Skip to main content

Public Posts

Paul Gauguin or Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) was one of the most influential Post-Impressionist artists. Gauguin's experimental use of color and stark contrasts spearheaded the Synthetism movement, which regarded form and color as equally important. Most of his paintings depict people or landscapes from French Polynesia since he spent many years in that region in search of inspiration. His artistic experiments influenced many avant-garde movements in the early 20th century as well as modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. More

Berthe Morisot - Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (1841 – 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. Morisot was married to Eugène Manet, the brother of her friend and colleague Édouard Manet. She was described by art critic Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of "les trois grandes dames" (The three great ladies) of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.

Martin Johnson Heade (1819 – 1904) was an American painter known for his salt marsh landscapes, seascapes, and depictions of tropical birds (such as hummingbirds), as well as lotus blossoms and other still lifes. 
Heade was not a widely known artist during his lifetime, but his work attracted the notice of scholars, art historians, and collectors during the 1940s and  quickly became recognized as a major American artist.. Heade's works are now in major museums and collections. His paintings are occasionally discovered in unlikely places such as garage sales and flea markets.

James Madison Alden (1834 - 1922). Born in Boxborough, MA, he was the great great great grandson of the John Alden who had journeyed across the Atlantic on the Mayflower. He enlisted in the naval force and was assigned to the Pacific Coast charting project.  He created numerous water color drawings as he travel up and down the West Coast and inland areas such as the Sierras and Yosemite. He served in the Civil War and spent his final years in Florida. He is regarded as one of the most highly accomplished of the expedition survey artists. A large body of his work exists.
Sources include The Royal Engineers Living History Group  and Islapedia among others. 

Camille Pissarro (1830 - 1903) Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. He "acted as a father figure not only to the Impressionists" but to all four of the major Post-Impressionists, Cézanne, Seurat, Gauguin, and van Gogh.

Hugo Simberg (1873 - 1917) was a Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist. He studied under Gallen-Kallela for three periods between 1895 and 1897. In 1896, Simberg went to London, and the following year to Paris and Italy. During these years he exhibited several works at the Finnish Artists' autumn exhibitions, including Autumn, Frost, The Devil Playing and Aunt Alexandra, which were well received. His success led to his being made a member of the Finnish Art Association and to his appointment to teach at the Drawing School of the Viipuri Friends of Art. He is the author of part of the murals and stained-glass windows of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Tampere. The Wounded Angel is one of the most recognizable of Simberg's works, it has become a trademark of Nordic symbolism and was voted Finland's "national painting" in 2006.

Alberto Giacometti (1901 – 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Giacometti was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His work was particularly influenced by artistic styles such as Cubism and Surrealism.   Between 1938 and 1944 Giacometti's sculptures had a maximum height of 2.75 inches. After World War II, Giacometti created his most famous sculptures: his extremely tall and slender figurines. In Giacometti's whole body of work, his painting constitutes only a small part. After 1957, however, his figurative paintings were equally as present as his sculptures.
Image Source: Ioana JimboreanCC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Asher Brown Durand (1796 -1886) was an American Engraver and painter of the Hudson River School. His reputation as one of the country's finest engravers was established with his 1823 engraving of John Trumbull's "Declaration of Independence". His bank notes engravings were used as the portraits for America's first postage stamps.

His main interest changed to oil painting about 1830 concentrating on landscape painting. He spent summers sketching in the Catskills, Adirondacks, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, making hundreds of drawings and oil sketches that were later incorporated into finished academy pieces which helped to define the Hudson River School. He was an advocate for drawing directly from nature with as much realism as possible. Durand wrote, "Let [the artist] scrupulously accept whatever [nature] presents him until he shall, in a degree, have become intimate with her infinity... never let him profane her sacredness by a willful departure from truth."
Biographical source: Wikipedia

Paul Gauguin or Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) was one of the most influential Post-Impressionist artists. Gauguin's experimental use of color and stark contrasts spearheaded the Synthetism movement, which regarded form and color as equally important. Most of his paintings depict people or landscapes from French Polynesia since he spent many years in that region in search of inspiration. His artistic experiments influenced many avant-garde movements in the early 20th century as well as modern artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. 

Modest Urgell (1839–1919) Spanish painter, writer and art teacher born to a wealthy family in Barcelona . He studied at the Escola de la Llotja. His works consist almost entirely of landscapes and maritime scenes, often set in isolated places such as cemeteries and monasteries. The image shown is in the Public domain

Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. One of the pioneers of abstraction in western art. He studied Law and Economics at the University of Moscow. He spent 18 years in Munich, returning to Russia after the outbreak of World War I.  He returned to Germany in 1920 where he taught at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture until the Nazis closed it in 1933. He then moved to France, where he produced some of his most prominent art, became a French citizen and lived for the rest of his life.

Thomas Cole (1801 -1848) Born in Lancashire, England. He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1818, He was known for his landscape and romantic portrayal of the American wilderness. He is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century. Wikipedia    

Image is in the public domain

QUICK LINKS