Jean Abrie, 1962 | Figurative / Wildlife painter

South African painter Jean Abrie was born in the former Eastern Transvaal and in his early years grew up in Zimbabwe.

There he developed a great love for wildlife.

Upon returning to South African he completed his secondary schooling and graduated at the University of Pretoria.

Jean prefers to work in oils and capture the many facets and mystical qualities of African wilderness in a photo realistic style on large canvasses.

Ralph Grady James ~ Wildlife painter

In the Piedmont area of North Carolina Ralph Grady James spends his days in creative pursuits. Nestled at the base of the Appalachian Mountains, the Piedmont not only gives quick access to the culturally rich mountains but is also close to North Carolina's picturesque Outer Banks. Together, these areas provide him with a wealth of inspiration and subject matter for his work.
Ralph attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in high school and later Indiana University to major in music. 

Peter Miller | Vintage Car painter

British painter* Peter Miller (1939-2014) has been inspired by the early motoring scene and the evocation of the Golden Era which it personifies. The key subject matter in this has been the Rolls-Royce and Bentley Motor Car, particularly the cars of the 1920s and 1930s. Painted with genuine feeling and creative intensity, his sole aim was to create a good painting not just a picture of a motor car. The series was originally planned as a thematic series of twenty works which eventually developed into a total of 108 oil paintings, of which eighty two were recently displayed at Gibson Moore Fine Art gallery in London. Peter Miller has exhibited at many solo exhibitions and mixed and group exhibitions.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo | Baroque painter

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) was a Spanish Baroque painter.

Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children.

These lively realistic portraits of flower girls, street urchins, and beggars constitute an extensive and appealing record of the everyday life of his times.

He also painted two self-portraits, one in the Frick Collection portraying him in his 30s, and one in London's National Gallery portraying him about 20 years later.

In 2017–18, the two museums held an exhibition of them.

Guy Wiggins | Impressionist painter

Guy Carleton Wiggins NA (1883-1962), the noted American Impressionist and one of the foremost artists affiliated with the art colony at Old Lyme, Connecticut, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1883.

He was the son of Carleton Wiggins, a prominent painter associated with the American Barbizon School. He spent the early years of his life in England where he received a grammar school education and traveled throughout Europe. Following in his father's footsteps, Wiggins became interested in painting and drawing during his boyhood.

His creative and technical abilities were acknowledged at the age of eight, when various New York critics publicly praised a group of watercolors he had done in France and Holland.

Christa Kieffer, 1949 | La Belle Époque

German painter* Christa Kieffer was born in Tubingen, Germany. As a child, her earliest memories are of “soaking up the atmosphere of a particular place or region”. An intuitive kindergarten teacher recognized Kieffer’s potential and provided her with a quiet place to draw and paint. The artist studied extensively throughout Europe then moved to the United States to attend the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.

Frédéric Dufoor, 1943

Born in Tournai, Belgian painter Frédéric Dufoor attended the Institute of Saint-Luc in Tournai and also the Academy of Mons. After a brief Bohemian interlude, he was enrolled with the studio of Louis Van Lint, at Saint-Luc in Brussels. In 1967, he went on to teach at the Superior Institute for Graphic Communications for 10 years, then held the post of professor at Saint-Luc in Brussels until December 1998. Initially, briefly influenced by his professors, he developed his art as an aesthetic one, spare, to the limits of abstraction.

Leonardo da Vinci | Differenza che ha la pittura con la poesia

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /16

La pittura è una poesia che si vede e non si sente, e la poesia è una pittura che si sente e non si vede.

Adunque queste due poesie, o vuoi dire due pitture, hanno scambiati i sensi, per i quali esse dovrebbero penetrare all'intelletto.

Perché se l'una e l'altra è pittura, devono passare al senso comune per il senso più nobile, cioè l'occhio; e se l'una e l'altra è poesia, esse hanno a passare per il senso meno nobile, cioè l'udito.

