Provenance

Sam Salz

American, born Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Poland) 1894 - 1981

Explore Selected Works

See all 19 works of art
Eugène Boudin, Ships and Sailing Boats Leaving Le Havre, 1887, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.7

Ships and Sailing Boats Leaving Le Havre

Eugène Boudin · 1887 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.7

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Italian Woman (La Morieri), c. 1872, oil on canvas, Gift of the Avalon Foundation, 1954.6.1

Italian Woman (La Morieri)

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot · c. 1872 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1954.6.1

Two bottles, a carafe, drinking glass, plate, knife, and loaf of bread are arranged on a table covered with a white cloth in this horizontal still-life painting. The narrow table angles from the lower left toward the wall to our right. The bright white cloth is slightly rumpled, and the shadows are painted with silvery gray. A clear glass, square-bodied bottle holding amber-brown liquid extends off the left edge of the canvas. Next to it, a long-necked carafe filled halfway with clear liquid has a low, wide belly. The black handle of the knife angles toward us in the lower left corner, the blade pointing back to the other objects on the table. Just beyond the knife is a glass with a low stem and tall bowl, a silver-colored plate holding yellow material, perhaps bread or butter, and a green bottle filled about a third of the way with dark liquid, presumably red wine. The long loaf of bread is at the far side of the table. One round, crusty end of the loaf has been broken off and lies nearby. The room behind the table has nickel-gray walls on either side of a brown rectangle, perhaps a door or panel. A dark brown square along the top of the composition is hard to interpret. The objects and setting are loosely painted so some details are indistinct.
Claude Monet, Still Life with Bottle, Carafe, Bread, and Wine, c. 1862/1863, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 2014.18.32

Still Life with Bottle, Carafe, Bread, and Wine

Claude Monet · c. 1862/1863 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.18.32

Ossip Zadkine, Torso, 1963, ebony, Gift (Partial and Promised) of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan L. Halpern, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.53.2

Torso

Ossip Zadkine · 1963 · ebony ·  Accession ID  1991.53.2

An arched bridge faintly materializes in a haze of soft turquoise blue and mint green in this horizontal landscape painting. The bridge has four arches under a flat deck, and it extends off each side of the canvas. Running across the middle of the composition, it angles slightly away from us to our right. The bridge is painted in strokes of slate blue and muted lavender purple, with darker shades on the shadowed undersides of the arches. Touches of rose pink and white along the deck suggest lights moving across the bridge. The water below is sky blue and seafoam green. A few vertical swipes of teal blue in the background suggest towers or tall buildings in the distance on the opposite shore. The sky above is painted with long strokes of lime green and robin’s egg blue. The artist signed the painting with cobalt blue in the lower right corner, “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, Waterloo Bridge, London, at Dusk, 1904, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.27

Waterloo Bridge, London, at Dusk

Claude Monet · 1904 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1983.1.27

A young woman with pale, peachy skin and flushed cheeks sits facing our right in profile as she plays a guitar in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted with blended strokes, giving it a soft look and making some of the details indistinct. At the center of the composition, the guitar rests against the woman’s shoulder so it almost spans the width of the painting. The instrument has a caramel-brown body, and the dark brown neck lightens to slate gray by the sound hole. The woman’s eyes are lowered as she looks toward her left hand, her long fingers pinning the strings along the fretboard. She plucks the strings with her other hand. Her hair is covered in a red headscarf tied at the nape of her neck. One end rests on her left shoulder, farther from us, and the other hangs down her back. A low, flat-topped, black, brimmed hat sits atop the scarf. The woman’s features are delicate, and her pink lips are parted. She wears a gold chain with an oval pendant around her neck. Her jacket is gold with a pattern loosely painted with dabs of lapis blue, butter yellow, and rose pink. A yellow ribbon or band is tied to the neck of the guitar and slung over her shoulder. The indistinct space behind her is painted with strokes of moss green, goldenrod yellow, and a few swipes of marigold orange near her face. The artist signed and dated the painting in brown in the lower right corner: “Renoir.98.”
Auguste Renoir, Young Spanish Woman with a Guitar, 1898, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.76

