Andy Warhol created his first painting of Marilyn Monroe in 1962, in the wake of the American movie star’s sudden death at the age of 36. Tragedy, and its portrayal in modern mass media, fascinated Warhol; at the time of Monroe’s death, the artist was enmeshed in his Death and Disaster series, an exploration of gruesome images found in newspapers and magazines. Monroe’s death pushed the narrative of tragedy and celebrity one step further, and in it Warhol found inspiration for arguably the most important suite in his oeuvre. Dating from 1967, Marilyn Monroe is a complete portfolio of ten screen prints, each produced in a different combination of intense, flat colors. This portfolio, which comes from the estate of Barbara Spiegel Linhart, who purchased the works from David Whitney in 1969, is the best possible example of this important set of screenprints, and is a highlight of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale this May.
Tag Archives: American Painters
Art: ‘Autumn Rhythm’ – Jackson Pollock (Video)
Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) is a 1950 abstract expressionist painting by American artist Jackson Pollock in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The work is a distinguished example of Pollock’s 1947-52 poured-painting style, and is often considered one of his most notable works.
Video Profiles: American Conceptual Painter Lee Lozano (1930-1999)
Jo Applin gives an insight into both Lee Lozano’s life and her work, contextualizing her practice and highlighting her response to the constraints of constitutional systems, gender dynamics, power, money, and politics.
Created in 1962–1963, the early paintings and drawings on view at Hauser & Wirth Somerset use airplanes as a central image and can be considered as examples of the artist’s passionate exploration of creative energy in its purist form. This focused body of early work exposes a complex and deeply intimate inner life grappling with one-sided gender and societal dichotomies, while other works display a form of ferocious humour and playfulness, exploiting the rhetoric of exaggeration to its most cogent effect.
Her raw expressionist brush strokes create powerful works imbued with a very personal iconography, including genitals, religious symbols, tools and body parts. Lozano’s short lived but influential career remains a source of fascination, lauded by Lucy Lippard as the foremost female conceptual artist of her era in New York. Jo Applin is author of ‘Lee Lozano: Not Working’ and ‘Eccentric Objects: Rethinking Sculpture.’ She teaches modern and contemporary art at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
Top Online Exhibitions: The ‘Wayne Thiebaud 3D Viewing Experience’ At The Berggruen Gallery (2020)
A monumental survey, Wayne Thiebaud features over fifty paintings, works on paper, and limited-edition prints—many of which are rarely exhibited works from private collections and museums. Among the early works in the exhibition is the iconic Three Machines (1963)—courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco—a dynamic painting of three gumball machines filled with colorful candy orbs in which “tangible reality and abstraction intermix as one.”
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Berggruen Gallery is honored to present Wayne Thiebaud, an exhibition of paintings, works on paper, and prints from 1961 to present by one of the preeminent living American artists, Wayne Thiebaud. This show marks the gallery’s seventh solo exhibition of Thiebaud’s work since his first show with John Berggruen Gallery in 1973. The gallery is especially proud to hold this exhibition in honor of two very special occasions: Wayne Thiebaud’s 100th birthday and Berggruen Gallery’s 50th anniversary. Wayne Thiebaud will be on view October 16 through November 28, 2020.
Spanning six decades, Wayne Thiebaud highlights the artist’s most quintessential, significant, and compelling work from the near entirety of his career. Thiebaud is most often recognized for his delectable still life paintings of confections, from slices of pie arranged in rows to bakery cases filled with intricately decorated cakes to dishes of colorful lollipops and candies. With paint as thick as frosting, Thiebaud’s illustrative depictions emphasize his subject matter’s physicality. Ornately decorated, densely outlined, and starkly shadowed, Thiebaud’s treats sit for the viewer masterfully rendered and enticing. Though the artist rose to prominence for such paintings, Thiebaud is now renowned for a vast breadth of subject matter—steep and winding cityscapes, saturated expanses of the Sacramento Valley, and attentive portraiture of friends or everyday figures. Art critics have connected his work to a breadth of art movements, analogizing his figurative work to that of esteemed American painter Edward Hopper and his aptitude for still life painting to that of 18th century French artist Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. Yet overall, Thiebaud’s prolific career defies singular movements and art historical references. Altogether, he simply reflects something authentically, emotionally, and uniquely American.CNiMdewz
Artist Profiles: 84-Year Old American Minimalist Frank Stella (Video)
In this episode of Expert Voices, Lisa Dennison discusses a masterful painting created by Frank Stella in the early part of his career. In the 1950s, Stella left Princeton and moved to New York at the height of Abstract Expressionism. Despite being a progenitor of Minimalism, Stella’s gestural hand is visible in the concentric squares – most likely influenced by the Abstract Expressionists.