Beatrice Bissara, 1972 | Figurative sculptor

Beatrice Bissara is a painter and sculptor native to Paris, France. From a young age, Beatrice Bissara evolving in the world of art. His childhood was rocked by the museum visits, walks Flea and the atmosphere of the auction rooms auction. Thus accompanying his father with a passion for ancient art, she already forged her taste for classical beauty.

Yet although never be away from this familiar world, it will take a few years to discover a true creative vocation.

After graduation, MSG Dauphine, Master of Political Science and Master of art history at the Sorbonne, during the evening of the Ecole du Louvre; she worked successively at an expert on modern and contemporary paintings and with a modern art dealer, and finally at Sotheby’s in the expertise of old paintings, particularly of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Ben Fenske, 1978

American painter Ben Fenske was born in Minnesota. He first studied painting and drawing in Minneapolis with Peter Bougie and Joseph Paquet and later in Italy at The Florence Academy of Art.
He is an avid portrait and landscape painter working in New York and Italy. Ben Fenske’s career and work have evolved greatly since our last catalogue in 2009. The promise of years passed has come to fruition, as fleeting sketches have become fully finished large canvases. Fenske's work has become richer, more colorful, and most importantly, the compositions have become more resolved. As you can see by the interiors, landscapes and figurative paintings, Fenske continues to be inspired by the world that he inhabits.

Arturo Samaniego

American painter Arturo Samaniego living and working in Naples, Florida. After years of figurative and portrait work, Samaniego has developed a style and a set of themes that suit his interest, and allow him to flex his creative muscles. Over the last few years his subject matter has become what he calls “contemporary still life”. The artist explains, “I am always inspired and challenged by the representational tradition of realism in oil painting, and I am equally intrigued by the energy and freedom of contemporary art.
For this reason, my still lifes employ a careful execution in a realistic style, and also combine contemporary compositional elements, such as close-ups, sparse setups, clean lines, and the like”.

Tan Chun Chiu ~ Watercolor painter

Tan Chun Chiu was born in China and developed an interest in art when he was a young child. He began his art studies in China and continued when he came to America in 1974. His delicate work is the combination of the essential qualities of traditional realism and contemporary painting techniques.
Accomplished in a wide range of media, he incessantly challenges his mastery of watercolor, oil and printmaking. Many subjects inspire the widely traveled artist. Pre-eminent among them is an abiding reverence for the peace and beauty of the world of nature that is reflected in his painting.

Josep Costa Vila, 1953

Spanish painter Josep Costa Vila, born near Barcelona, learned Art at the Sant Jordi Art School of the same city, from 1969-1974.
In 1974, he went on improving his academic Art training by attending the famous Massana School, still in Barcelona, where he was graduated in 1977.

Mariola Bogacki, 1965 | Surralist painter

Mariola Bogacki was born in Poland and now lives in Germany where he settled in 1984. With a work laden with Symbolism, Bogacki offers us a world filled with magic and poetry especially in tables that evoke the female sensuality, but is capable of printing true to the art recreation of a fried egg hung on a wall. Surrealism stroke realistic and vivid colors. A trip to the dreams through the imagination of the artist. In 2002 and 2003 she got an insight into the works of the international accepted artist. Since 2005 she acts as a freelanced artist.

Octavian Florescu, 1957

Octavian Florescu was born in 1957 in the Southern Romanian town of Craiova. In 1978 he interrupted his university studies in engineering to become a full-time artist painter.

For five years he studied church painting and restoration which gave him the opportunity to learn and master all painting techniques from the ancient fresco to the contemporary oil and acrylic.

The influence of the Byzantine style is noticeable in all his work.

In 1989, while in Hungary, he completely dedicated himself to surrealism that allows him to best express his ideas.

Over the past 21 years his paintings have been seen in Austria, Canada, France, Hungary, Mexico, Romania, and the USA.

Alfred Gockel, 1952 | Abstract painter

Alfred Alexander Gockel was born in Ludinghausen, Germany. From his earliest days on, he was fascinated by the magic of colors on paper. This talent and enthusiasm resulted in the release of this first art work by a german publisher at the age of 8. His art is composed with the most beautiful lighted colors, trimmed with powerful black figures and accents. The separate colors and the black trims all fade together, and create an individual image for every spectator, no matter what culture or social position.

