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Peter Busa — Untitled (Animals and Blue Abstract), 1930s or 1940s, Watercolor on paper, sheet 10.75" x 14.5". Framed 18" x 21.5"
Peter Busa

Untitled (Animals and Blue Abstract), 1930s or 1940s, Watercolor on paper, sheet 10.75" x 14.5". Framed 18" x 21.5"

This watercolor painting presents an abstract composition dominated by bold blue tones and gestural brushwork, featuring a stylized animal form on the left with a prominent eye and reddish accents, surrounded by vertical blue strokes and organic shapes that suggest a landscape or figural grouping. The work exemplifies mid-twentieth-century American modernism, particularly the expressive abstraction practiced by regional artists working in the Provincetown artistic community during the 1930s-1940s. The painting balances representational elements, notably the animal head with its distinctive gaze, against passages of non-objective color and form, creating a dynamic tension between observation and pure abstraction. The limited palette of ultramarine blue, red ochre, black, and white reinforces the composition's emotional intensity and formal clarity.

🔨 Auction Lot

Provincetown Art Association & Museum Benefit Auction

May 16, 2026

Estimate: $1,000$1,500

Lot 72

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About this work

Peter Busa, Untitled (Animals and Blue Abstract), 1930s or 1940s, Watercolor on paper, sheet 10.75" x 14.5". Framed 18" x 21.5"

This watercolor painting presents an abstract composition dominated by bold blue tones and gestural brushwork, featuring a stylized animal form on the left with a prominent eye and reddish accents, surrounded by vertical blue strokes and organic shapes that suggest a landscape or figural grouping. The work exemplifies mid-twentieth-century American modernism, particularly the expressive abstraction practiced by regional artists working in the Provincetown artistic community during the 1930s-1940s. The painting balances representational elements, notably the animal head with its distinctive gaze, against passages of non-objective color and form, creating a dynamic tension between observation and pure abstraction. The limited palette of ultramarine blue, red ochre, black, and white reinforces the composition's emotional intensity and formal clarity.

Seen at
Eldred's, East Dennis, Massachusetts, United States

Related themes

Figurative Abstraction, Animal Imagery, Red And Blue, Regional American Art, Modernist Composition, American Modernism, Gestural Brushwork, Watercolor Painting, Non-Objective Art, Abstract Expressionism, Color Field, Paper Works, Blue Abstraction, Surrealist Influence, Twentieth Century Art, Symbolic Form, Provincetown School, Expressionist Style, Portrait Study, Avant-Garde Painting

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