Alina 2018-10-07 14:05:41 painters biographies
French painter Robert Delaunay was one of the first artists to introduce vibrant color into Cubism, trend eventually known as Orphism. An important figure in 20th century art, Delaunay is often overshadowed by his contemporaries such as Picasso, Matisse and Barque. Delaunay and his wife, Sonia Terk Delaunay, worked on a large, impressive abstract mural together for the Paris Exposition in 1937.
Alina 2018-10-06 14:05:28 painters biographies
Jan van Eyck was born circa 1395. In 1425, he was employed under the service of Duke Philip, the Good of Burgundy. In 1432, van Eyck painted "Adoration of the Lamb," the altarpiece for the Church of St. Bavon, Ghent. In 1434, he created another masterpiece, "Arnolfini Wedding." Throughout his career, van Eyck used oil painting in his portraits and panel paintings. He died on July 9, 1441 in Bruges, Netherlands.
Alina 2018-10-05 14:05:14 painters biographies
Painter Thomas Gainsborough, baptized in Sudbury, England, on May 14, 1727, showed an early talent for drawing, which his weaver father encouraged him to pursue. Though famous painters like Hogarth and van Dyck were influences, he favored landscapes, becoming a master of light and brushwork, but when Gainsborough shifted to portraiture for income, his talent attracted the likes of King George III and other nobles, and made him a contender for the position of royal painter. When elected a founding member of the Royal Academy, he moved his studio to London. Perhaps his most famous work is a portrait known as The Blue Boy. Gainsborough died on August 2, 1788, in London.
Thomas Gainsborough was one of nine children born to John Gainsborough, a weaver and woolen merchant, in Sudbury, in Suffolk, England. He was born in the spring of 1727 and christened on May 14. Perhaps due to his mother's penchant for painting flowers and encouraging her son's talent with a pencil, Gainsborough assembled a rather impressive portfolio at a young age. By 10, he had drawn some local village landscapes, and added caricatures and other facial studies.
His father was sufficiently impressed with his work to allow him to go to London, England, where he studied at an academy in St. Martin's Lane under the renowned William Hogarth and other masters known for etching, historical painting and portraiture.
During this time he fell in love with Margaret Burr, the illegitimate daughter of a nobleman, and her dowry allowed him to set up a studio in Ipswich by the time he was 20.
When his landscapes were not selling, Gainsborough turned to portraiture for money. He moved his wife and two daughters to Bath, where there was a more bustling influx of upscale clientele, and set to studying the painter Sir Anthony van Dyck for insight into technique.
His reputation began to grow. Sending his portraits to the Society of Arts exhibitions in London (his Ipswich friend Joshua Kirby was president), especially those of his more prominent sitters, helped attract attention to his work.
Gainsborough's increasing prosperity allowed him to indulge his passion for music. He learned to play the viol di gamba (a fretted string instrument), the harp and the hautboy (oboe), among other instruments, and employed a houseful of international musicians. Perhaps because of his lively nature, the tall, handsome and garrulous Gainsborough enjoyed spending time with theater folk. He painted celebrated actors such as David Garrick and Sarah Siddons, and also lesser known players, gifting his portraits to them, as well as sketches and landscapes.
By 1774, he had become so successful, it was silly not to be in London. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy, and not long after moving his family to the capital, he was summoned to the palace and began portraits of King George III and other nobles. Although the king was obliged to name his rival, Joshua Reynolds, as the official court painter, Gainsborough remained the favorite of the royal family.
Thomas Gainsborough died of cancer on August 2, 1788, at the age of 61. He requested to be buried at St. Anne's Church at Kew, which was the royal family's primary residence and known for its lush and varied landscape. It was a fitting locale, since Gainsborough had returned to his love of landscape painting in his waning years and become known for his simple settings, elegant brushwork and extraordinary use of light.
And yet, Gainsborough's most recognizable painting today is probably a portrait of the son of a wealthy merchant, known simply as The Blue Boy. Legend has it that Gainsborough tried to reconcile with Reynolds, his rival, at his deathbed. The two share a reputation as the most famous portraitists of the latter 18th century. Gainsborough is also known one of the originators of the 18th century British landscape school. A later painter with a similar reputation, John Constable, was a huge fan, saying of Gainsborough's landscapes, "On looking at them, we find tears in our eyes and know not what brings them."