Van Tame | Impressionist City

Van Tame is an Vietnamese-born French painter, is able to capture the vibrancy of cities like New York and London, in his energetic and dynamic paintings. With distinctively animated strokes, Tame's cityscapes remind us of the teeming, bustling life in famous cities.

While the images might seem of average canvas size when viewed online, Van Tame actually paints on large scale canvases that are on average, about 4 feet x 3 feet.

With regard to his use of vibrant colors and the feature of blurred forms, his biography explains that his work is close to that of the “impressionists”, because “[he] does not paint objects, but reflections”.

Jorge Lujan | Libertango

Born in Medellin, Colombian painter Jorge Botero Lujan grew up in a large family, as the sixth child of twelve. He was known for his artistic traits throughout elementary and high school.

He has always been attracted by art books, comic books, films and music, which led him into the world of art.

A self-taught artist, Lujan is always creating, searching, and trying new techniques such as pencil, colors, charcoal, acrylics, and oil.

Always observing light, position, and composition of images has strengthened his work relating them to different times in history, costumes and trends.

Ilan Itach, 1975 ~ Flamenco street

Israeli painter Ilan Itach was born in Jerusalem where he still lives and works. Itach is a self-taught artist from an immigrant, working-class neighborhood in Jerusalem. His first studio was nestled on a hilltop overlooking Jerusalem's picturesque Old City whose ancient walls appear in many of his early artworks.

Michel Pellus, 1945

Canadian painter Michel Pellus, born in Montreal, descends from a long line of artists. His grandfather Guillaume Pellus, born in Reims, France, who is listed in the Benezit as an artist and restorer of stained glass after the first World War, emigrated to Canada where he worked as a master artist in stained glass. Michel Pellus’ father, Raymond Pellus also born in France, was an artist and professor in Montreal for thirty-five years, while his mother, Tina Roy is a painter in Miami, Florida. At 27 years of age, Pellus decides: “Painting will be my life”.

Sonia Drabkin, 1961 | Romantic Surrealist painter

Israeli painter Sonia Drabkin is an emerging surrealistic and romantic fantasy artist.

Sonia Drabkin’s art is heavily influenced by Surrealism.

As with artists of this style who preceded her, her sources lie in Paris of the 1920s.

Drabkin celebrates a vision of the world in which the imagination is set free.

She aspires to express her ideas, experiences, and emotions in a symbolic and surreal manner.

Michael Kerman, 1964

Ukrainian painter Michael Kerman was born in the Ukraine and is the son of the well known painter, Wolf Kerman. He attended the Ukraine Republic Art School and graduated in 1982. He was accepted and attended the Kiev High Academy of Art and graduated with honors.
Kerman's paintings, mostly in acrylic on canvas, are strongly influenced by post Impressionists, specifically Matisse. His use of color are directed by his goal to achieve balanced composition reached through form and color. His work has been exhibited in Israel, Europe, and the USA, and can be found in private collections throughout the world.

Emanuel Mattini, 1966

Emanuel Mattini is an Iranian-born, American educated painter, strongly influenced by music. His figurative works are melodies performed in textured forms - brilliant in color, exciting in design.  His works metamorphose music into art, art into human expression, human expression into the rhythm of life. The quiet play of sound, the expression of scale relating to the yin and yang of color and motion reflect in his life as well as his art. His art has a freshness of style and approach, a blend of the modern with the ancient, reflecting an age of quality - quality of meaning and of image. These qualities were ingrained in Emanuel in his native Shiraz, Iran, the famed valley of poets and philosophers, where he was born in 1966.

Michael Rozenvain, 1963 | Abstract Impressionist painter

Ukrainian painter Michael Rozenvain attended art school in Kiev and later on continued his studies at the Lvov Academy of Applied Art. He immigrated to Israel in 1990 and has since had a number of one - man shows as well as participating in group exhibitions. At the same time, he has contributed large Plurals and decorative elements to public buildings as well as Monumental displays in hotels and libraries. On one's first encounter with the work of Michael Rozenvain, one's mind turns to the palimpsest of many generations past-that is, the parchment or tablet on which an earlier drawing or writing has been erased to make way for another.

