Eugenio Lucas Villaamil | Genre painter

Eugenio Lucas Villaamil (Madrid, 1858 - Madrid, 1918) also known as Lucas "the younger", was born in Madrid on 14 January 1858 to the painter Eugenio Lucas Velázquez and Francisca Villaamil. Until only a few years ago the information we had about his life was almost as vague as what is known about his work.

After initially training in his father’s studio as a boy, he furthered his studies at the Special School of Painting in Madrid and took part in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts three times. In 1876 he entered two works: Italianas ("Italian Women") and Mendigo ("Beggar"); in 1881 he submitted a small picture entitled Galanterías en el siglo XVIII ("Gallantries in the 18th Century"); and in 1884 the watercolour Después de la fiesta. Dibujo de Serra ("After the Fiesta. Drawing of Serra") and the oil painting Cuestión de honor ("A Question of Honour").

John Singer Sargent | Art in detail

"A portrait is a picture of a person with something wrong with the mouth" - John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 - April 14, 1925) was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury.

During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings.

His oeuvre documents worldwide travel, from Venice to the Tyrol, Corfu, the Middle East, Montana, Maine and Florida.

John William Godward (1861-1922)

John William Godward è stato un pittore Inglese, operante nella fase finale del periodo Pre Raffaellita / Neo-classico.

Godward era un pittore molto vicino a sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (era considerato il suo pupillo).

Godette di vasta popolarità, ma il suo stile pittorico risultò superato e perse i favori del pubblico e della critica con l'avvento delle avanguardie.

John Singer Sargent | Portrait of Carolus-Duran, 1879

Charles-Émile-Auguste Durand (1837-1917), known as Carolus-Duran, was a celebrated figure in the world of Parisian art and theater. Known for his elegant society portraits, he was also highly influential as a teacher.

Sargent entered Duran’s studio in 1874 and became his star pupil. Duran’s approach was radical: he encouraged his students to draw and paint simultaneously, using a loaded brush. In this stylish portrait, which received an award when it was shown at the Paris Salon in 1879, Sargent pays homage to his teacher by embracing his fluid technique. The affectionate dedication to Duran, inscribed in French at the upper right, announces Sargent’s artistic pedigree but also caused some contemporary viewers to remark that the student had surpassed the master. | © The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ellen de Groot, 1959 | Realistic Figurative /Portrait painter

Ellen de Groot, born 1959 in Groningen (Netherlands) lives in Amsterdam. She loves walking and hiking, she walked in 2003 a part of the Way of St-James from the French/Spanish border to Santiago de Compostella. This was such unique experience that in May and June of this year (2005), she walked another part of the same route, from Le Puy en Velay to the Spanish border.

Eugenio Lucas Velázquez | Romantic painter

Eugenio Lucas Velázquez (1817-1870) is, without a doubt, one of the greatest masters of 19th-century Spanish painting and is deservedly hailed as the Spanish Romantic artist who best understood the art of Goya. He became the most important and enthusiastic follower of Goya’s universe following the death of the Aragonese genius, whose essence he succeeded in assimilating to the point that it is sometimes difficult to attribute correctly works that have not been studied in great depth.

Until a few decades ago, the figure of Eugenio Lucas was steeped in ignorance and legend, and for many years this led to serious confusion about his life, his artistic personality and even his name.

Victoria Novak | Figurative /Still life ainter

Realist painter Victoria Novak began her artistic career as an interior designer in her native Russia. For many years she enjoyed a successful career in her home city.

A move to Italy, where her love of Italian Renaissance art was fostered, inspired Victoria to devote herself to painting. She began to experiment with Old Master painting techniques, but applying them within a more contemporary context.

Of adopting the time honored techniques, Victoria says "At first it was more out of curiosity, but in the end I discovered a method that helps me to realize my ideas in the most satisfied way".

Nancy Depew, 1955 | Realist painter

Known for her highly realized figurative paintings and drawings which combine traditional painting techniques with more contemporary approaches, Nancy Depew has been awarded painting fellowships from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation in 1986 and from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts in 1987 and again in 2004.

Nancy Depew has been devoted to representational painting and drawing since early childhood, but began her formal education in painting at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1977.
Her desire to pursue the figurative work she had begun, led her to graduate studies at the University of Albany, The State University of New York and in 1985, she received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting.

Zorina Baldescu, 1954 | Fantasy painter /Illustrator

Born in Bucharest, Zorina Baldescu has been working as a children’s books illustrator for a number of years now.

