Urban Landscape with Railroad Crossing, by John Austin (Nantucket: 1918 – 2000), circa 1990s
Urban Landscape with Railroad Crossing, by John Austin (Nantucket: 1918 – 2000), circa 1990s
$2,600.00
Urban Landscape with Railroad Crossing, by John Austin (Nantucket: 1918 – 2000), circa 1990s, a tempera on board urban landscape painting entitled “Pink, Green and Grey” with Austin’s classic perspective on industrial decay, signed lower right, and retaining a paper label on the reverse with title and inscription Springfield, Mass.
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Urban Landscape with Railroad Crossing, by John Austin (Nantucket: 1918 – 2000), circa 1990s, a tempera on board urban landscape painting entitled “Pink, Green and Grey” with Austin’s classic perspective on industrial decay, signed lower right, and retaining a paper label on the reverse with title and inscription Springfield, Mass.
When John passed away in 2000 he left a number of paintings in his studio that he had not framed in his distinctive home-made thin slat frames – this painting is consequently mounted in a modern, professional frame.
Measures: 11 in H x 18 in W
Framed: 16 in H x 23 in W
John Austin was born in North Carolina in 1918 and lived in New Jersey and Connecticut before moving to Nantucket in the 1960s. He studied at the Art Students’ League in New York under Reginald Marsh and Robert Henri, and was mentored by Edward Hopper during two years in Truro and New York.
He worked as a commercial artist designing floats for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades among other things. He served in World War II producing training manuals for the Army, and during his tour of duty compiled sketchbooks recording European cities, the countryside and troops. After the war Austin returned to the Art Students League, and by the early 1960s had taken up painting full time. He worked mostly in egg tempera, and focused on representational landscapes. He was a prolific artist and exhibited at the Lobster Pot Gallery, before moving to the Main Street Gallery where he remained until the gallery closed in the late 1990s.
John Austin’s paintings were collected by Mrs. Paul Mellon, Cecelia Joyce and Seward Johnson, and most famously by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (from whose estate in 1996 Sotheby’s sold Austin paintings of Brant Point and Tuckernuck for $29, 900 and $26,450 respectively). His work is in the permanent collection of the Nantucket Historical Association, the Artist Association of Nantucket, and many private Nantucket collections. His art is increasingly sought after and highly collected.
