William-Adolphe Bouguereau | The Mimosa Flower, 1899

In February 1899, the French🎨 painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)🎨 and his wife travelled with their son Paul to Menton, a small town on the French Riviera.

The journey was on the advice of Paul's doctors, who hoped the sea air would improve his recently diagnosed tuberculosis.

Paul (then 30) left behind his law practice, and Bouguereau put his painting aside as they settled into the elegant Hôtel des Îles Britanniques.

Though initially planned to last a month, the trip was extended week by week, and Bouguereau grew anxious to paint, writing to a friend "I finally found a room on the north side of the hotel and a few little models, and set to work" (as quoted from a letter dated March 1, 1899 in Bartoli, p. 394).

The artist went on to complete a series of six compositions including the first, Mimosa, and le Citron (sold in these rooms, November 04, 2011, lot 47, illustrated), which feature a young model holding one of the region's vibrant botanicals.

In the present work, the mimosa's distinctive fern-like stalk is lightly grasped in the girl's fingers, suggesting her mindfulness of the delicate blossoms, their sunny, yellow color complimented by the glinting gold of her small hoop earrings and blond hair.

The mimosa plant was brought to Europe from the southern hemisphere, and continued to bloom in January and February, its cheerful color and lovely scent a welcome respite from winter and a promise of the joys of spring; in the present work it is a poignant symbol for the artist tending to his ailing son. | © Sotheby's

Nel febbraio del 1899, William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905)🎨 e sua moglie viaggiarono con il loro figlio Paul a Mentone, una piccola città della Costa Azzurra. Il viaggio era su consiglio dei medici di Paul, che speravano che l'aria di mare avrebbe migliorato la sua tubercolosi diagnosticata di recente.

Paul (allora 30) lasciò il suo studio legale, e Bouguereau mise da parte il dipinto mentre si sistemavano nell'elegante Hôtel des Îles Britanniques (Damien Bartoli con Frederick Ross, William Bouguereau, La sua vita e il lavoro, New York, 2010, p. 394).

Anche se inizialmente era programmato per durare un mese, il viaggio è stato esteso di settimana in settimana, e Bouguereau è diventato ansioso di dipingere, scrivendo ad un amico:

"Ho finalmente trovato una stanza sul lato nord dell'hotel e con alcuni piccoli modelli, e mi sono messo al lavoro".

L'artista ha continuato a completare una serie di sei composizioni tra cui la prima, Mimosa e le Citron, che presenta una giovane modella che tiene in mano uno dei vivaci botanici della regione.

Nel presente lavoro, il caratteristico gambo simile ad una felce è leggermente afferrato nelle dita della ragazza, suggerendo la sua consapevolezza dei delicati fiori, il loro colore giallo solare, complimentato dall'oro scintillante dei suoi piccoli orecchini a cerchio e capelli biondi.

La pianta della mimosa fu portata in Europa dall'emisfero australe, e continuò a fiorire in gennaio e febbraio, il suo colore allegro ed il profumo delizioso di una piacevole tregua dall'inverno e la promessa delle gioie della primavera; nel presente lavoro è un simbolo commovente per l'artista che tende al figlio malato. | © Sotheby's

Otto Mueller | Expressionist painter

Otto Müeller (born 1874, Liebau, Ger. - died Sept. 24, 1930, Breslau, Ger.), German painter🎨 and printmaker who became a member of the Expressionist movement.

He is especially known for his characteristic paintings of gypsy women.

When, in 1910, he joined Die Brücke, a Dresden-based group of Expressionist artists, his work still displayed the early influence of the curvilinear art of Jugendstil, the German Art Nouveau movement.

But his radically elongated figures reveal his affinity for the work of the Expressionist sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck.

He taught at the Breslau Academy from 1919 until his death. Like the work of many other modern German artists, his was declared “decadent” when the Nazis gained power in Germany in 1933. | © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Gerard Di-Maccio, 1938 | Visionary painter

Gérard Di-Maccio was born in Algeria to an Italian father and a Spanish mother. Di-Maccio is student at several of the most famous art academies in Paris: Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Académie Julian, Ecole des Beaux-arts.

In parallel, Di-Maccio starts teachers training, and in 1966 he presents a thesis entitled "Morpho psychology".

The artist participates in an important number of group exhibitions, in Paris and surroundings, also Brussels and Osaka.

In 1985, Gérard Di-Maccio a personel exhibition in Paris, Gallert RÂ, Art fair Stockholm Sweden, King Gustav of Sweden is touched by his art.

Johanna Harmon, 1968 | Figurative painter

Johanna Harmon was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but spent most of her childhood in Tempe, Arizona.

Johanna began designing and recording visual observations at the age of seven, but it wasn’t until almost two decades later that she was introduced to the traditional language of art at the Scottsdale Artists’ School in Arizona, the Fechin Art Institute in Taos, New Mexico, and the Art Students League of Denver in Colorado.

There, she studied painting alongside prominent figure artists with varied artistic philosophies and approaches such as Carolyn Anderson, John Asaro, Mark Daily, Daniel Gerhartz OPAM🎨, Quang Ho OPAM🎨 and C.W. Mundy OPAM🎨.

Following her 2014 OPA award🎨, she expanded her understanding further by studying contemporary realism with Daniel Sprick, and abstract realism with David A. Leffel OPAM and Sherrie McGraw OPAM.

William Schneider, 1945 | Figurative painter

William A. Schneider is a full time professional American painter working in oil and pastel.