She specializes in creating delightful fairy tale images featuring mermaids, princesses, fairies, unicorns and more.

Zorina’s images have been licensed for jigsaw puzzles and stationery products worldwide. Her images are perfect for any young girls range.

Daniel González Poblete, 1944 | Figurative Realist painter

Daniel Gonzalez Poblete was born in Corral de Calatrava, Ciudad Real.

Fifteen years later, in 1959, he enters fully into the world of the painting as a copyist in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, where is forged as a painter of artists as relevant as Vázquez Díaz.

He studied at the school of Arts and crafts, where he obtained the extraordinary drawing prize. Logical is that you so that from the first moment Poblete has been as a teacher of drawing and also as an absolute Dominator of the color. Within the figuration is one of the artists, without doubt, most important in the present time.

Vania Comoretti, 1975 | Hyperrealist Portrait painter

Vania Comoretti was born in Udine (Italy) in 1975.

She works and lives in Udine and Venice.

After achieving a five-year schooling certificate in Applied Arts, she attended several courses in advertising graphics and in 2004 graduated in Restoration, Painting section, at the Venice School of Fine Arts (Italy).

Kayomi Harai | Fantasy painter

Award-winning watercolor artist Kayomi Harai has captivated collectors for years with her darling images of wide-eyed cats in precarious predicaments.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Kayomi is a self-taught artist with a unique vision. Kayomi Harai was born in Osaka, Japan and began drawing at an early age. Since early childhood, she has had a deep interest in animals, especially the big wild cats and domestic cats. As painting gave her great joy, she decided to pursue her career as an artist. Kayomi Harai worked as a commercial art illustrator and a free-lance animal portrait artist in Japan before she moved to California in 1991.

Daniel Coves, 1985 | Abstract Figurative painter

Daniel Gonzalez Coves is a Spanish artist, born in 1985. Last year he had a piece included in the BP Portrait award show in London. His compositions are simple and elegant and his use of a single light source, often dim and directly overhead add an atmosphere of melancholy to what are otherwise very formal images. His brushwork as well is economical, realistic without being needlessly fussy, showily bravura, or painstakingly meticulous. Everything here is direct, realistic and formal. They are traditional but with a modern, almost minimalist aesthetic. He earned a fine arts degree and a masters in artístic production from the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, Valencia. Spain.

Aert de Gelder | Rembrandt’s pupil

Aert de Gelder, Aert also spelled Arent (1645-1727-), the only Dutch artist of the late 17th and early 18th century to paint in the tradition of Rembrandt’s late style.

De Gelder spent his life in Dordrecht, except for a period of time about 1661 when he was Rembrandt’s pupil in Amsterdam.

His biblical paintings-e.g., Scenes from the Passion (c. 1715)-feature warm colour and atmospheric light.

In his portraits-e.g., The Family of Herman Boerhave (c. 1722)-his bold, broad manner of brushwork and surface texture contrasts markedly with the refined techniques and smoothly finished canvases of his contemporaries. | © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Francisco de Goya | La maja, 1820-1823

An unidentified lady wearing delicate transparent clothing and a yellow jacket with black decorations lies on a green velvet divan with cushions and a spread.
There has been a great variety of opinions as to who the sitter is, but her anonymity is maintained in all of the inventories listing this work.

Legend would have it that she was the Duchess of Alba, although she has also been identified as Pepita Tudó, Godoy´s mistress from 1797 on.

Felix Mas, 1935 | Figurative painter

Born in Barcelona, he trained at both the Artes y Oficios and the Escuela Superior de San Jorge, then furthered his artistic education with extensive travels throughout Europe and the United States, eventually returning to his native Barcelona to work. For Mas, painting implies color, emotion and impression.

His works, he says, are “infinite”. His elegantly dressed female figures, whether gazing into the distance or drifting into a daydream, captivate us with their graceful radiance and evocatively strong emotions.

Mas finds inspiration in women amidst the opulent settings of the Asian world, especially Japan and India with their beautiful costumes and landscape, Egypt, ripe with its enigmatic symbols, and ancient Greece and Rome, saturated with their unique elegance and sensuality.

ManoMatic, 1982 | Street Art

Adrián Pérez Vázquez best known as ManoMatic is a Spanish graffiti artist based in Huelva, Spain. Man-O-Matic born in Palos de la Frontera, a cozy Andalusian town on the southwestern coast of Spain.

