Antonio Sicurezza (1905-1979) | Figurative painter

Antonio Sicurezza was an Italian painter🎨 representative for the contemporary figurative art of the Lazio region, Italy.

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, winning a scholarship as a worthy competitor among the four faculties. He obtained the diploma in painting under the guidance of the masters Carlo Siviero, Vincenzo Volpe, Vincenzo Migliaro and Paolo Vetri.

The first contact with the territory of Formia was in 1933–1934, when he was called to paint the chapel of St. Anthony in the church of Maranola. Here he met Virginia Mastrogiovanni whom he married in 1934.

Istvan Sàndorfi (1948-2007) | Hyper-Surrealist painter

István Sándorfi🎨 [1948-2007] also known as Étienne Sandorfi, was a naturalised French painter of Hungarian origin.

He received his formal art education at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and at École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris.

He mastered what art critics now term hyperrealism. But he did so with his very own blend of Surreal🎨 elements. Having been introduced to oil painting at the age of 12, Sandorfi🎨 dedicated much of his life to perfecting his painting techniques in order to achieve the photoreal and at the same time pull the carpet away under the viewer by letting part of a person dissappear in thin air.

Cesare Ciani (1854-1925) | Post-Macchiaioli painter

Cesare Ciani was an Italian painter🎨 associated with the Post-Macchiaioli group.

A student of Giuseppe Ciaranfi at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence in 1878, where he won a prize for painting, Cesare Ciani was also strongly influenced by the work of the Macchiaioli painter Giovanni Fattori🎨, with whom he also studied.

Fattori’s guidance is readily evident in Ciani’s landscapes, city scenes and portraits, confidently painted with broad, sketchy brushstrokes.

Joan Miró (1893-1983) | Surrealist painter / sculptor | Page 2

Joan Miró🎨 - Catalan painter who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy.

His mature style evolved from the tension between his fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life.

He worked extensively in lithography and produced numerous murals, tapestries, and sculptures for public spaces.

Edwin Austin Abbey | Pre-Raphaelite painter / Illustrator

Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter🎨 and one of the foremost illustrators of his day.

While working as an illustrator for the publishing house of Harper and Brothers, New York City, Abbey began to create illustrations for the poems of Robert Herrick in 1874.

He went on to create illustrations for some of the works of Oliver Goldsmith and William Shakespeare🎨.

Édouard Manet | Le déjeuner sur l'Herbe, 1863

Rejected by the jury of the 1863 Salon, Manet🎨 exhibited Le déjeuner sur l’herbe under the title Le Bain at the Salon des Refusés (initiated the same year by Napoléon III) where it became the principal attraction, generating both laughter and scandal.

Yet in Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, Manet🎨 was paying tribute to Europe's artistic heritage, borrowing his subject from the Concert champêtre - a painting by Titian🎨 attributed at the time to Giorgione🎨 (Louvre) - and taking his inspiration for the composition of the central group from the Marcantonio Raimondi engraving after Raphael's Judgement of Paris🎨.

Leo Tolstoy | Quotes / Aforismi

Ilia Efimovich Repin🎨 (Ukrainian-born Russian Realist painter, 1844-1930)| Portrait of Leo Tolstoy, 1887

Best known for his two classic novels, 'War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina' Leo Tolstoy, in full Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy / Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й (1828-1910), was a Russian🎨 writer, a master of realistic fiction and one of the world’s greatest novelists.

• "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself".
• "Tutti pensano a cambiare il mondo, ma nessuno pensa a cambiare se stesso".
• "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way".
• "Tutte le famiglie felici si assomigliano fra loro, ogni famiglia infelice è infelice a suo modo".
• "If you look for perfection, you'll never be content".
• "Se cerchi la perfezione, non ti accontenterai mai".

Ivan Kramskoi | An unknown lady, 1883

‣ Author: Ivan Kramskoi🎨 / Ива́н Крамско́й (Russian painter and art critic, 1837-1887).

‣ Title: Portrait of an Unknown Woman, also known as The Unknown Woman, An Unknown Lady or Stranger - Russian: Неизвестная.

‣ Medium: oil on canvas.

‣ Date: 1883.

‣ Provenance: Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

The viewer is intrigued both by the heroine of the painting and its name.
Ivan Kramskoi depicted a young woman in a carriage against the Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg.

The woman is not so much beautiful as she is impressive and "chic".

Pietro Canonica (1869 -1959) | Figurative sculptor

“The aim of the artist is to study truth in its purest form, concentrating the greatest possible emotion on it”, with these words Pietro Canonica🎨 declared his predilection for an art capable of idealising and yet at the same time expressing the most secret motions of the soul.

In his sculptures he combines the proportions and balance of classical art, the refined models of fifteenth century Florentine work, the lightness of touch of neoclassicism, Romantic disquietude and nineteenth century sensibility. Gifted with an absolute mastery of technique and great ability and speed in working the material, he received commissions from the aristocracy of all Europe, who sought after his refined taste and idealization.

Although these were the years of the historical avant garde, Canonica🎨 continued to create “classical” art, remaining faithful to his image of himself and his own instinct to trust in “beauty”.

Halil Pasha (1857-1939) | Impressionist painter

Halil Paşa was a Turkish painter and art teacher.

He was one of Turkey's first Impressionists.

