“Bay of Naples II” (1920)

“Bay of Naples II” (1920)
Artist unknown
15.75 x 32.5 in., Gouache on paper
Coppola Collection

One of a pair of Italian-School gouache painting depicting a vista view of the Bay of Naples with Mt. Vesuvius to the left and women and children enjoying the view, in the foreground.

“Bay of Naples I” (1920)

“Bay of Naples I” (1920)
Artist unknown
15.75 x 32.5 in., Gouache on paper
Coppola Collection

One of a pair of Italian-School gouache painting depicting a vista view of the Bay of Naples. To the left you can see Mt. Vesuvius and in the foreground are three monks dressed in white robes.

“Egyptian Village Market” (1955)

“Egyptian Village Market” (1955)
By Hosni El Banani (1912-1988)
10.5 x 13 in, oil on canvas
Coppola Collection

El Banani graduated from the Higher School of Fine Arts, where he studied under the artist Youssef Kamel and received the National Certificate of Art Teaching in 1937, and the Diploma of the Academy in Rome in 1940. He may be considered the successor of his professor in his following the Impressionist style with its touches of movement and its attraction for brilliant light and his use of ramble colors in drawing the same subjects that interested his teacher: the Egyptian alley, the village, people’s interaction with nature and with rural architecture, the congregation of cattle at village markets, and boats and boatmen. A large (41 x 70 in) painting of an outdoor dance scene realized 51K euro at a 2010 Christie’s auction.

“RatFink” (2024)

“RatFink” (2024)
by Max Grundy (1977-)
23 x 33 in., enamel on aluminum
Coppola Collection

Max “Fear is the New Beauty” Grundy is an excellent paint-on-metal artist whose main work is detailed art on automobiles, but he also creates nightmarish mindscapes of humanity’s self-destruction from its self-constructed weapons of fear.

“F**k Communism” (1975)

“F**k Communism” (1975)
By Charles Bragg (1931-2017)
Pencil signed, copperplate etching on laid paper (94/150)

Measuring within the plate marks, this pencil-signed Etching measures 6” by 9” and is by the American painter, artist, and premiere satirist Charles Bragg. This is number 94 of 150, and it depicts a Soldier having “Fuck Communism” tattooed on his chest. I do not go for that many prints (as opposed to originals) but this one was too delightful to pass up.

“You observe the human race and the world, and, if you don’t get a kick out of it. I think you’re missing something,” Bragg once mused.

Dutch Canal at Night (ca. 1950)

Dutch Canal at Night (ca. 1950)
By Arnout van Gilst (1898-1982)
15 ¾ x 19 ¾ oil on canvas

Arnout was student of the Akademie for Beeldende Arts in The Hague under Jan Springer.  He was also a student of Johan Coenraad Altorf.  As a student of the Academy for Beeldende Art in The Hague he started as a sculptor and after 1923 moved more seriously into painting.  He was quite prolific in painting watercolors through the years as well.

Arnout lived and painted until 1937 in The Hague and moved that year to Haarlem.  He focused on Dutch landscapes, city and dune views, seas and horses. Van Gilst painted in a naturalistic-impressionist style. He wanted to be inspired by the environment and he preferred to go to a remote place where no one could turn up to look over his shoulders. Van Gilst preferred to settle on the side of a ditch and paint the fields on the other side, which he first made clearly recognizable and detailed on canvas and later allowed it to fade away somewhat during the development.

Signed in the lower left-hand corner, this dark, nocturnal painting depicts a Dutch Canal scene with a moored canal barge boat, and several buildings illuminated by lanterns.

Russian Icon Painting of Jesus holding the Old Testament

Russian Icon Painting of Jesus holding the Old Testament (ca. 1875)
7 x 8 ¾ in, oil on wood panel with silver oklad/riza (cut-out trim)

No one ever said that a secular humanist could not appreciate and collect examples of art depicting religious subjects.

Russian Icon Painting of Jesus holding the Old Testament, from a historian’s collection. This 19th-century Russian Icon still retains its original Silver Hallmarked Oklad. One hallmark reads “84” with a man wearing a “peasant headdress.” This is a Russian Kokoshnik hallmark used up to the year 1908. The other hallmark is only partially discernible and it reads as “CK3/.”