Mid-century Modern (MCM) charcoal, chalk and/or pastel painting by notable Delaware Valley artist Sina Patricia Kurman (Am., born 1943) depicting a child wearing a stocking cap and turtleneck. Guaranteed to be a hand-done original and not a print.
Signed / dated lower right, "Sina Kurman '71" (1971). The artwork was done on a sheet of cardboard. I've removed and discarded the glass, thinking of safety in shipping. Comes with original mat and sturdy wood picture frame.
Sight or mat opening size: 15 1/2 x 13 inches. Sheet size: 20 x 16 inches. Overall size with frame: 23 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches. The artwork is in good, untouched condition. There are slight indent lines in the cardboard, to the left side, but Kurman did this artwork on the cardboard sheet anyway for whatever reason. It needs glass, but once you take care of that, this will be a nice display piece.
It's uncommon to find period originals like this of the "Big Eyes" subject. Such artworks are 'fine art' but they're kitsch and treasures in the kitschy collectibles realm. This is MCM style and probably the successor to Hollywood Regency style. In the Philadelphia area, we had something similar with big painted figural lamps, etc., and call that 'South Philly Baroque' style. It's all fun.
The leading artist of the 'Big Eyes School' was Margaret Keane (Am., 1927-2022). The Tim Burton film, Big Eyes, was about Keane. Amy Adams played Margaret Keane. Since the movie, Keane's artworks have become much more expensive. In May, 2021, Keane's painting "Brown Eyes" fetched $37,500 at Heritage Auctions in Texas. That's not a huge price in the art world where paintings sell at Christie's and Sotheby's for millions all the time. But, people of average means can't pay $37K for a painting. I'm offering an affordable alternative with this Sina Kurman piece.
Sina Kurman is a professional artist. She started out creating drawings and paintings, but then switched gears and became a leading wood sculptor. She's famous for her wood carvings in the duck decoy / songbird genre. From the pictures I've seen, I'm sure she paints her sculptures. She's based out of Woodstown, Alloway Township, Salem County, New Jersey, just 32 miles from Philadelphia, PA.
She's a top artist in her field. One of the books that Sina Kurman co-authored was 'Songbird Carving II': 272 pp. "Following the success of the first book about songbird carving, the authors revisit the subject with five new projects. Again, the carving techniques are exhaustively covered, illustrated with beautiful photographs and drawings. The songbirds include male and female northern cardinal, house sparrow, blue jay, and American robin."
From the article "The 6 N.J. artists you need to check out at this year's Arts in Bloom tour": Sina P. Kurman is a champion, world-class waterfowl carver. For as long as she can remember, Kurman has enjoyed art. "My uncle knew I liked oil painting," she said. "He went to Centerton and there were two guys teaching carving." Kurman learned the artform and began competing in the biggest decoy competition contests across the country. "I had a working knowledge of painting, but no knowledge of using power tools," she said. As she learned, and began competing, she developed her own style and perfected the full-bodied and footed fowl. "Not many people were doing that," she said. "Most were flat bottom."
Besides the style, one big thing that Margaret Keane and Sina Kurman have in common is how they took on the guys in what James Brown famously called "a man's world". For Sina, it was the carvers and for Margaret it was her husband, who actually claimed that he was the one painting the Big Eyes pictures by Keane.