His family was originally from Rhodes and his father, Selim, was one of the founders of the Turkish Military Academy.

Like many early Western-style Turkish artists, he received his training in technical drawing and painting at the "Mühendishane-i Berrî-i Hümâyûn" (Military School of Engineering, now known as the Istanbul Technical University).

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) | Art / Life Quotes

Hector- Berlioz by Émile Signol (French painter, 1804-1892) 1832

2019 marks the sesquicentenary - or 150th anniversary - of the death of French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz in Paris, in 1869.

To celebrate the life and music of this great artist, we offer you his art -life quotes.

Joan Marti Aragones (1936-2009) | Figurative / Genre painter

Spanish painter🎨 Joan Marti Aragonés is one of the most important artists in Spain. Born in Barcelona, he began his artistic studies in 1950.

His artistic talent was developed and perfected first at the Academia de Valls and later at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Sant Jordi in Barcelona. He studied with such renowned teachers as Nolase Valols, E. Santasusagna and Garcia Morales.

He held his first exhibition at Galeria Atenea in 1959 in Barcelona. He is one of the official portrait artists of the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I.

Claudio Bravo Camus' 83rd Birthday | Hyperrealist painter

Google decided to remember this Friday, November 8, the Chilean painter Claudio Bravo Camus.

This date corresponds to the birthday of the remembered artist, who would turn 83 today. Although he died in 2011, his legacy is still present in the art world.

Claudio Bravo, -Claudio Nelson Bravo Camus- (born Nov. 8, 1936, Valparaíso, Chile - died June 4, 2011, Taroudant, Mor.), initially established himself as a society portrait painter in Chile and Spain, but he became better known for his vibrant still lifes of such everyday items as packages, crumpled paper and draped fabric.

Joan Miró | Art Quotes / Aforismi sull'arte

• "You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at the picture for a second and think of it all your life".
• "Puoi guardare una pittura per una settimana e non pensarci mai più. Puoi anche guardare una pittura per un secondo e pensarci per tutta la vita".
• "If you have any notion of where you are going, you will never get anywhere".
• "Se hai idea di dove stai andando, non arriverai mai da nessuna parte".

Antonio Balestra (1666-1740) | Baroque painter

Antonio Balestra was a painter and engraver from a merchant family in Verona, Italy.

He was an enthusiastic amateur painter, but at the age of 17, following the sudden death of his father, he had to interrupt his studies to take care of the family business with his brothers.

Subsequently, he decided to dedicate himself to painting and moved to Venice for three years.

Nadar | The photographer of the impressionists and Romantics

George Sand🎨 (French Romantic writer, 1804-1876) by Nadar, 1864

Ringmaster, publicist, and performer in a highly theatrical life, the legendary Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, 1820-1910) wore many hats - those of journalist, bohemian, left-wing agitator, playwright, caricaturist, and aeronaut.

He had success in all these roles, but what he did best was collect a pantheon of friends whom he honored with his generous and perceptive photographic portraits.

Born Gaspard-Félix Tournachon in 1820, the son of a liberal publisher, Nadar grew up in Paris in the heady ferment of Romanticism.

Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, and Eugène Delacroix were his early heroes; Gérard de Nerval, Théophile Gautier, and Charles Baudelaire his maturing friends. Nadar’s imagination, wit, and spontaneity, like his passion for the colorful, unconventional, and free, were tendencies shared with both generations of Romantic writers and artists.

Tina Spratt, 1976 | Figurative painter

British painter🎨 Tina Spratt is best known for her paintings of the female figure, either in oils or pastel, her subjects are often lost in introspection, or surrounded by the fascinating textures of a myriad of fabrics.

"I have always been drawn to the female figure in my work", she has said, "and I hope to recreate the beauty and integrity of a simple, everyday intimacy".

With an emphasis on beautiful fabrics or domestic scenes , she is influenced by artists such as Andrew Wyeth🎨, Rembrandt🎨 and Vermeer🎨.

Gerolamo Induno (1825-1890) | History / Genre painter

Gerolamo Induno (13 December 1825 - 18 December 1890) was an Italian painter🎨 and soldier, best known for his military scenes. His older brother, Domenico, was also a well-known artist and they often worked together.

He was born in Milan, where his father was a chef and butler at the Milanese court.

He took his first formal art lessons at the Brera Academy, where he studied with Luigi Sabatelli from 1839-1846.

His first exhibit was in 1845; composed of portraits and a scene from The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni (now lost).

Thomas Couture (1815-1879) | History / Genre painter

Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 - 30 March 1879) was a French🎨 history painter and teacher.

He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet🎨, Henri Fantin-Latour🎨, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes🎨, Karel Javůrek and J-N Sylvestre.

Couture was born at Senlis, Oise, France. When he was 11 his family moved to Paris, where he would study at the industrial arts school (École des Arts et Métiers) and later at the École des Beaux-Arts.

Jean-Louis Forain | Impressionist painter

Jean-Louis Forain (23 October 1852 - 11 July 1931) was a French🎨 Impressionist painter, lithographer, watercolorist and etcher.

He was one of France's best known and revered artists during his time and may best be remembered for his numerous drawings chronicling and commenting on Parisian city life at the end of the 19th century. Followers and admirers of Forain's work include Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec🎨.