He started painting at the age of 16, but chose a career in the field of communications due to family pressure – more often than not, the parents prefer their children to have a serious day job.

It begins in the world of graffiti in 2000 developed a style of drawing free illustrated characters of his invention. This artist has changed the perception of people with his hyperrealistic drawings.

At school, he learnt the art of image, sound and graphic design, then worked as a technician for a local TV station. The studies and work couldn’t keep him there, he decided to go back to where his heart belongs.

Venanzo Crocetti | Figurative sculptor

Venanzo Crocetti (1913-2003) was an Italian sculptor. He was born in Giulianova, Abruzzo.

In 1938 Venanzo Crocetti received the Grand Prize in the 19th Venice Biennale. "The Door of the Sacraments" of the St. Peter's Basilica Crocetti finished in 1966.

In 1972 he was nominated as president of the Accademia di San Luca.

Crocetti received the Golden Decoration from the Italian Ministry of Education for his achievement in fine art and culture. Venanzo Crocetti Museum is a foundation in Rome dedicated to the work of the artist.

Édouard Manet | Swallows, 1873

'Swallows' was created in 1873 by French modernist painter Édouard Manet (1832-1883).

The artist’s mother in black and Madame Manet in white have taken their ease on a field behind the dunes, with their billowing skirts and bonnets tied on with veils.

The sun has just been shining, but now the sky is overcast; the artist’s wife has lowered the still opened parasol to her lap, and low flying swallows herald the change in weather.

All this has nothing anecdotal about it, but is merely the expression of the mood of the landscape, which is accentuated on the far horizon in the shape of windmills, the small church and rooftops of the village.

Vincent van Gogh | The Wheat Field series / La serie Campi di grano

The Wheat Field is a series of oil paintings executed by Vincent van Gogh in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. All of them depict the view Van Gogh had from the window of his bedroom on the top floor of the asylum: a field enclosed by stone walls just beneath his window and excluded from normal life by the rear wall of the asylum grounds; beyond this enclosure farm land, accompanied by olive groves and vineyards, ran up to the hills at the foot of the mountain range called Les Alpilles.

From May 1889-1890, Van Gogh recorded this view in changing settings: after a storm, with a reaper in the field, with fresh wheat raising in autumn and with flowers in the spring.

Alberto Sughi | Maestro del Realismo Esistenziale

Alberto Sughi (1928-2012) was born in Cesena. A self-taught painter, by the end of his formative years he had become one of the greatest Italian artists of his generation.

He started painting in the early 1950s, choosing realism in the debate between abstract and figurative art in the immediate post-war period. Even from his early works, however, Sughi’s paintings have avoided any attempt at social moralising.

They depict moments from daily life with no heroes, allowing Enrico Crispolti, in 1956, to define his work as "Existential realism".

His artistic expression proceeds, almost always, in thematic cycles, in the manner of film sequences.

Gino Romiti | Post-Macchiaioli painter

Gino Romiti (1881-1967) was born in Livorno, Italy, in a family of modest economic conditions, this does not prevent him from cultivating his passion for art.

Already at a young age he began to attend School Guglielmo Micheli, like many of his contemporaries Tuscan, where he was undoubtedly influenced by the great teacher inspires Giovanni Fattori.

Among his classmates there were some, as Llewelyn Lloyd, who became the leader of the interesting Post-Macchiaioli, consists of those who, although moving in directions autonomous artistic, always maintained a close relationship with the pictorial tradition of Tuscany.

Leonardo da Vinci | Dello Scultore e del Pittore

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 35

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Lo scultore ha la sua arte di maggior fatica corporale che il pittore, cioè piú meccanica, e di minor fatica mentale, cioè che ha poco discorso rispetto alla pittura, perché esso scultore solo leva, ed il pittore sempre pone; lo scultore sempre leva di una materia medesima, e il pittore sempre pone di varie materie.

Lo scultore solo ricerca i lineamenti che circondano la materia sculta, ed il pittore ricerca i medesimi lineamenti, ed oltre a quelli ricerca ombra e lume, colore e scorto, delle quali cose la natura ne aiuta di continuo lo scultore, cioè con ombra e lume e prospettiva, le quali parti bisogna che il pittore se le acquisti per forza d'ingegno e si converta in essa natura, e lo scultore le trova di continuo fatte.

