August Holland

 A New World SOLD

San Francisco 1875

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 48 x 72

Image Size 48 x 72

When viewing one of August Holland's marine pieces we survey the broad scope of the paintings, one can almost hear the surge of the Holland's subjects, and includes many works seen waves, the crack of canvas snapping from creaking for the first time. We are deeply indebted to the yardarms. His noble sailing vessels convey an artistry for buoyancy and energy that make the viewer forget, that this soft-spoken artist summoned the effects of the sea from his landlocked studio in Mendota, Illinois. It is here that August Holland has devoted a lifetime to the pursuit of his art, working exclusively in oil, capturing not only seascapes, but the natural landscape as well, particularly his beloved Tetons. Trained at the The American Academy of Art in Chicago, Holland has consistently finished in the top 100 among 2,000 entries in the national Art for the Parks Competition. His work is featured in public and private collections from coast to coast, and his writings about great sailing ships have been featured in such publications as Sea Classics magazine.

210211 Teton Spring

Oil on Canvas 

Image Size 22 x 28

210167 Joseph Conrad

228008 Tetons in the Fall

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 36 x 48

210149 Conrad by Moonlight

Joseph Conrad II

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 36 x 48

Drawing of Spanish Galleon #4

210129 Wake

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 24 x 30

Drawing of Spanish Galleon #5

Drawing of Spanish Galleon #6

210127 Early Snow

Drawing of Spanish Galleon #3

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 24 x 36

210134 Full Sails

210122 Rough Seas Ahead

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 16 x 20

Image Size 24 x 36

210210 Lucia A. Simpson III

Boone Island Light

210012 Lucia A. Simpson

Oil on Canvas  

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 16 x 20

Image Size 16 x 20

Image Size 30 x 40

210143 Sailors Moon

210212 Viking Long Boats

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 18 x 24

Image Size 30 x 60

210008 Fall in the Tetons

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 30 x 40

210206 Hidden Peak

Oil on Canvas 

Image Size 32 x 18

210010 Lucia Simpson II

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 30 x 40

210006 Rough Seas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 36 x 48

210121 After the Storm

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 24 x 36

210005 Path of Light

Gull Rock (mid day)

Gull Rock (morning)

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 30 x 40

Image Size 16 x 20

Image Size 16 x 20

210203 The Galilee leaving Tahiti

210028 Breakers

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 16 x 30

Image Size 18 x 24

210029 Columbia National Park

210200 Land Ho

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 18 x 24

Image Size 24 x 30

We have many pieces of this very gifted artist's work in lithograph and other forms of reproduction. Please call or email for information.

For more information on this fascinating artist please check out Judith Holland's very informative website at http://www.AugustHolland.com

210040 Collecting Clouds

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 14 x 40

210205 A Distant Lighthouse

210014 North Woods

Oil on Canvas

Oil on Canvas

Image Size 20 x 24

Image Size 12 x 16

August Holland was born June 23, 1928 in Sublette, Illinois. Two days later his parents, August and Nellie took him home to Mendota where his four- year-old brother, Delbert, was waiting for him. Mendota has been his home ever since.

Holland's interest in art began at about the age of six when he found that drawing was more interesting than the three R's. An uncle, who painted as a hobby himself, gave August his first paint box which he made himself. The items included were tiny tubes of oil paints called "tinting tubes", paint-brushes, linseed oil, and turpentine. From then on August painted instead of being a spectator. This uncle guided Holland's early years as an artist.

At the age of fifteen August's first published work appeared in Popular Science magazine. Holland attended Holy Cross Grade School and Mendota High School.

After high school he went to the American Academy of Art in Chicago. His father died when he was eighteen months old so they couldn't afford for him to stay in Chicago. He attended daily by riding the train. When he finished art school a job was waiting for him at an advertising agency in Mendota. Spare time was devoted to fine art.

Two years later he was called into the service. Being an artist, he was in the Regimental Head-quarters Company which was sent to Panama because the Korean war was winding down. While in Panama he met the executive administrator of the American Embassy and was asked to do the art work for propaganda to the Latin American countries through the state department.

His first one-man show was held at the El Panama Hotel and several months later he had another one-man show at the Jewish League in Panama. After his tour of duty August returned to Mendota and the advertising agency.

He met and married his wife, Judith in the early 60's. They have three children, Lisa, Jeffrey, and August, Jr. During his early years as an artist 1951-1961 he was in the Ivan Soritch Gallery and the Edgewater Beach Gallery in Chicago.

With a penchant for getting his work into print he began seeking publishers. Goes Lithographing in Chicago was his first. They liked his work and commissioned him to do many paintings. To keep the buyers from thinking they had only one artist August had many pseudonyms from Boise Smith for western art to Sasha Khomoran for Indian art. Later he added Donald Art and Bernard Publishing from New York. Early 70's brought Turner Manufacturing in Chicago into the picture. So the 60's and 70's were spent satisfying publishers.

Usually August kept the originals and they went to the Merrill Chase and Marshall Field Galleries in Chicago. The most popular of his prints was titled "The Pearl of Wisdom" printed by Goes Lithographing. It featured a Mayan god holding a bowl of light. It appeared in furniture stores across the country and the S&H and Gold Bond stamp catalogs which were popular at the time. Sets of animal prints, sharks (for the movie "Jaws"), and some whimsical cartoon monkeys were made into puzzles by a toy company in Indiana.

Since the 80's he has been shown in several galleries across the country. In 1986 August became acquainted with Charles Vickery, renowned maritime artist. Vickery became his mentor and in 1988 when the advertising agency closed Holland put his full efforts into his art.

Following his mentor's lead he concentrated mostly on maritime subjects- researching sailing ships, studying models, scrutinizing wave patterns, and traveling to the east and west coasts to study the ocean but continuing to paint in his Mendota studio which is in the middle of corn country. He became an artist member of the American Society of Maritime Artists in 1992.

Presently Holland's work can be found in Kavanaugh Galleries in West Des Moines, Iowa; Omell Gallery in London, England; and Winters' Galleries in Carmel, California.

After a long battle with Hodgkin's disease, August Holland died on August 28, l998.