Alina 2018-10-04 14:05:00 painters biographies
Domecino Ghirlandaio's first major commissioned works were the two frescoes of scenes from the life of St. Fina. In 1481–82 Ghirlandaio received an important commission in the Vatican for a fresco, representing the calling of the first Apostles, Peter and Andrew, in the Sistine Chapel. Ghirlandaio is regarded as one of the most eloquent and elegant narrators of 15th-century Florentine society.
Alina 2018-10-03 14:05:00 painters biographies
Giorgione was born circa 1477 in Venice, Italy. In 1490, He became an apprentice to Giovanni Bellini. Circa 1495-1500, Giorgione produced his first two major works: "Trial of Moses" and "Judgment of Solomon." "The Tempest," painted in 1505, is his best-known work. During his brief career, Giorgione was also commissioned to paint half-length portraits. He died of the plague in Venice, Italy, circa 1510.
The High Renaissance style Venetian painter Giorgione was born circa 1477 in the small town of Castelfranco Veneto in the Republic of Venice, Italy. Though little is known of Giorgione's childhood, Italian painter and biographer Giorgio Vasari believed that Giorgione was born into humble circumstances. Giorgione, whose name translates to "Tall George," is also said to have begun showing artistic promise at an early age.
In 1490, Giorgione became an apprentice to master painter Giovanni Bellini. Under Bellini's tutelage, he developed an awareness of lighting, atmosphere, color and mood. During his time in Bellini's studio, Giorgione honed the techniques that he would use to express those qualities in his own paintings.
Fellow painters were not the only influences on Giorgione's work; he was also inspired by many Italian Renaissance writers and philosophers of the time. Giorgione's paintings depict writers Jacopo Sannazzaro and Pietro Bembo's poetic connection with nature, while also expressing the concept of naturalism espoused by humanist philosopher Pietro Pomponazzi.
Circa 1495-1500, Giorgione produced his first two major works, panels depicting the "Trial of Moses" and the "Judgment of Solomon." Although the paintings featured traditional religious subjects, his emphasis on the beautiful landscape background set Giorgione's work apart from other paintings of this genre. Among Giorgione's highly celebrated religious paintings are "The Holy Family" (circa 1500), "Castelfranco Madonna" (circa 1504) and "Adoration of the Shepherds" (1505/1510).
Giorgione's five surviving works include "The Tempest," "The Three Philosophers," "Boy with an Arrow," "Shepherd with a Flute" and "Sleeping Venus."
"The Tempest," painted in 1505, is Giorgione's best-known work. The painting shows figures in the context of a storm ready to break against an idyllic pastoral landscape. Unlike few paintings before it, "The Tempest" requires the viewer to determine the symbolic meaning of the work—a meaning that stemmed from Giorgione's own imagination, rather than traditional interpretations. He also distinguished himself as one of the first painters to paint people in a landscape setting.
During his brief artistic career, Giorgione was also commissioned to paint many half-length portraits, including "The Young Man," "The Laura" and "La Vecchia."
Giorgione died of the plague in Venice, Italy, circa 1510. He was roughly 33 years old at the time. Following Giorgione's death, young painter Titian completed the landscape in Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus."
Giorgione's muted lines, personal interpretation of subjects and emphasis on the beauty of nature went on to influence several successive generations of Venetian artists, including painters Dosso Dossi and Palma Vecchio.
Alina 2018-10-02 14:05:00 painters biographies
John Singleton Copley was born July 3, 1738 in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1766 he exhibited Boy with a Squirrel at the Society of Artists in London. When political and economic conditions in Boston began to deteriorate (Copley's father-in-law was the merchant to whom the tea that provoked the Boston Tea Party was consigned), Copley left the country in June 1774 and established a home in England.
Alina 2018-10-02 14:05:00 painters biographies
Artist R.C. Gorman descended from generations of Navajo craftsmen. After several years in the US Navy, his education, specifically a year at the Mexico City College, that fixed his desire to be an artist. From the 1970s, as his reputation spread throughout the USA and abroad. He is arguably the first Native American artist to be internationally recognized as a major American artist.
Artist R.C. Gorman was born in Chinle, Arizona, on July 26, 1931. Descended from generations of Navajo craftsmen, holy men, and tribal leaders, he was encouraged by a teacher at a mission school to develop his talent for art. After several years in the US Navy, he attended Arizona State College (now Northern Arizona University), but it was a visit to Mexico (1958) and then a year at the Mexico City College (now University of the Americas) that fixed his desire to be an artist.
