Hi, By chance ..any insight on this Artist or these Paintings.

My Father purchased these Paintings in the mid 1940's from a Patron sitting at the Bar in a Newburyport MA Café' wiping them down with Beer.

 

Welcome, Bill!

The signature looks like it says R. L. Rettig. Is the same signature on both or just one?

(Small world. I lived in Newburyport for about 10 years, back when it was just starting to get "gentrified." )

 

Welcome Bill!

 

Hi Bakers!

 

Ketchup for brass and beer for paintings...who knew...

 

I knew beer was good for something....

 

Hi, Thank you for Welcoming me !!
I Believe you're right !!! , I could only find a signature on the (Nightscape...if you will )

 

Hi Dave, Thank you... - Bill

 

Out of curiosity, are these in the same frames they were in when acquired by your Dad?

 

These look to be early 20th century decorative paintings. A lot of such work was being imported from Germany at the time and I would not be surprised if the artist was German. The first one in particular has the look of many other scenic paintings from the time with a balance of Moon, mountain , water, and trees. The second is a more bucolic type of scene that often gets incorrectly attributed to the Hudson River School. Both are somewhat naive in execution but accomplished enough to appeal across the board. These were the factory paintings of their day and were often sold in furniture and department stores.

 

The frames look pretty much concurrent with the age of the paintings. Now don't all scoff, but I have a similar painting in a similar frame and my ex-husband's mother lived in Newburyport at the time! It must have been a hotbed of this type of art!

It was pretty generic so I never looked for a signature. It gave our first apartment - a basement studio on Beacon Street - a little class.

 

Maybe I should have used beer to clean my real antique painting that developed cracks after the "professional" cleaning.

 

Thank you Brad, Any thoughts on the Signatue

 

Signature

 

I rather like the 2nd one,it has a naïve sort of charm. And welcome !

 

No Dad had them Framed in Lynn

 

Lynn, Lynn the City of Sin. Although, that history is long past.

 

I, like others here, see R. L. Rettig. There are several listed artists with the name Rettig but I can find none that match those initials.

 

Hi,
If they were hanging in a bar they needed to be wiped down with some kind of alcohol to remove the yellow nicotine build up. When I was still smoking, rubbing alcohol was the only way to clean mirrors without streaking.
greg