Dreama Tolle Perry | Garden and Still Life flower painter

American painter Dreama Tolle Perry is a self-taught artist who finds her inspiration in color and sunshine. She is a prolific painter and an inspirational teacher. Dreama lives in Paris, KY with her husband Ron, dog Maggie and world famous cat, Eddie. Dreama paint scenes of France and Italy, flowers and cats.

Angie Braun, 1961 ~ Blue Eyes..

Angie Braun is an German painter, known for working in the PopArt Figurative style. Angie Braun living and working in Germany.

Andrei Zadorin, 1960

Андрей Задорин is an Belarusian painter.

In the same way that words are used to create a narrative, Zadorine uses visual images to create atmospheric feeling.

His work is directly addressing the soul.

Poetic and romantic, Zadorine appeals to the viewer by illustrating the vulnerable and precious nature of the human soul.

Memory (particularly drawn from childhood) and the acceptance of the irreversibility of human life are strong underlying currents that drive much of his work.

Hermann Hesse / Fabian Perez | Così vanno le stelle..

Così per la lor via vanno le stelle,

incomprese, immutabili!

Tu, mentre noi ci dibattiamo in vincoli,

di luce in luce ascendi.

Tu, la cui vita è tutta di splendore!

E se dalle mie tenebre

devo tendere a te braccia nostalgiche

sorridi e non m'intendi.

Pedro Álvarez Castelló ~ Tango Argentino

Pedro Reinaldo Álvarez Castelló (1967-2004) was a Cuban painter who rose to prominence during Cuba's Special Period. Alvarez was a native of Havana, Cuba. He studied art at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" from 1980-1985 and the Instituto Superior Pedagogico Enrique Jose Varona from 1986-1991. He was a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba. He married a Cuban woman and had a child. When he wasn't travelling to promote his work, he divided his time between Malaga, Spain and Havana.

Leonardo da Vinci | Esempio tra la Poesia e la Pittura..

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /11

Non vede la immaginazione cotal eccellenza qual vede l'occhio, perché l'occhio riceve le specie, ovvero similitudini degli obietti, e li dà all'impressiva, e da essa impressiva al senso comune, e lí è giudicata.

Ma la immaginazione non esce fuori da esso senso comune, se non in quanto essa va alla memoria, e lí ferma e lí muore, se la cosa immaginata non è di molta eccellenza.

Ed in questo caso si ritrova la poesia nella mente, ovvero immaginativa del poeta, il quale finge le medesime cose del pittore, per le quali finzioni egli vuole equipararsi ad esso pittore, ma invero ei n'è molto remoto, come di sopra è dimostrato.

Leonardo da Vinci | Del Poeta e del Pittore..

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /10

La pittura serve a piú degno senso che la poesia, e fa con piú verità le figure delle opere di natura che il poeta, e sono molto piú degne le opere di natura che le parole, che sono opere dell'uomo; perché tal proporzione è dalle opere degli uomini a quelle della natura, qual è quella ch'è dall'uomo a Dio.

Adunque è piú degna cosa l'imitar le cose di natura, che sono le vere similitudini in fatto, che con parole imitare i fatti e le parole degli uomini.

Françoise de Felice, 1952 | Figurative Impressionist painter

Françoise de Felice, descendant of an Italian father and French mother, was born in Paris where she lived until she was 20 years of age. As a child Françoise de Felice was introduced to art by her grandmother. Later whilst at the Sorbonne she also attended the Beaux Arts. Her initial introduction was to that of the essetial Impressionism. Françoise de Felice then left France for Sicily where she found that the French Impressionism was not enough.

Andrei Zadorin, 1960 | Memories..

Belarusian painter Андрей Задорин was born in Berezovka, Belarus.