After spending several years in San Francisco developing as a painter, he moved to Taos, NM. In 1965 he received a one-man exhibition in the Manchester Gallery there, and by 1968 his work was enjoying enough success that he bought the gallery, changed its name to Navajo Gallery, and began to exhibit and sell his own and other artists' work. The gallery was the first in the United States to be owned by a Native American. It remained for many years as his residence, studio, and gallery, where he was often present to deal personally with the growing numbers of other artists and the public who came by. From the 1970s, as his reputation spread throughout the USA and abroad, he moved on from working with oil, acrylic, and pastel to lithographs, ceramics, and occasional sculptures. Although he usually drew on SW Native American themes, he transformed them by his art into more universally significant, and aesthetic, subjects.
Reputed to be a genial, accessible man, known to be interested in food and cooking, and someone at home in the worlds of both his ancestors and international museums and academies, he is arguably the first Native American to be internationally recognized as a major American artist. Gorman died November 4, 2005, at a hospital in Albuquerque.
Alina 2018-09-30 14:05:00 painters biographies
Born in Paris, France, in 1796, Camille Corot's prosperous family gave him the money he needed to pursue his passion for painting. Though it took some time before Corot was a success, by the 1850s his work was extremely popular. He is known for his landscape paintings and an artistic style that inspired many Impressionists. Corot painted more than 3,000 pictures during his career. He died in Paris in 1875.
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot was born into a well-to-do family on July 16 (some sources say July 17), 1796, in Paris, France. His Swiss-born mother ran a fashionable milliner's shop and his father worked as a draper, or textile merchant. Corot tried to apprentice as a draper, but failed in the endeavor. By the time he was 26, his parents had given him an allowance that would permit him to pursue his passion for painting.
Corot first had lessons with Achille-Etna Michallon, then became a student of Jean-Victor Bertin. Both Michallon and Bertin had studied with landscape painter Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, and Corot began to paint landscapes as well.
From 1825 to 1828, Corot lived in Italy and honed his artistic skills. These influential years saw him painting the city of Rome and its countryside, as well as Naples and Ischia. It was a happy time for Corot, during which he declared to a friend, "All I really want to do in life ... is to paint landscapes. This firm resolve will stop me forming any serious attachments. That is to say, I shall not get married."
In 1827, Camille Corot's "The Bridge at Narni" was displayed at the Paris Salon (a prestigious art exhibition). Corot continued to send paintings to the Salon and was awarded a Salon medal at the age of 37. He became a regular exhibitor in the 1830s, with paintings such as "Hagar in the Wilderness" (Salon of 1835).
Corot returned to Italy in 1834, where he sketched and painted places such as Florence, Pisa, Genoa and Venice. He would continue to travel throughout his life, visiting Avignon and the south of France as well as Switzerland and other European locations.
On trips abroad and while in France, Corot worked outdoors during the warmer months, trying to capture views and landscapes. These sketches were not meant to be displayed or sold—the larger pictures Corot intended to exhibit were produced inside his studio.
Though he received some critical praise, only a few of Corot's paintings sold in the 1830s. In 1840, the state purchased one of his works, "The Little Shepherd." Corot's artistic achievements were further acknowledged in 1846 when he was made a member of the Legion of Honor (an order of merit that was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802).
In the 1850s, Corot began to paint in a softer style, using a restricted palette of colors. Collectors and dealers were scrambling to buy his work as the 1850s progressed. Six of his pieces were seen at the Exposition Universelle of 1855, where Corot won a gold medal and sold a painting to Emperor Napoleon III.
Corot also created paintings that focused more on emotion and atmosphere. He described them as "souvenirs," as they were based on memories of places he had visited.
Corot was in close contact with and influenced by painters of the realistic Barbizon school, such as Jean-François Millet, Théodore Rousseau and Charles-François Daubigny. Corot's landscapes and plein air sketches also served to inspire Impressionist painters. Corot even taught some Impressionists, such as Camille Pissaro.
Devoted to painting, Corot continued to work throughout his life, producing more than 3,000 pictures during his career. In the 1860s, he also experimented with photography and printmaking, and used a technique called cliché-verre to combine the two. Corot died in Paris on February 22, 1875, at the age of 78.
