Fausto Zonaro | Orientalist painter

Italian painter* Fausto Zonaro (18 September 1854 - 19 July 1929) painted portraits, landscapes and historical paintings, best known for his Realist style paintings of life and history of the Ottoman Empire

It is claimed that:

"Zonaro was one of those who made a major contribution to the development of western style art in Turkey".

He was a prolific artist who created hundreds of works, most of which are of the Ottoman Empire. An exhibition of his work in Florence in 1977 "received wide acclaim in the art world".

Today, most of Zonaro’s works remain in Istanbul, and many of them are on display in the city’s leading museums. His pictures can be found in the state museums of Topkapı Palace, Dolmabahçe Palace and the Istanbul Military Museum. Zonaro’s works can also be found in the private Sakıp Sabancı Museum and Pera Museum. Also, a number of them belong to private collectors in Turkey.

Petrus van Schendel | Genre / Romantic painter

Petrus Van Schendel (1806-1870) was a Dutch*-Belgian* genre painter in the Romantic style who specialized in nighttime scenes, lit by lamps or candles. This led to him being known as "Monsieur Chandelle".

On the advice of a family friend, who was a retired army officer, his father sent him to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. He studied there from 1822-1828 with the history painter, Mattheus Ignatius van Bree, and received a gold medal for "Perspective" upon graduating.

Serguei Zlenko / Сергей Зленко, 1960 | Ballet dancers

Serguei Zlenko / Сергей Зленко is an Georgian painter known for working in the Figurative style.

His works include, amongst other things, topographical landscapes, classic ballet dancer motifs and figurative portraits of people, animals and events.

In his ballet paintings, Zlenko pictures not only the elegance and glorious postures of the ballerinas but also the life backstage with concentration before a show and all the physical struggles.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Zlenko see:

• Serguei Zlenko / Сергей Зленко, 1960 | Realist / Surrealist painter ➻

Serguei Zlenko / Сергей Зленко, 1960 | Realist / Surrealist painter

Born in Georgia, Serguei Zlenko /Сергей Зленко is a classically trained artist whose works represent the school of traditional Russian painting.

His works include, amongst other things, topographical landscapes, classic ballet dancer motifs and figurative portraits of people, animals and events. Zlenko is inspired by a vast array of topics, which can be seen in his multidimensional artworks.

In his portraits, Zlenko succeeds in capturing a natural and spontaneous moment which makes his paintings almost photolike.

Alush Shima, 1942 | Colorist / Fauvist / Symbolist painter

Small Territories of Freedom under communism

Alush Shima was born in Tirana, Albania. He painted in secret under Albania’s communist regime for almost two decades, being a former Parliament member. Alush Shima’s most perilous moment was in 1973, when the Sigurimi secret police seized his closest friend, fellow artist Ali Oseku, for letting slip praise of such bourgeois painters as Picasso and Matisse. He worked as a set painter in Albania’s only film studio, Kinostudio.

Alush Shima has always been a realistic painter, but for a time he made paintings of modern criticism of the regime. Today he doesn’t make modern works, but landscapes and still life.

Isabel Miramontes, 1962 | Abstract surrealist sculptor

Born in in Santiago de Compostella (Spain) and influenced by the Celtic Origins of her village, the bronze works of Isabel Miramontes have both a primitive and essential quality to them.

Her recognizable androgynous figures express a narrative of quiet certitude and the inevitable struggle of everyday man, his obstacles and triumphs.

Abbott Fuller Graves | Impressionist painter

Abbott Fuller Graves (1859-1936) was an American painter* and illustrator who specialized in decorative open air* garden paintings and floral still lifes.

His use of thick brushstrokes, bright colors, and natural light shows the influence of European impressionism*.

Graves was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on April 15, 1859, the son of James Griswold Graves and Eliza Nicholls (Fuller). Hoping to become an architect, Graves attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but did not graduate.

Graves went to Paris and Italy in 1884 to refine his skills as a flower painter. In Europe, he roomed with Edmund C. Tarbell.