He views figures, landscape or still life as opportunities to explore the effects of light on form.

Painting from life, he seeks to capture the emotion of a particular moment and place.

Sargent, Zorn, Repin, Fechin and Sorolla have been influences.

Andrew Atroshenko, 1965 | Romantic impressionist painter

Andrew Atroshenko /Андрей Атрошенко, Russian painter*, was born in the city of Pokrovsk, Russia. Accepted as a gifted child in 1977 into the Children’s Art School, Andrew graduated with honors in 1981. Two years later, Andrew entered Bryansk Art College, and in 1991 was accepted at one of the most prestigious art schools in the world, the St. Petersburg Academy of Art.

In 1994, Andrew began taking part in exhibitions such as St. Petersburg Artists in Reutlingen, Germany, the exhibition of a group “Academy” in St. Petersburg 1996, and “Teacher’s memory” 1997.

David Hettinger, 1946 | Impressionist painter

Award winning painter David Hettinger began drawing around the age of 8. His subjects were T.V. and movie cowboys.

At age 13 he was given a set of oil paints by Mike Spencer, a local artist who ran the barber shop across from St. Joe's School where Hettinger was a student.

Formal art training began at the American Academy of Art in Chicago under Joseph vanden Brouck.

Under Mr. Van, as he was called, Hettinger learned classical realism and the techniques of the Flemish, Dutch and Spanish Masters.

Charles Partridge Adams (1858-1942) Landscape painter

Charles Partridge Adams (January 12, 1858 - October 14, 1942) was a largely self-taught American🎨 landscape artist who painted primarily in Colorado, and secondarily in California. Some paintings were also made in other Rocky Mountain states, the Pacific Northwest and Canada, and a few in Louisiana, the East Coast and Europe.

Adams was born in Franklin, Massachusetts; his family moved to Denver in 1876. In 1877 he began work in the Chain and Hardy bookstore in Denver, and received lessons from Helen Henderson Chain, an artist who had studied with George Inness🎨.

In 1885 he traveled to the East Coast and visited the studios of George Inness and Worthington Whittredge, and in 1888 he traveled to California and visited the studios of William Keith and Thomas Hill.

He traveled to Louisiana in 1890, and to Europe in the summer of 1914. He spent the winter of 1916 in California, and moved to Los Angeles in 1920, and built a second home in Laguna Beach in 1926. He died in Los Angeles.

• Art

Adams is known for his views of snowy mountain peaks in early morning or sunset light, or wreathed in storm clouds, and for his luminous sunset and twilight paintings of the river bottoms near Denver.

Most of Adams paintings are enhanced by the use of stronger colors than one would find in a photograph. The evening shadows are bluer, the spring grass is greener, the sunsets more strikingly yellow or orange.

He sometimes used very small areas of intense blue and red to enliven a dark shadowed area such as the heart of a clump of willows or the dark base of an aspen tree. He also made the mountains look about twice as tall as they actually look, as if seen through a telephoto lens.

Some of his earlier paintings include animals or human figures, but later paintings do not include them.

Roughly half of Adams paintings are oils and half are watercolors, which he began painting in the early 1890s. Over 950 paintings have been documented.

Charles Partridge Adams (12 gennaio 1858 - 14 ottobre 1942) era un artista paesaggista Americano🎨, in gran parte autodidatta che dipingeva principalmente in Colorado, e secondariamente in California. Alcuni dipinti sono stati realizzati anche in altri stati delle Montagne Rocciose, nel Pacifico nord-occidentale e in Canada, ed in alcuni in Louisiana, nella costa orientale e in Europa.

Adams è nato a Franklin, nel Massachusetts; la sua famiglia si trasferì a Denver nel 1876.

Nel 1877 iniziò a lavorare nel negozio di Chain and Hardy a Denver e ricevette lezioni da Helen Henderson Chain, un'artista che aveva studiato con George Inness🎨.

Nel 1885 viaggiò sulla costa orientale e visitò gli studi di George Inness e Worthington Whittredge, e nel 1888 viaggiò in California dove visitò gli studi di William Keith e Thomas Hill.

Viaggiò in Louisiana nel 1890 e in Europa nell'estate del 1914.

Trascorse l'inverno del 1916 in California, si trasferì a Los Angeles nel 1920 e costruì una seconda casa a Laguna Beach. nel 1926. Morì a Los Angeles.

• Arte

Adams è noto per le sue vedute sulle cime innevate delle montagne al mattino presto o sulla luce del tramonto, o avvolto da nuvole tempestose, e per il suo luminoso tramonto e le pitture del tramonto sui fondali del fiume vicino a Denver.

La maggior parte dei dipinti di Adams è arricchita dall'uso di colori più forti di quelli che si trovano in una fotografia. Le ombre della sera sono più blu, l'erba primaverile è più verde, i tramonti più sorprendentemente gialli o arancioni.

A volte utilizzava aree minuscole di blu intenso e rosso per animare un'area scura ombreggiata come il cuore di un ciuffo di salici o la base scura di un albero di pioppo tremulo.

Ha anche fatto sembrare le montagne alte circa il doppio di quanto effettivamente sembrano, come se fossero viste attraverso un teleobiettivo.

Alcuni dei suoi primi dipinti includono animali o figure umane, ma i dipinti successivi non li includono.

Circa la metà dei dipinti di Adams sono oli e metà acquerelli, che ha iniziato a dipingere nei primi anni del 1890.