The Postcard Age | Retrò Pop-art style

Il Retrò (retrospettivo) è uno stile culturale che tende a dar rilievo a ciò che richiama le mode passate ed incentiva all'utilizzo di tutto ciò che attualmente è definito "d'epoca".

Lo stile che ora si chiama "Arte Retrò" è un genere di Pop Art sviluppata fra gli anni quaranta e cinquanta, in risposta al bisogno di una grafica audace ed accattivante, che fosse facile da riprodurre con dei torchi semplici. Ben distinguibile dallo stile moderno computerizzato, l'arte Retrò ha avuto un ritorno di popolarità grazie alle citazioni e parodie delle vecchie opere Pop Art.

Amit Bhar, 1973 | Abstract Watercolor painter

Amit Bhar is a famous Indian watercolor painting artist.

Amit Bhar was born in Hooghly chinsurah (west Bengal). Even as a child his first love was art. At the age of sixteen while at the Calcutta Govt. Art College, Amit was blessed with the guidance of Shri Paresh Das, a noted artist and gold medallist. Subsequently he gained further insights into art under the famous Subal Jana and Niloy Ghosh, who together enriched his style. He was also inspired by Bikash Bhattacharya and Suhas Roy during his initial period.

Andre Kosslick | Romantic Digital painter

German artist Andre Kosslick belongs to the galaxy of contemporary masters of painting. He lives in the city of Schwedt, which is located in Brandenburg, Germany.

Painting is his hobby. On his canvases, mountain peaks pile up, rivers flow rapidly, the sea rages, the wind rustles in the branches of mighty trees. Occasionally, a sad or pensive female silhouette flashes against the background of magnificent nature.

Lyrics and romanticism are inherent in all the paintings of the modern master of landscape painting.

Christian Fagerlund, 1973 | Realist Figurative painter

Christian Fagerlund was born in Ann Arbor, MI. He received his BA from the University of California - Santa Barbara in 1994 and his MFA from the New York Academy of Art in 2004, where he received the NYAA Postgraduate Fellowship.

In 2009, 2010, and 2011 he was artist-in-residence at Eden Rock Gallery on the island of St. Barths, French West Indies. Since 2004 his work has been shown both nationally and internationally in several solo and group exhibitions. He currently shows work with Arcadia Contemporary in Los Angeles and Winfield Gallery in Carmel, California.

Prior to his appointment at UNT, he served as adjunct instructor of Drawing and Painting at University of California - Berkeley Extension, Ohlone College in Fremont, CA, and The School of Classical Realism in Oakland, CA from 2007-2014. During this period he taught courses in: figure drawing/painting, anatomy for artists, still life, perspective, plein air landscape painting, and digital painting.

Serge Marshennikov, 1971 | Realist / Figurative painter

Serge Marshennikov🎨 /Сергей Маршенников is an Russian painter🎨, known for working in the Realist style.

He was awarded🎨 “Chairman’s Choice Award” at the 2008/2009 International Art Renewal Center’s salon, and received Certificate of Excellence for his outstanding achievement in art.

He was chosen as “Top 30” in 2008 by the Portrait Society of America.

Born on May 30, 1971 in Ufa (Bashkiria, USSR), Serge Marshennikov was raised and educated in the USSR.

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

• Serge Marshennikov, 1971 | Figurative painter🎨.
• Serge Marshennikov, 1971 | Figurative painter | VideoArt🎨.

Christine Ellger, 1948 | Surrealist Fine Art Photographer

German fine art photographer Christine Ellger was born in Dresden and took up photography as a hobby 11 years ago.

At first she was just capturing the scenes and objects around her but then she focused on digital editing and photo manipulation.

She says "My life has become interesting and exciting through this hobby.

It makes me perceive the Beauty.

All the time, often unconsciously, I am on the search for motifs".

Barbara J. Wachter | Abstract Figurative painter

Statement

Barbara J. Wachter expresses not only what she sees, but what she senses. That invisible quality takes her art to a level that really connects to the viewer. You can sense the emotion, beauty, even the weather in her paintings. An exciting new addition to her talents, encaustic painting, will also be on exhibit.

Art as defined by Webster is the human ability to make things: Creativity of man as distinguished from the world of nature.

Therefore, artwork being the personal work of the artist is as much invisible as it is apparent to the viewer’s eye, e.g. figurative works show the figure looking somewhere in the distance to those sights unseen.

Leonardo da Vinci | Come la Scultura è di minore ingegno che la Pittura..

