Jack Vettriano | Tales of Love and other Stories

Jack Vettriano, OBE (1951-2025) was a Scottish painter.

Critics hate him.

Celebrities collect him.

The public buy his posters in their millions: Jack Vettriano reveals the dark side that has made him our most controversial artist.

Dalai Lama: "L’amore totale si fonda non sull’attaccamento, ma sull’altruismo.."

• "To remain indifferent to the challenges we face is indefensible".

• "Rimanere indifferenti alle sfide che dobbiamo affrontare è indifendibile"!

• "If the goal is noble, whether or not it is realized within our lifetime is largely irrelevant".

• "Se l'obiettivo è nobile, il fatto che venga realizzato o meno durante la nostra vita è in gran parte irrilevante".

• "What we must do therefore is to strive and persevere and never give up".

• "È importante rendersi conto abbastanza presto che la vita umana non è una questione semplice. Per viverla bene e non scoraggiarsi quando sorgono problemi è indispensabile acquisire una forza interiore".

Steve Hanks

Erwin Blumenfeld | Fashion / Surrealist photographer

Erwin Blumenfeld (26 January 1897 - 4 July 1969) was one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century.

An experimenter and innovator, he produced an extensive body of work including drawings, collages, portraits, celebrity portraiture, advertising campaigns and his renowned fashion photography both in black and white and color.

He was born in Berlin, and in 1941 emigrated to the United States, where he soon became a successful and well-paid fashion photographer, working as a free-lancer for Harper's Bazaar, Life and American Vogue.

Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553)

Il pittore ed incisore Tedesco rinascimentale Lucas Cranach detto il Vecchio iniziò la sua carriera con un apprendistato presso la bottega del padre incisore, con il quale collaborò fino al 1498.

Tra il 1501-1504 viaggiò lungo la valle del Danubio fino a Vienna, dove frequentò gli ambienti umanisti. In quegli anni dipinse delle tavole di ispirazione religiosa (San Girolamo 1502, Crocifissione 1503, Riposo durante la fuga in Egitto 1504) ed il ritratto di un umanista viennese, il dottor Cuspinian e sua moglie, nel 1504.

Aristide Maillol | Art Nouveau / Nabi painter /sculptor

Maillol (1861-1944) began his career as a painter and tapestry designer, but after c. 1900 devoted himself to three-dimensional work, becoming one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century.

He concentrated almost exclusively on the female figure in the round, consciously wishing to strip form of all literary associations and architectural context.

Although inspired by the Classical tradition of Greek and Roman sculpture, his figures have all the elemental sensuousness and dignity associated with the Mediterranean peasant.

Pablo Picasso | The figures

Pablo Picasso [1881-1973] was born in Málaga, Spain. The son of an academic painter, José Ruiz Blasco, he began to draw at an early age. In 1895 the family moved to Barcelona, and Picasso studied there at La Lonja, the academy of fine arts.

His visit to Horta de Ebro from 1898-1899 and his association with the group at the café Els Quatre Gats in about 1899 were crucial to his early artistic development. Picasso’s first exhibition took place in Barcelona in 1900, and that fall he went to Paris for the first of several stays during the early years of the century.

Picasso settled in Paris in April 1904, and his circle of friends soon included Guillaume Apollinaire, Max Jacob, Gertrude and Leo Stein, as well as two dealers, Ambroise Vollard and Berthe Weill.

Vadim Stein, 1967 | Fashion photographer

Вадим Штейн is talented Ukrainian photo art creator based in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Stein was born in Kiev, Ukraine, where he got an education in the sphere of sculpture and restoration.

From 1985-1992 he worked in the Theater of Plastic Drama - as an actor and a lighting designer.

After leaving the theater he got keen on decorative sculpture and graphics.

John Jude Palencar, 1957 | Fantasy illustrator

John Jude Palencar is an American fantasy, science fiction, and horror artist. Over 100 book covers have been adorned by his art, including all four covers of the Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini. He graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 1980.

Work

Palencar has exhibited in numerous group shows in galleries, colleges and universities throughout the United States. Demand for his work extends into Europe and the Pacific rim through sales of his original paintings, second-rights usages and commissions.

He was a featured artist for IDEA Magazine in Japan. Many private and corporate collections throughout the United States and Europe include his paintings.

Palencar has created covers for several novels by Stephen King, who also holds Palencar's work in his private collection.

Sharon Sprung, 1953 | Figurative painter

Sharon Sprung is a Brooklyn based award-winning artist who studied at Cornell, The Art Students League in New York and the National Academy of Design.

Apart from her creative practice, Sprung also teaches painting and drawing at National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts and The Art Students League.

Her work has won numerous awards and is featured in prominent public collections, including the United States House of Representatives, Bell Laboratories, ATandT, Princeton University, Sherman and Sterling and the Chase Manhattan Bank.