Alina 2018-08-29 14:05:00 painters biographies
Sol Lewitt was an American artist born on September 9, 1928, in Hartford, Connecticut. He made his first prints while in college in the late '40s. Lewitt then moved to New York City in 1953 to study at the Cartoonists and Illustrators School (currently the School of Visual Arts) and worked for Seventeen Magazine. He progressed to a job at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Lewitt helped to launch Conceptual Art and Minimalism of the Post-War era. He used basic shapes and colors to create drawings and structures. From the '60s through the '90s prominent museums displayed his collections. Lewitt died on April 8, 2007, in New York City.
Alina 2018-08-28 14:05:00 painters biographies
American artist Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City on October 27, 1923, and grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side. In the 1960s, Lichtenstein became a leading figure of the new Pop Art movement. Inspired by advertisements and comic strips, Lichtenstein's bright, graphic works parodied American popular culture and the art world itself. He died in New York City on September 29, 1997.
Roy Fox Lichtenstein was born on October 27, 1923, in New York City, the son of Milton Lichtenstein, a successful real estate developer, and Beatrice Werner Lichtenstein. As a boy growing up on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Lichtenstein had a passion for both science and comic books. In his teens, he became interested in art. He took watercolor classes at Parsons School of Design in 1937, and he took classes at the Art Students League in 1940, studying with American realist painter Reginald Marsh.
Following his graduation from the Franklin School for Boys in Manhattan in 1940, Lichtenstein attended The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. His college studies were interrupted in 1943, when he was drafted and sent to Europe for World War II.
After his wartime service, Lichtenstein returned to Ohio State in 1946 to finish his undergraduate degree and master's degree—both in fine arts. He briefly taught at Ohio State before moving to Cleveland and working as a window-display designer for a department store, an industrial designer and a commercial-art instructor.
In the late 1940s, Lichtenstein exhibited his art in galleries nationwide, including in Cleveland and New York City. In the 1950s, he often took his artistic subjects from mythology and from American history and folklore, and he painted those subjects in styles that paid homage to earlier art, from the 18th century through modernism.
Lichtenstein began experimenting with different subjects and methods in the early 1960s, while he was teaching at Rutgers University. His newer work was both a commentary on American popular culture and a reaction to the recent success of Abstract Expressionist painting by artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning. Instead of painting abstract, often subject-less canvases as Pollock and others had had done, Lichtenstein took his imagery directly from comic books and advertising. Rather than emphasize his painting process and his own inner, emotional life in his art, he mimicked his borrowed sources right down to an impersonal-looking stencil process that imitated the mechanical printing used for commercial art.
Lichtenstein's best-known work from this period is "Whaam!," which he painted in 1963, using a comic book panel from a 1962 issue of DC Comics' All-American Men of War as his inspiration. Other works of the 1960s featured cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and advertisements for food and household products. He created a large-scale mural of a laughing young woman (adapted from an image in a comic book) for the New York State Pavilion of the 1964 World's Fair in New York City.
Lichtenstein became known for his deadpan humor and his slyly subversive way of building a signature body of work from mass-reproduced images. By the mid-1960s, he was nationally known and recognized as a leader in the Pop Art movement that also included Andy Warhol, James Rosenquist and Claes Oldenburg. His art became increasingly popular with both collectors and influential art dealers like Leo Castelli, who showed Lichtenstein's work at his gallery for 30 years. Like much Pop Art, it provoked debate over ideas of originality, consumerism and the fine line between fine art and entertainment.
By the late 1960s, Lichtenstein had stopped using comic book sources. In the 1970s his focus turned to creating paintings that referred to the art of early 20th century masters like Picasso, Henri Matisse, Fernand Léger and Salvador Dalí. In the 1980s and '90s, he also painted representations of modern house interiors, brushstrokes and mirror reflections, all in his trademark, cartoon-like style. He also began working in sculpture.