Young Spanish Woman with a Guitar

Auguste Renoir · 1898 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.76

Shown from about the waist up, a woman with pale, peachy skin and dark hair holds a blond, light-skinned child on her lap at a table as they play with several small toys in this horizontal painting. The portrait was painted with blended brushstrokes, giving the work a soft look. We look slightly down onto the pair, who are close to us as they nearly fill the composition. The woman sits at the far corner of the wooden table. Her black hair is pulled up and bangs frame her round face. She has rosy cheeks, a straight nose, and she smiles as she gazes down at the toy rooster she holds in her right hand, to our left. She wears a rose-pink, high necked garment with loose, long sleeves. Her other hand wraps around the torso of the child on her lap. The child faces our left in profile. Shaggy, strawberry-blond hair falls across his high forehead and down around the collar of his white shirt. He has a short, snub nose, flushed cheeks, and his coral-red lips are parted. He looks toward the toy rooster as he stands a doll up on the table with one hand. The doll has a white shirt, topaz-blue sash around the waist, and a red skirt, and three white sheep stand and lie on the table nearby. To our right, the wall behind the pair is patterned with loosely painted peachy-pink and white forms, presumably flowers, against a forest-green background. Vertical bands of smoke-gray to our left suggest drapes hanging from above. The artist signed the work in small red letters at the upper right corner: “Renoir.”
Auguste Renoir, Child with Toys - Gabrielle and the Artist's Son, Jean, 1895-1896, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1985.64.36

Child with Toys - Gabrielle and the Artist's Son, Jean

Auguste Renoir · 1895-1896 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1985.64.36

A small, shaggy, black and white dog stands in a wood paneled room with its body angled to our right but turning its head, pink tongue out, to our left in this vertical painting. The animal is painted with loose brushstrokes that evoke the dog’s long, feathery fur. The dog peers to our left with golden brown eyes. It is black along its flanks and ears, with a stripe of white down the center of the head, and on the muzzle. The chest, belly, and legs are also white, and the bushy tail, which curls up and out like a fountain, is a mixture of black and white. Leaning on the paneling behind the dog to our right is a light wood walking stick. An object, presumably a stuffed toy in the shape of a person wearing a long black robe lined in crimson, lies on the brownish sage-green floor in front of the dog. The dog’s name, “TAMA,” appears in tan block letters at the upper left. The artist signed the work in the lower right corner, "Manet."
Edouard Manet, Tama, the Japanese Dog, c. 1875, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1995.47.12

Tama, the Japanese Dog

Edouard Manet · c. 1875 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1995.47.12

A bouquet of about a dozen ruffled, frilly, pink flowers in a white pitcher painted with blue undertones nearly fills this vertical still-life composition. Brushstrokes are loose throughout so many details are difficult to make out. The bouquet sits right of center atop a table layered with brick red, pumpkin orange, marigold yellow, and ivory white patterned cloths. The background is especially loosely painted with strokes of celestial blue, teal green, burnt orange, and ash brown. Some upright brown strokes could represent the back of a wood chair. The artist signed the work in the lower right corner, “Bonnard.”
Pierre Bonnard, Bouquet of Flowers, c. 1926, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.9

Bouquet of Flowers

Pierre Bonnard · c. 1926 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.9

Auguste Renoir, Peaches on a Plate, 1902/1905, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.79

Peaches on a Plate

Auguste Renoir · 1902/1905 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.79

Bibliography

1974

  • Esterow, Martin. "The very special world of Sam Salz." Art News 73 (May 1974):36-40

1976

  • Fabiani, Martin. Quand j'etais marchand de tableaux. Paris, c. 1976:76-77, 81

1989

  • Les Donateurs du Louvre. Paris, 1989:315