Laugh and Get Rich (1931)

George Davis plays the artist Mr. Vincentini

Mr Vincentini looks unimpressed as he is teased at the breakfast table about his paintings of cows

Mr Vincentini's landlord visits him in his studio room and admires his cow painting

Mr Vincentini's landlord likes the cow painting and agrees to sell a couple of painting for Mr Vincentini 

Mr Vincentini's landlord shows the paintings of cows to a shop owner 

Mr Vincentini's cow paintings

the shop owner agrees to frame the paintings and put them in his window

Laugh and Get Rich on IMDB

Sarah Austin runs a boarding house during the Depression, always on the verge of bankruptcy. Her husband, Joe is a shiftless person who has never understood the concept of work; he is constantly involving them in get rich quick schemes. Mr Vincentini is a lodger in the boarding house, who has trouble selling any of his paintings of cows. Their daughter, Alice has her eyes set on a young, poor inventor, Larry Owens , but her mother wishes she would become involved Bill Hepburn, seemingly from a well-connected family.
Sarah's illusions about Bill, however, are dashed when Bill kidnaps Joe, who he mistakenly believes is the local patriarch, Mr. Pennypacker. Shortly after this, Joe takes Sarah's life savings, which she thinks she has carefully hidden in a lamp, and invests it in one of his get-rich-quick schemes, this time an oil well, which he was conned into investing in by one of Sarah's boarders, Mr. Phelps . When Sarah discovers his treachery, she is furious, and to assuage her anger, Joe takes a job as a ditch digger. A job which lasts a single day. However, much to everyone's surprise, the oil well actually strikes oil. Believing that their ship has finally come in, Sarah and Joe go to Sarah's sister's, Cassie Palfrey, who lives in an upper-class estate on Long Island.
While there, the oil well runs dry, and their newfound wealth evaporates like the morning dew in the desert. However, all is not lost, as they find out that one of Joe's inventions, a tire valve, has actually been discovered by an investor, and they will be making over $50,000 per year off the invention, a veritable fortune in 1931. Mr Vincentini's cow paintings are also seen by the owner of a large national dairy company and he is able to support himself through painting cows for their advertising campaigns.
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The Sculptress (2011)

Wanisai Chigwendere plays the sculptress Nana



A young sculptress uses magic to prevent the man she is interested in from leaving her village.

Watch the full movie The Sculptress →

Paradis perdu aka Four Flights to Love (1940)

Fernand Gravey plays artist Pierre Leblanc

magazine showing Fernand Gravey sketching as artist Pierre Leblanc

Paradis perdu on IMDB

Artist Pierre Leblanc is happily married she WW1 breaks out and leaves to become a soldier. While he is fighting in the war his wife dies in childbirth leaving behind a daughter. He is distraught at the loss of his wife and volunteers to patrol behind enemy lines. He is wounded and whilst in hospital he sketches the dresses which are to make his fortune after the war ends.

So Big! (1932)

George Brent plays artist Roelf Pool
Bette Davis  plays artist Miss Dallas O'Mara

Bette Davis as the artist Miss Dallas O'Mara 

So Big! on IMDB

'The story follows the life of a young woman, Selina Peake De Jong, who decides to be a school teacher in farming country. During her stay on the Pool family farm, she encourages the young Roelf Pool to follow his interests, which include art. Upon his mother's death, Roelf runs away to France. Meanwhile, Selina marries a Dutch farmer named Pervus. They have a child together, Dirk, whom she nicknames "So Big," from the common question and answer "How big is baby? " "So-o-o-o big!" (Ferber, 2). Pervus becomes ill and dies, and Selina is forced to take over working on the farm to give Dirk a future. As Dirk gets older, he works as an architect but is more interested in making money than creating buildings and becomes a stock broker, much to his mother's disappointment. His love interest, Dallas O'Mara, an acclaimed artist, echoes this sentiment by trying to convince Dirk that there is more to life than money. Much later in life, Selina is visited by Roelf Pool, who has since become a famous sculptor. Dirk grows very distressed when, after visiting his mother's farm, he realizes that Dallas and Roelf love each other and he cannot compete with the artistically-minded sculptor. In the end, Dirk comes to appreciate the wisdom of his mother, who always valued aesthetics and beauty even as she scraped out a living in a stern Dutch community. Ultimately, Dirk is left alone in his sumptuous apartment, saddened by his abandonment of artistic values.'
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