In the 1980s, Lichtenstein received several major large-scale commissions, including a 25-foot-high sculpture titled "Brushstrokes in Flight" for the Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio and a five-story-tall mural for the lobby of the Equitable Tower in New York.
Lichtenstein was committed to his art until the end of his life, often spending at least 10 hours a day in his studio. His work was acquired by major museum collections around the world, and he received numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the National Medal of Arts in 1995.
Lichtenstein married twice. He and his first wife, Isabel, whom he married in 1949 and divorced in 1967, had two sons, David and Mitchell. He married Dorothy Herzka in 1968.
Lichtenstein died of complications from pneumonia on September 29, 1997, at the New York University Medical Center in Manhattan.
Alina 2018-08-27 14:05:00 painters biographies
Filippino Lippi was born around 1457 in the Republic of Florence. He studied under his father, Fra Filippo Lippi, and Botticelli. His apprenticeship ended in 1473. He worked with other painters on the frescoes at Lorenzo de' Medici's villa. Around 1483 he worked on frescoes at the Brancacci Chapel. His most famous work is the altarpiece “The Vision of St. Bernard.” He died in 1504.
Alina 2018-08-26 14:05:00 painters biographies
Fra Filippo Lippi was born in Florence, Italy in 1406. He became a monk in 1421 and he, along with Masaccio, painted the Brancacci Chapel with frescoes. His work Madonna and Child and Annunciation have been noted for their mature, warm and narrative style. In 1456, he fled the convent with a nun, Lucrezia Buti. They married and Lippi returned to painting frescoes in Prato.
Alina 2018-08-25 14:05:00 painters biographies
Aristide Maillol was born on December 8, 1861 in Southern France. After an education at the École des Beaux-Arts, Maillol became a tapestry artist and sculptor. He is best known for his large scale female nudes and his work was heavily influenced by Paul Gauguin. Maillol died at the age of 83 in an automobile accident in 1944. A large collection of his work is held at the Musée Maillol in Paris.
Alina 2018-08-24 14:05:37 painters biographies
Born into a bourgeoisie household in Paris, France, in 1832, Edouard Manet was fascinated by painting at a young age. His parents disapproved of his interest, but he eventually went to art school and studied the old masters in Europe. Manet's most famous works include "The Luncheon on the Grass and Olympia." Manet led the French transition from realism to impressionism. By the time of his death, in 1883, he was a respected revolutionary artist.
Impressionist painter Edouard Manet fell dramatically short in meeting his parents' expectations. Born in Paris on January 23, 1832, he was the son of Auguste Manet, a high-ranking judge, and Eugénie-Desirée Fournier, the daughter of a diplomat and the goddaughter of the Swedish crown prince. Affluent and well connected, the couple hoped their son would choose a respectable career, preferably law. Edouard refused. He wanted to create art.
Manet's uncle, Edmond Fournier, supported his early interests and arranged frequent trips for him to the Louvre. His father, ever fearful that his family's prestige would be tarnished, continued to present Manet with more "appropriate" options. In 1848, Manet boarded a Navy vessel headed for Brazil; his father hoped he might take to a seafaring life. Manet returned in 1849 and promptly failed his naval examinations. He repeatedly failed over the course of a decade, so his parents finally gave in and supported his dream of attending art school.
At age 18, Manet began studying under Thomas Couture, learning the basics of drawing and painting. For several years, Manet would steal away to the Louvre and sit for hours copying the works of the old masters. From 1853 to 1856, he traveled through Italy, Germany and Holland to take in the brilliance of several admired painters, notably Frans Hals, Diego Velázquez and Francisco José de Goya.
After six years as a student, Manet finally opened his own studio. His painting "The Absinthe Drinker" is a fine example of his early attempts at realism, the most popular style of that day. Despite his success with realism, Manet began to entertain a looser, more impressionistic style. Using broad brushstrokes, he chose as his subjects everyday people engaged in everyday tasks. His canvases were populated by singers, street people, gypsies and beggars. This unconventional focus combined with a mature knowledge of the old masters startled some and impressed others.