Trattato della Pittura

Parte prima | Capitolo 34

Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura | Testo Integrale

Adoperandomi io non meno in scultura che in pittura, ed esercitando l'una e l'altra in un medesimo grado, mi pare con picciola imputazione poterne dare sentenza, quale sia di maggiore ingegno, difficoltà e perfezione l'una che l'altra.

Prima la scultura è sottoposta a certi lumi, cioè di sopra, e la pittura porta per tutto seco e lume e ombra.

E lume e ombra è la importanza adunque della scultura; lo scultore in questo caso è aiutato dalla natura del rilievo, ch'ella genera per sé; e il pittore per accidentale arte lo fa ne' luoghi dove ragionevolmente lo farebbe la natura; lo scultore non si può diversificare nelle varie nature de' colori delle cose; la pittura non manca in parte alcuna.

Ming Feng, 1957 | Impressionist painter

Award winning Artist Ming Feng was born in Guangzhou, China. He was admitted to the Guangzhou municipal Teenage Art School and graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1986.

There, he studied artistic theories and Chinese and Western art philosophy. Before arriving in the United States, Ming achieved prominence as an acclaimed artist in his native China. First, he worked as a stage designer with the Modern Drama Troupe of Guangzhou.

Later, he worked for the Guangzhou Art Design company where he created layouts, advertisement designs, product placards, and book illustrations.

In 1984 he became a member of the prestigious Chinese Artist Association, the nation’s top professional artist organization. His paintings are kept in a permanent collection in the Guangzhou Fine Art Museum.

Barbara Flowers | En plein air /Figurative painter

Barbara Flowers is an international artist who lived most of her life in a small village near the Rhine Valley in Germany. A deep desire to create art began at a young age. Barbara’s parents encouraged her artistic growth with private art lessons and visits to Europe’s museums to see the collections of masterpieces.

She was educated in foreign languages and had a successful career as a foreign language correspondent.

Ultimately, Barbara’s passion to create art became so strong that she closed the door on her career and opened a new door to the world of art. She has never regretted making that decision. Every day Barbara looks forward to creating art that will convey the same sense of beauty to the viewer that inspired the artist.

Eyvind Earle | Conceptual Illustrator

Born in New York in 1916, Eyvind Earle began his prolific career at the age of ten when his father, Ferdinand Earle, gave him a challenging choice: read 50 pages of a book or paint a picture every day. Earle choose both.

From the time of his first one-man showing in France when he was 14, Earle’s fame had grown steadily.

At the age of 21, Earle bicycled across country from Hollywood to New York, paying his way by painting 42 watercolors. In 1937, he opened at the Charles Morgan Galleries, his first of many one-man shows in New York.

Nishant Dange, 1982 | Abstract painter

Born in Nagpur, Maharashtra-India, Nishant Dange earned a BFA at Government Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya, Nagpur, in 2004.

Group Shows - Numerous group shows in India at, among others, the Nehru Centre, Mumbai, and Shridharani Art Gallery, New Delhi, and abroad including Singapore (2012), and Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2011).

Solo Shows - 2005/2010: Four solo shows in Mumbai and Bangalore.

Zdzisław Beksiński | Surreal architecture painter

Zdzisław Beksiński (24 February 1929 - 21 February 2005) was a Polish painter, photographer and sculptor, specializing in the field of dystopian surrealism.

Beksiński did his paintings and drawings in what he called either a 'Baroque' or a 'Gothic' manner. His creations were made mainly in two periods. The first period of work is generally considered to contain expressionistic color, with a strong style of "utopian realism" and surreal architecture, like a doomsday scenario. The second period contained more abstract style, with the main features of formalism.

Bernie Fuchs | Abstract Figurative painter and illustrator

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Bernie Fuchs, 76, Dies; Illustrator Defined Mid-Century Era

By Adam Bernstein © The Washington Post

Bernie Fuchs, 76, an illustrator whose influential work for magazines ranging from Cosmopolitan to Sports Illustrated seamlessly blended qualities of traditional narrative with hints of abstract composition, died of esophageal cancer Sept. 17 at a care facility in Fairfield, Conn. He lived in nearby Westport.

Mr. Fuchs was adept at balancing art and commerce. He met the needs of mass-circulation magazines accustomed to Norman Rockwell-style realism, but he injected a fresh vitality and impressionism that became hugely popular and transformed the illustration field. He even experimented with bold designs based on the abstract expressionism movement popularized by painters Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.