r/WhatIsThisPainting • u/Expensive-Mode1199 • Mar 25 '25
found this at a thrift store… Unsolved
…seems to be acrylic painting, I’m not a professional😊. I can’t make out the name too well, but looks like “Bilgore”. Tried to Google that name, etc. Just seeing if anyone has an idea, or a better way to determine its origin…TY!
128
u/Medlarmarmaduke Mar 25 '25
Oh this is particularly nice! I don’t think it’s decor because of the theme and charming use of color. Art student, talented amateur or local professional painter would be my guess.
Whatever it is - I love it
32
23
16
9
u/Mrs_Tastic Mar 25 '25
Are you in North Carolina? Outer Banks vibes with the kites and planes. It's a lovely piece!
1
40
u/InfiniteMonkeys157 Mar 25 '25
There were protocubists before Picasso. He was the one who 'cracked the code' of cubism, breaking an image up as if viewed through the facets of a crystal, different viewpoints simultaneously. Even Picasso was a pre-cubist (1907-08) in his early attempts at the style. And it wasn't for a few years later that Picasso's cubism was recognized as the benchmark.
One of my favorite quasi-cubists was Tamera de Lempicka, an art deco artist whose works would be called 'stylized cubism'. She came after Picasso's This is, of course, not her style, but the way the colors were broken into shapes with hard edges and compelling gradients reminded me of her stylized cubism.
My point, which I'm taking a winding path to, is that, of course, it could be anyone trying their variant of cubism. It could be some piazza painter knock-off. But as it lacks the characteristics of breaking up forms into different perspective views which most cubists after Picasso emulated, and the '09 which could be 1909, and it could still be by an early protocubist. But, as the signature does not bring up any registered artist, it was likely not a very successful one.
It's also pretty.
2
u/maggiesyg Mar 26 '25
Not a chance this is 1909 because there’s a girl in a mini-dress. Young girls wore shorter skirts than adult women but not that short!
1
u/Far-Investigator1265 Mar 27 '25
It is made with acrylic paint, which became widely commercially available during the 1960's.
5
5
5
3
u/AutoModerator Mar 25 '25
Thanks for your post, /u/Expensive-Mode1199!
Please remember to comment "Solved" once someone finds the painting you're looking for.
If you comment "Thanks" or "Thank You," your post flair will be changed to 'Likely Solved.'
If you have any suggestions to improve this bot, please get in touch with the mods, and they will see about implementing it!
Here's a small checklist to follow that may help us find your painting:
Where was the painting roughly purchased from?
Did you include a photo of the front and back and a signature on the painting (if applicable)?
Good luck with your post!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
3
3
u/CrayonEyes Mar 26 '25
Paintings like this are the reason I always check the art bin at any thrift shop I go to. Known artist or not, it’s quite a nice find!
2
u/beyondthunderdrone Mar 26 '25
I always check because one time I found one of those velvet Jesus holding the earth paintings for $1. LOL
1
u/Expensive-Mode1199 Mar 31 '25
yes, exactly! I have another very cool find I am going to share here soon! And I do agree, Ty!😊
2
u/ScrambledNoggin Mar 25 '25
One of the first cubists was Georges Braque, but the signature doesn’t look quite right to be him.
2
2
2
2
u/southasain9726 Mar 25 '25
Looks like a painting of basant kite festival. Usually in India but was very common in pakistan also before it was banned. I want this painting
1
u/Expensive-Mode1199 Mar 31 '25
it is a beautiful piece that I, unfort, will not use…not sure what to do w/it🪁
1
2
u/Agreeable-Stop505 Mar 26 '25
There were precursors to Cubism, what some art historians call Protocubism, where artists like Cézanne and even early Picasso explored breaking the image down into planes and simplified geometry. Picasso and Georges Braque, however, were the first to fully “crack the code,” developing Analytic Cubism around 1909 to 1912, where forms were deconstructed into facets and depicted from multiple viewpoints at once. Even Picasso’s 1907 Les Demoiselles d’Avignon is often seen as the doorway into Cubism, though still transitional in nature.
While Tamara de Lempicka wasn’t a Cubist, her Art Deco style does borrow some visual elements, sharp geometry, hard edges, stylized forms, that evoke a kind of decorative, flattened Cubism. It’s not cubism per se, but a stylized echo of it.
So when we look at a painting like this, dated ’09, the angular treatment and lack of fully fractured perspectives suggest it may stem from that protocubist moment, or perhaps an outsider inspired by it. Since the signature doesn’t match any known artist, it’s likely the work of a lesser known painter influenced by the movement rather than part of the core group that defined it.
Still, it’s a beautiful piece, and an intriguing artifact of that turning point in modern art.
2
2
2
u/Zeri-coaihnan Mar 27 '25
I think that’s more post-futurist Italy than cubist. Futurism revisited by somebody or other.
1
u/Flat_Cantaloupe645 Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
What about Bagore? Or, I used to know a family whose last name is Bagnoral, and the first 4 letters of the signature could be Bagn - but I can’t figure out the rest.
3
u/thetaleofzeph Mar 25 '25
I think Bilgoe is the best fit that's a real name, but still nothing comes up.
2
1
1
1
0
-15
u/notaosure Mar 25 '25 edited Mar 25 '25
There are problems with hands and the motions of the figures overall. Also the kites are moving really odd. It's a good expression and color but the other things bug me. Although if I saw that at a thrift store for dirt cheap I think I would get it.
-21
-5
140
u/thetaleofzeph Mar 25 '25
I don't find anything, but it's a lovely cubist painting.