For his painting "Concert in the Tuileries Gardens," sometimes called "Music in the Tuileries," Manet set up his easel in the open air and stood for hours while he composed a fashionable crowd of city dwellers. When he showed the painting, some thought it was unfinished, while others understood what he was trying to convey. Perhaps his most famous painting is "The Luncheon on the Grass," which he completed and exhibited in 1863. The scene of two young men dressed and sitting alongside a female nude alarmed several of the jury members making selections for the annual Paris Salon, the official exhibit hosted by the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Due to its perceived indecency, they refused to show it. Manet was not alone, though, as more than 4,000 paintings were denied entry that year. In response, Napoleon III established the Salon des Refusés to exhibit some of those rejected works, including Manet’s submission.
During this time, Manet married a Dutch woman named Suzanne Leenhoff. She had been Manet’s piano tutor when he was a child, and some believe, for a time, also Manet’s father’s mistress. By the time she and Manet officially married, they had been involved for nearly 10 years and had an infant son named Leon Keoella Leenhoff. The boy posed for his father for the 1861 painting "Boy Carrying a Sword" and as a minor subject in "The Balcony." Suzanne was the model for several paintings, including "The Reading."
Trying once again to gain acceptance into the salon, Manet submitted “Olympia” in 1865. This striking portrait, inspired by Titian’s “Venus of Urbino,” shows a lounging nude beauty who unabashedly stares at her viewers. The salon jury members were not impressed. They deemed it scandalous, as did the general public. Manet’s contemporaries, on the other hand, began to think of him a hero, someone willing to break the mold. In hindsight, he was ringing in a new style and leading the transition from realism to impressionism. Within 42 years, “Olympia” would be installed in Louvre.
After Manet’s unsuccessful attempt in 1865, he traveled to Spain, during which time he painted "The Spanish Singer." In 1866, he met and befriended the novelist Emile Zola, who in 1867 wrote a glowing article about Manet in the French paper Figaro. He pointed out how almost all significant artists start by offending the current public’s sensibilities. This review impressed the art critic Louis-Edmond Duranty, who began to support him as well. Painters like Cezanne, Gauguin, Degas and Monet became his friends.
Some of Manet’s best-loved works are his cafe scenes. His completed paintings were often based on small sketches he made while out socializing. These works, including "At the Cafe," "The Beer Drinkers" and "The Cafe Concert," among others, depict 19th-century Paris. Unlike conventional painters of his time, he strove to illuminate the rituals of both common and bourgeoisie French people. His subjects are reading, waiting for friends, drinking and working. In stark contrast to his cafe scenes, Manet also painted the tragedies and triumphs of war. In 1870, he served as a soldier during the Franco-German War and observed the destruction of Paris. His studio was partially destroyed during the siege of Paris, but to his delight, an art dealer named Paul Durand-Ruel bought everything he could salvage from the wreckage for 50,000 francs.
In 1874, Manet was invited to show at the very first exhibit put on by impressionist artists. However supportive he was of the general movement, he turned them down, as well as seven other invitations. He felt it was necessary to remain devoted to the salon and its place in the art world. Like many of his paintings, Edouard Manet was a contradiction, both bourgeoisie and common, conventional and radical. A year after the first impressionist exhibit, he was offered the opportunity to draw illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe’s book-length French edition of "The Raven." In 1881, the French government awarded him the Légion d’honneur.
He died two years later in Paris, on April 30, 1883. Besides 420 paintings, he left behind a reputation that would forever define him as a bold and influential artist.