He graduated from the Belarusian Institute of Arts in 1984 and completed graduate studies at the USSR Academy of Arts in Minsk in 1990.

Andrew draws inspiration from his memories of childhood, combining reality and imagination in his paintings.

Leonardo da Vinci | Come il pittore è signore d'ogni sorta di gente e di tutte le cose...

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /9

Il pittore è padrone di tutte le cose che possono cadere in pensiero all'uomo, perciocché s'egli ha desiderio di vedere bellezze che lo innamorino, egli è signore di generarle, e se vuol vedere cose mostruose che spaventino, o che sieno buffonesche e risibili, o veramente compassionevoli, ei n'è signore e creatore.

Leonardo da Vinci | Come chi sprezza la pittura non ama la filosofia, né la natura..

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /8

Se tu sprezzerai la pittura, la quale è sola imitatrice di tutte le opere evidenti di natura, per certo tu sprezzerai una sottile invenzione, la quale con filosofica e sottile speculazione considera tutte le qualità delle forme: mare, siti, piante, animali, erbe, fiori, le quali sono cinte di ombra e lume.

E veramente questa è scienza e legittima figlia di natura, perché la pittura è partorita da essa natura; ma per dir più corretto, diremo nipote di natura, perché tutte le cose evidenti sono state partorite dalla natura, dalle quali cose è nata la pittura.

Adunque rettamente la chiameremo nipote di essa natura e parente d'Iddio.

Julien Stappers | Still life with Flowers painter

Julien Stappers (1875-1960) was an Belgian flower painter, but also views of cities and paysages.

Training at the The Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in Juliaan De Vriendt (1894-1899) and at the Higher Institute of Fine Arts in Antwerp (1899-1901). First exhibition in 1903.

A presentation to the "Rubens" Gallery in Brussels in 1959 and 1960, the "Jordaens" gallery in Ghent in 1957, 1959 and 1960.

Pablo Neruda | Love, how many roads.. | Amore, quanta strada..

Amore, quante strade per giungere a un bacio,
che solitudine errante fino alla tua compagnia!
I treni continuano a rotolare soli con la pioggia.
A Taltal ancora non albeggia la primavera.

Ma tu ed io, amor mio, siamo uniti,
uniti dai vestiti alle radici,
uniti d'autunno, d'acqua, di fianchi,
fino ad essere solo tu, sol io uniti.

Love, how many roads to obtain a kiss,

what lonely wanderings before finding you!

Trains now trundle through the rain without me.

Spring has yet to come to Taltal.

But you and I, my love, are together,

together from our clothes to our bones,

together in Autumn, in our water, at our hips,

until it's just you together, me together.

Leonardo da Vinci | Come l'occhio meno s'inganna ne' suoi esercizi..

Trattato della Pittura - Parte prima /7

Come l'occhio meno s'inganna ne' suoi esercizi, che nessun altro senso, in luminosi, o trasparenti, ed uniformi, e mezzi

L'occhio nelle debite distanze e debiti mezzi meno s'inganna nel suo ufficio che nessun altro senso, perché vede se non per linee rette, che compongono la piramide che si fa base dell'obietto, e la conduce ad esso occhio, come intendo provare.

Candice Bohannon, 1982

American painter Candice Bohannon Reyes was born in Sacramento, CA. Raised in the rural forested landscape of the foothills of the sierra Nevada mountains, her naturalistic aesthetic in art was honed from an early age. After high school, Bohannon enrolled in art college, and after intense studies in painting, drawing, sculpting, art history, philosophy and aesthetics, she graduated from the Laguna College of Art and Design in 2005 with a BFA in painting/drawing and a minor in sculpture. It was there at LCAD that Candice met her future husband, fellow artist and best friend, Julio Reyes. After nearly 10 years in southern California, they moved back to rural northern California where they currently reside.

Leonardo da Vinci | Come la pittura abbraccia le superficie, figure e colori..

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 6

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Come la pittura abbraccia le superficie, figure e colori de' corpi naturali, e la filosofia sol s'estende nelle lor virtù naturali