Three Gesture Studies Charcoal and white pastel on grey paper -1960's - Anthony Michael Autorino -12 × 17 inches • Signed lower right-Conjoined letters Signature

$1,600.00

Anthony Michael Autorino (1937–2015)
Three Gesture Studies
Charcoal and white pastel on grey paper
12 × 17 inches • Signed lower right

This energetic and expressive drawing by American Impressionist Anthony Michael Autorino presents three rapid figure studies drawn from life. Rendered in charcoal and heightened with luminous white pastel, the sheet captures a reclining nude in three sequential poses. Autorino’s confident linework and selective highlights reveal a deep command of anatomy and movement, distilling the essence of the model with immediacy and clarity.

Created with the economy and fluidity characteristic of quick-pose sessions, the drawing reflects Autorino’s strong foundations in classical training—first developed during his formative years in Paris and refined during his New York period of the 1960s. Though best known for his atmospheric landscapes and Impressionist oils, Autorino was also a disciplined draftsman, and works like this reveal the underlying rigor that shaped his mature style. The drawing’s subtle merging of form, light, and gesture echoes the soft-focus harmony that defines Autorino’s larger body of work.

A compelling and intimate example of Autorino’s approach to the human figure, and an excellent addition for collectors of both Impressionist painting and academic draftsmanship.

Anthony Michael Autorino (1937–2015)
Three Gesture Studies
Charcoal and white pastel on grey paper
12 × 17 in.
Signed lower right.

A lively and confident sheet of three reclining figure studies by American Impressionist Anthony Michael Autorino. Executed in charcoal with white pastel highlights, the work captures the immediacy of the live model through fluid lines and expressive tonal accents. Though best known for his atmospheric landscapes, Autorino was a highly trained draftsman, and this drawing reflects the anatomical precision and sensitivity to light that informed his mature painting style. A fine example of the artist’s early foundational practice.

Provenance: Private collection

Condition: Very good.
Charcoal and pastel surfaces stable with no evidence of flaking. Paper is clean with only minor, natural handling impressions consistent with an unframed drawing. No tears, creases, stains, or repairs observed. Corners remain crisp. Ready for archival framing.

Anthony Michael Autorino (1937–2015)
Three Gesture Studies
Charcoal and white pastel on grey paper
12 × 17 inches • Signed lower right

This energetic and expressive drawing by American Impressionist Anthony Michael Autorino presents three rapid figure studies drawn from life. Rendered in charcoal and heightened with luminous white pastel, the sheet captures a reclining nude in three sequential poses. Autorino’s confident linework and selective highlights reveal a deep command of anatomy and movement, distilling the essence of the model with immediacy and clarity.

Created with the economy and fluidity characteristic of quick-pose sessions, the drawing reflects Autorino’s strong foundations in classical training—first developed during his formative years in Paris and refined during his New York period of the 1960s. Though best known for his atmospheric landscapes and Impressionist oils, Autorino was also a disciplined draftsman, and works like this reveal the underlying rigor that shaped his mature style. The drawing’s subtle merging of form, light, and gesture echoes the soft-focus harmony that defines Autorino’s larger body of work.

A compelling and intimate example of Autorino’s approach to the human figure, and an excellent addition for collectors of both Impressionist painting and academic draftsmanship.

Anthony Michael Autorino (1937–2015)
Three Gesture Studies
Charcoal and white pastel on grey paper
12 × 17 in.
Signed lower right.

A lively and confident sheet of three reclining figure studies by American Impressionist Anthony Michael Autorino. Executed in charcoal with white pastel highlights, the work captures the immediacy of the live model through fluid lines and expressive tonal accents. Though best known for his atmospheric landscapes, Autorino was a highly trained draftsman, and this drawing reflects the anatomical precision and sensitivity to light that informed his mature painting style. A fine example of the artist’s early foundational practice.

Provenance: Private collection

Condition: Very good.
Charcoal and pastel surfaces stable with no evidence of flaking. Paper is clean with only minor, natural handling impressions consistent with an unframed drawing. No tears, creases, stains, or repairs observed. Corners remain crisp. Ready for archival framing.