Alina 2018-08-23 14:05:14 painters biographies
Born on November 4, 1946 in Queens, New York, Robert Mapplethorpe is widely recognized as a giant of late 20th century photography. During the late 1960s and early '70s, he was an intimate companion of fellow artist Patti Smith before becoming a starkly controversial photographer who was highly sought after for his portraiture by luminaries. His depiction of frank, homosexual eroticism continues to incite debate and raise questions about artistic censorship. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1989.
Robert Mapplethorpe was born on November 4, 1946 in the Floral Park section of Queens, New York. Always an artistic soul, he was the third of six children in a Catholic family and showed an early interest in craft and illustration. Mapplethorpe had a stern, disciplinarian father who expected his son to study commercial art. While attending the Pratt Institute in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, the young Mapplethorpe briefly joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) for the U.S. Armed Forces and pledged the Pershing Rifles fraternity in his freshman year.
Mapplethorpe met and befriended fellow artist Patti Smith in 1967 when she came to New York City looking friends she had known in high school. The two were deeply drawn to each other and soon got their own Brooklyn apartment, subsisting on meager resources while supporting each other’s art and becoming intimately involved. In 1970, they moved to Manhattan’s Chelsea Hotel. Mapplethorpe eventually photographed the image of Smith that would be used for the cover of her groundbreaking debut album Horses (1975). The print is now part of the Tate Modern's collection in London. Their friendship would endure even as their careers took them in different directions.
Having his first solo exhibition in 1973, the highly ambitious Mapplethorpe initially worked with collage/mixed media and Polaroids. He was ultimately able to establish himself as a visual artist with solid connections, becoming a photographer for Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine. In 1972, he entered into a romantic relationship and then friendship with millionaire Sam Wagstaff, who was Mapplethorpe’s patron as well as an avid arts collector.
While much of Mapplethorpe’s work was considered erotically explicit and unconventional to some viewers, he also became renowned for a classic sensibility in his choices regarding light, shadow and shape in black and white. He regularly photographed denizens of his native city’s underground gay S&M scene, which were featured in his 1977 exhibition at the Chelsea alternative art space the Kitchen. Meanwhile, he was also becoming a sought after portrait photographer for cultural luminaries such as Carolina Herrera, Susan Sarandon, William S. Burroughs, Iggy Pop, Truman Capote and Grace Jones, among others. Mapplethorpe was known for his timeless athletic nudes as well.
Having shot pumping-iron icon Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1976, Mapplethorpe later regularly photographed female bodybuilding champ Lisa Lyon, and subsequently produced the book Lady, Lisa Lyon (1983). In 1988, Mapplethorpe published Black Book, a collection of photos capturing the nude bodies of black men in various poses. This series of photographs has continued to spark debate about its depictions decades later. Mapplethorpe also created self-portraits over the years, playing with ideas around masculinity and femininity as well as capturing the change in his appearance as his health declined.
Mapplethorpe was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, going public with his status to encourage dialogue about fighting the disease. Still, his creative output during this time continued to flow and reached new heights. The Whitney Museum held a major retrospective of his work in 1988. The artist established The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation that same year to support creative endeavors and provide money for HIV/AIDS research.
Robert Mapplethorpe died on March 9, 1989 in Boston, Massachusetts. In posthumous showings, Mapplethorpe’s work has continued to court opposition—examples include exhibitions mounted by the Whitney, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati. In 2014, the Musée Rodin in Paris hosted the largest ever Mapplethorpe retrospective with an exhibition that juxtaposed his work with that of sculptor Auguste Rodin.
In 2015, Smith announced that she is adapting her memoir about her time with Mapplethorpe—Just Kids (2010), which won the National Book Award—into a Showtime limited series.
Alina 2018-08-22 14:05:00 painters biographies
John Marin was born December 23, 1870 in Rutherford, New Jersey. In 1905 he went to Europe. He remained largely unaware of the new movements in European art until 1910, when he returned to New York. There he became familiar with Cubism and German Expressionism. Influenced by those movements, his own style matured into a personal form of expressionism shown in such works as Maine Islands (1922).
