 1916 and went on to teach at Cooper Union during the 1940s and the Art Students League from 1936 to 1972. Many of his students - including Robert Rauschenberg, Knox Martin, Susan Weil, and Sigmund Abeles - became quite famous in their own right.
  
  Kantor maintained a studio in Manhattan, close to Union Square, as well as on Cape Cod in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. During the 1920s, he also worked in Paris. His arts circle included notable modernists such as the sculptor Isamu Noguchi. During the 1930s, Kantor supervised a Federal Arts Project Easel Painting Project in Rockland County, New York. The following decade he spent some summers in Monhegan, Maine, and in the 1960s his work was shown at Bertha Schaefer Gallery in New York City. Kantor's work has also been exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other prestigious institutions. His honors include receiving the Logan Medal of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Temple Medal of the University of Illinois. Kantor's oeuvre was vast and impressive, as he explored numerous styles ranging from realism colored by a hint of Surrealism, as we see in this example, to abstract movements including Cubism and Futurism.
  
  Provenance: Private M. C. collection, Irvine, California, USA - acquired from the grandson of Morris Kantor; Ex-Morris Kantor collection
  
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  Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
  
  #168238

  Condition

  Signed and dated by the artist on the lower left. Some expected age wear as shown. Scuffs to the peripheries. Nicks/scuffs to the wooden frame. Frame is wired for suspension but we would recommend fitting with a new wire. There is an old label inscribed with the title and date of the piece on one of the stretcher bars.
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