Anthony Michael Autorino (1937 – 2015) American Impressionist

Anthony Michael Autorino (1937–2015)
American Impressionist Painter & Draftsman

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, to Italian immigrant parents, Anthony Michael Autorino emerged as a distinctive voice in American Impressionism. His early life took an unexpected path when, as a teenager, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, serving an eight-year tour specializing in cryptography. This expertise brought him to Paris in the mid-1950s, where he worked at the U.S. Embassy. The posting transformed his life: Autorino spent nearly four years studying art in Paris, with additional trips to Holland and Italy, absorbing European traditions of atmosphere, light, and tonal harmony.

By the mid-1960s, Autorino built a thriving career in New York City, participating in key art circles and exhibiting widely. In 1968, seeking a deeper connection with nature, he relocated to the Delaware Valley, opening “The Gallery” in New Hope and later moving it to Lambertville, New Jersey. In the 1980s he established his studio in Buckingham, Pennsylvania—at the former home of celebrated New Hope Impressionist George Sotter, symbolically continuing the lineage of the Pennsylvania Impressionist movement.

Autorino’s work is defined by its soft, atmospheric blur—an Impressionistic merging of air, light, flesh, and landscape. He believed deeply in the interconnectedness of all forms in nature, once writing:
“Painting for me is simple communication through universal language, limited in scope only by one’s imagination and vocabulary.”

Throughout his career, he exhibited at prestigious institutions including:

  • National Academy of Design (NYC)

  • Salmagundi Club

  • Allied Artists of America

  • American Watercolor Society

  • Philadelphia Sketch Club

His work is held in numerous private, corporate, and institutional collections internationally. Primarily an oil painter, he drew inspiration from the Pennsylvania Impressionists—Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber, William Lathrop, George Sotter, Robert Spencer—as well as Hudson River School master George Inness.

This drawing represents the strong draftsmanship and classical foundation that supported Autorino’s celebrated Impressionist landscape practice.

The son of Italian immigrants, Anthony Michael Autorino was born on September 29, 1937 in Montclair, New Jersey. As a teenager, Autorino enlisted in the United States Air Force where he served an eight-year tour. His expertise in the field of cryptography landed him in Paris in the mid-1950s as an Air Force sergeant working at the United States Embassy. He spent nearly four years, studying mostly in Paris, with frequent trips to Holland and Italy. By the mid-1960s, New York City had become the center of activity for the career of this highly regarded young artist.  By the mid-1960s, New York City had become the center of activity for the career of this highly regarded young artist.

By 1968, disillusioned by the hustle and bustle, Autorino made the decision to relocate. His passion for paintings nature and the outdoors led him to the Delaware Valley. Charmed by the welcoming art community, New Hope would be the home of the new studio/gallery named “The Gallery” on Mechanic Street. In 1982, “The Gallery” was relocated across the river to neighboring Lambertville, New Jersey, where it remained for twenty years.

In the 1980s, he took up residence and studio in Buckingham, Pennsylvania, at the former home of renowned New Hope Impressionist, George Sotter.

His work reflects a basic reverence for life. In his sometimes blurred or out-of-focus softness comes a message that all things are related -flesh, air, light, leaves and water. There are no points where one ceases to be and another starts - and so life.

“Painting for me is simple communication through universal language, limited in scope only by one’s imagination and vocabulary.”

Anthony exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York City, the Salmagundi Club, the Allied Artists, the American Watercolor Society and the Philadelphia Sketch Club. He has received many awards and honors for his paintings, which are represented in numerous private, institutional and corporate collections internationally.

His preferred medium is oil and he draws inspiration from his local predecessors, such as Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber, William Lathrop, George Sotter and Robert Spencer as well as “Hudson River School” great, George Inness.

Autorino’s work is unique in style and combines an early twentieth century feel with present-day subjects. His soft palette masterfully captures the mood of each individual setting from falling snow to nocturnal views of the Delaware River. Anthony’s work is clearly a continuing chapter in the story of “New Hope School” Impressionist painting.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/appraisals/anthony-michael-autorino-oil-ca-2000/ - an appraisal on PBS

Note on Signature: He uses an artist signature device of conjoined letters: ‘M’ with a line through it which doubles as 2 A’s - first for Anthony, the M is for Michael and last A for Autorino. The ‘MAA’ is followed by a lower case ‘u’, and then the rest of his last name ‘Torino’.