Help Identifying Oil Portrait Painter

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I bought this picture in London from an art dealer in 1984.
http://imgur.com/UZwURrK
It is unsigned, and the National Portrait Gallery in London don't know who the artist is, but assume he/she must be in books somewhere because of the technical and artistic quality of the work. Someone once suggested it looks like it could be by John Singer Sargent (searching on Google Images came up with several suggestions including some by Sargent), but the NPG thinks it's much later, suggesting even the 1960s-1970s. I find this implausible, because that would have made it only 10-20 years old when I bought it, and it just looks and feels much older. (I only took a photo to the NPG, so they haven't seen the actual painting). I'd be very grateful for any thoughts on how I might best research its origins and who might have painted it and when.

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@piano4tay,

Nice painting, I like it. I think it's post-Sargent but not positive. Other people who know more than I do will likely see your post.

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@ossobuco,

Wow, finally, very accomplished artists work. Id agree with Osso, except for the jeans. It even looks like some Thomas Eakins paintings Ive seen.

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@ossobuco,

Yeah, the jeans, that is part of why I think it is post-Sargent. Some San Francisco painters come to mind, but not specifically.
I have to remember the name of the group, duh. Think Diebenkorn and Park were part of it. Ah, looked it up, Bay Area Figurative Movement. Not that it is by one of them, but that they came to mind. There were several people in that group - I didn't chase down the names.

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@ossobuco,

even some "Ash Can painters of the Robert Henri era?. who did "Evening at Sharkeys?"

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@farmerman,

I remember liking that group.. wasn't George Bellows one of them..

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@ossobuco,

yeh, Luks, Bellows ,Sloan, Shinn, Henri, etc etc, I just looked it up and besides a few mor of "the 8" were some who ere included but never counted themselves as ASHCAN painters (like Edward Hopper)

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@farmerman,

Whether or not any of us find the source, this art question is going to propel me to go back and look at online photos of those painters I have long liked/loved but not reviewed any time lately. Some I have books on, yep, Sloan is on the shelf, Bellows, where's my Diebenkorn and the David Park? Oh, wait, I found them. But, looking at the shelving is useful, I dug out my Russell Chatham book (a hundred paintings), I'd forgotten about him - and his colors have some similarity.

Much more enjoyable than arguing politics...

Hope Bobsal stops by.

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@ossobuco,

I gree.

"Ars longa, Trump brevis est"

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@farmerman,

Love your signature line. I'll sign on to that.

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@ossobuco,

Adds, for some reason a little obscure, I take this as an american painter, but again not sure. Not to mention canadian painters as a possibility.

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@ossobuco,

Thhere was a Candian artist named Forrestahl who would paint his works using odd shaped boards or canvases rigged up to look like tent flaps or multi layered "levels of surfaces".
His work was always planned well and executed very painterly. Havent seen anything by him in years. Hed be maybe 10 yers older than me so I assume hed still be around

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Help Identifying Oil Portrait Painter

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