Arthur Knebel Pastel – “Old Buses” (1990) (Auction 2026-05-15, Lot 203)
Sold
Arthur Knebel (American, 1925-2013). “Old Buses” pastel on canvas, 1990. Signed and dated at lower right. A cluster of aging vehicles emerges from a haze of color and motion in Arthur Knebel’s expressive composition “Old Buses.” The scene depicts several worn buses and trucks resting in a rough, earthen yard, their forms partially dissolved into sweeping layers of pastel pigment. Rather than presenting a sharply defined mechanical study, Knebel allows the vehicles to blur into the surrounding landscape, transforming rusted metal and dusty ground into a vibrant field of color and texture. The composition is driven by energetic strokes of pastel layered across the canvas, where earthy reds, soft pinks, ochres, and cool blues intermingle with muted greens and grays. The vehicles are recognizable through subtle structural cues – rounded hoods, window frames, and wheel arches – yet their outlines dissolve into the painterly surface. Size of frame: 32″ L x 26.5″ W (81.3 cm x 67.3 cm); pastel: 22.75″ L x 17″ W (57.8 cm x 43.2 cm)
This approach places emphasis on atmosphere and sensation rather than strict representation, creating a dynamic balance between realism and abstraction.
Light appears to filter through the scene in shifting patches, illuminating the buses and the uneven ground beneath them. The layered pigments create a tactile surface that suggests dust, rust, and weathered paint, giving the vehicles a sense of age and quiet endurance. Knebel’s handling of pastel on canvas allows for both delicate blending and bold gestural marks, producing a surface that feels simultaneously spontaneous and carefully orchestrated.
The subject itself carries a quiet poetry – a resting place for machines once in constant motion. Knebel treats the vehicles less as mechanical objects than as participants in a broader rhythm of color, light, and environment. The buses appear almost suspended in memory, their forms softened by time and atmosphere.
Signed and dated “Knebel 90” at the lower right, “Old Buses” reflects the artist’s sustained interest in tonal harmony and expressive surface. The work transforms an ordinary scene of parked vehicles into a richly textured meditation on light, movement, and the passage of time.
About the artist: Arthur Henry Knebel Jr. was a gifted painter, photographer, and professional violist whose life intertwined the disciplines of sound, color, and light. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1925 to Arthur Henry Knebel and Margie Shafer Knebel, he grew up in a household steeped in the arts. His mother, a lecturer on modern art in the 1940s, and his father, a drafting artist, instilled in him both technical discipline and creative curiosity.
Before devoting himself fully to painting in 1986, Knebel enjoyed a distinguished musical career spanning more than four decades. He performed as a violist with the Cincinnati Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Houston Symphony, and Denver Symphony orchestras, among others. After joining the Denver Musicians Association in 1964, he later taught at Metropolitan State College from 1987 to 1988.
Knebel’s visual art reflects his mid-century sensibilities and a deep engagement with color, light, and design. A perfectionist by nature, he sought balance between realism and abstraction, frequently reworking his canvases to achieve ideal tonal harmony. His paintings often show the influence of photography – an art form he practiced with precision, developing his own prints and manipulating negatives to control the distribution of light. When painting, he sometimes used an orbital sander on the dried surface to refine texture and form.
Arthur’s work was poetic both in mood and method. His subjects were often figurative, imbued with a quiet lyricism that mirrored his musical compositions. His poem “Shadow” encapsulates his introspective spirit:
“My shadow is the prisoner of the sun / Xeroxed days stapled on the wall / Taller than you, smaller than me / The tricks that run this show / Are wound up like a clock / Stretched like a lie / Sent like an errand in search of a meaning / Clenched like a fist at night / My shadow.”
Though deeply private, Knebel exhibited occasionally, including at the Denver Art Museum and the Koelbel Library’s Joan R. Duncan Gallery in Centennial, Colorado, in 2008, where he and his wife, pianist Susan Cowan Knebel, provided live music during the show. Their marriage, beginning the day after Thanksgiving in 1986, united two artists in a lifelong devotion to music and art.
Arthur Knebel passed away in 2013 at the Denver Hospice Care Center. His legacy endures through his paintings, which continue to find new homes through the ongoing efforts of his estate.
Provenance: private Shawnee, Colorado, USA collection
Good. Mounted in custom matte and frame with suspension wire on verso for display. A tiny, nearly imperceptible tear appears at the upper left corner, otherwise the pastel remains intact and in very good condition. The wood frame shows scuffs and scratches and can easily be replaced. Signed and dated at lower right.
