Mystery Old West Oil Paintings

I appreciate all of your help with my "ugly Astley Cooper" painting. I recently purchased a couple neat "old west" oil paintings at auction. Unfortunately, the artist is unknown and the paintings appear to be unsigned. I'm trying to pin down painting dates and a possible artist. If you have a free moment, would you be interested in opining on these? Thank you in advance!

-Seller believes these paintings date to the 1920's or 1930's however I suspect the frames were produced in the late 19th century. I've seen similar ones from that period.
-The wagon painting has the cracked pine back and porch painting has the stamped back.
-I believe the wagon shown is a "prairie schooner". If just those two horses were pulling it, chances are they were traveling a short distance and/or over relatively smooth ground. The wagon appears to be painted accurately although I'm not an expert on wagons.
-Both paintings are oil on board.
-Seller believes that the paintings are designed to be presented together and are from the same artist. The same dog appears to be on the porch and under the wagon.
-The paintings' (varnish?) has yellowed but the porch painting is worse.
-The detail appears fairly impressive especially considering the paintings' fairly small size.

What do you think? Have you heard of the company name stamped on the pine back?

I'm happy to grab some better pictures with my DSLR. Please let me know. Here is an Imgur link to the photos I have: https://imgur.com/gallery/sEcpXvS

 

I do not like staples....but.....here they look like they were recently added to stabilize the frame........so....they don't play into the frames ...or paintings age...

just saying...

 

I don't generally like staples either. I believe seller added them to keep the frames from falling apart. I'm planning to fix the nails and remove the staples. Thanks for pointing this out!

 

Name of street on the back is Albemarle St.

You could look up some historical records, possibly on archive.org for businesses on that street that begin with WICK

 

I like them,especially with one with the dog and shotgun.. The wagon looks like it’s carrying a huge toilet roll of kitchen towel roll (makes me smile)

 

I would suspect someone at some point (1920s/1930s a possibility) painted new scenes on old backings and reused old frames. I don't think either meant to be realistic. For instance, the horses are untethered. "Covered wagon" and "Prairie schooner" are synonyms.

Debora

 

On second glance, think 1920s a tad early.

Debora

 

Looks like they may be painted on grey backed composition board? If so, probably 20s or so. Frames may be older (Last quarter of the 19th century). Think the stamp is from the original framing. As for the paintings, not without some charm and skill. I do not think from a professionally trained painter but perhaps from someone professing to be an artist.

 

They looked like someone with training to me, but not a professional. Maybe copying from postcards?

 

I too wondered if they were copies. Have that strangely inert quality. Gives them a kitsch-like quality but they're quite pleasing. The dog at rest -- which I had to have pointed out to me -- ties them together nicely, doesn't he?

Debora

 

I will run these through Google image search and see if any old postcards pop up. Haven't seen anything yet though. Seller had just listed the wagon painting but agreed to sell me the porch painting too after I bought the wagon (to keep them together).

It appears there is some newspaper or other print under the stamped back of the porch painting. Might carefully remove the wood back to see if I can find a date or more info.

I'm also scheduled to see a conservator this Friday for the "Astley Cooper", these, and an "1870s seascape" I just purchased. Will let you know what she says.

Thanks again!

 

And in Baltimore, Maryland... That's more obvious but just wanted the keywords in this thread.

If you are very very patient, @techbiker you could search online city directories for Baltimore. The University of Maryland Libraries have a long list they have digitized, here:
https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=327119&p=2197762

Most recent is 1923, though.

The Baltimore City Archives has a much longer list of digitized (and printed) city directories. They have gathered links from lots of other institutions. The dates range from 1752-1964.
https://msa.maryland.gov/bca/baltimore-city-directories/index.html

 

Perhaps were inspired by book illustrations.

Debora

 

Yes, good point, Figs.

 

Update here:

Since these paintings are wonderful but don't appear to be million dollar works, I decided to clean and varnish the "toilet paper wagon". I spent hours researching cleaning processes, purchased a range of products (including a guide) from a professional conservation supplier, and went through about 120 cotton swabs. I think it turned out fairly well and did not see any color loss! Please pardon the potato phone camera and poor lighting. The top two are under 5000k lighting and varnished is under 3000k lighting.

For varnish I used a 50/50 mix of matte/glossy reversible synthetic conservator's varnish. The varnish is still drying in the attached picture and I may add another layer if needed in a week. Will try to upload pictures of the painting back in the repaired frame.

Thanks for everyone's help! Also happy to share contact info for the conservation supplier if anyone is interested.

Before:
Post Clean:

Post Varnish:

 

Looks great..Well done! Thanks also for the update..

 

Great job! I like it. Thanks for the update.