Frank Philip Stella is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City.
Artist Profiles: Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell (1915-1991)
‘Motherwell was one of the finest American painters of the 20th century, most definitely,’ says Dedalus Foundation CEO Jack Flam. ‘His paintings mix raw energy with a spiritual gracefulness that sets them apart.’
Few artists were as intrinsically connected to Abstract Expressionism as Robert Motherwell (1915-1991). Unlike Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, whose stars burned brightly but briefly, Motherwell remained prolific throughout his 50-year career. He was a searching artist whose output, though determinedly abstract, was also hugely varied.
Motherwell’s ‘Elegies to the Spanish Republic’ series is widely regarded as the high point of his career, with examples found in several major museum collections — they have consistently achieved the artist’s highest prices at auction too.
On Motherwell’s death in 1991, the eminent art critic Clement Greenberg wrote that ‘although underrated today… he was one of the very best of the Abstract Expressionist painters’.
Artist Profile: American Painter Barbara Rudolph
Barbara Rudolph is an Arizona artist specializing in realism oil paintings that most often include a bird. Her painting backgrounds can be either realistic, or contemporary with design elements, but always to showcase the finest of details in her main subject. She will paint many layers, allowing each layer of oil paint to dry in between.
Barbara’s work is often sprinkled with an element of humor, She takes time to photograph and place each object within the scene she paints. “I enjoy getting absorbed in a new painting and letting it gradually reveal its own story”, she says. “The messages and symbolism in my work help to connect viewers to my subjects. I’m always thrilled when someone steps in for a closer look and responds with a laugh or smile.”
Barbara’s appreciation and desire to create art began at an early age. She later earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1990 from her home school of Arizona State University. She first entered the professional world of art through graphic design, which then led her to paint for a variety of fine art publishers for many years to come. She eventually opened her independent home studio where she now works full time.
For more than twenty five years, Barbara’s paintings have been on display in various galleries and also in private collections across the United States and Canada. She is a long standing member of the “International Guild of Realism.” Some of her recent works have been chosen as finalists in the prestigious “Art Renewal Center” Salon competition,” which is the leading revival of realism art.
“Art is such an integral part of my life. It brings me joy to be able to create paintings that bring happiness into people’s lives.”
Top Watercolor Artists: American Painter Marilyn Simandle – “Choice Light”
Marilyn Simandle is an internationally known oil and water color painter. At the age of six, and learning from her mother, a musician and painter, Marilyn started painting watercolors. She has always known that she would become a professional artist.
After receiving her BA Arts Degree from San Jose State University along with decades of discipline and dedicated practice, Marilyn has gone on to share her inspirations with the world. She is credentialed as a Master with OPAM, NWS, and AWS (Oil Painters of America, National Water Color Society, and American Water Color Society). She has authored two books, “Capturing Light in Watercolor” and “Contagious Enthusiasm”, both of which reflect her mantra “It takes a lot of practice to become a professional”.
A native Californian, she now resides in Hampton Cove, Alabama, where she explores all her passions: painting, gardening, and playing the piano. The former flight attendant is an avid traveler and photographer that keep her fully stocked with subject matter for painting.
In her “Painterly Style”, Marilyn tries to convey her own personal beliefs of what art truly is. Her mentors are John Singer Sargent and Joaquin Sorolla. The artist’s role is to make the ordinary extraordinary. She loves to explore the interplay of light and shadow and its effects on the subject matter. Her painting compositions engage her collectors with uplifting shapes, values, and exciting colors, tonal relations and depth. Marilyn believes it is far better to leave a painting more unfinished rather than with too much detail so the viewer can complete the painting. It is more free to view a single brush stroke done with energy and confidence that 100 strokes done with drudgery.
Marilyn often says “You become what you behold”. This is ever so evident in her paintings. Peace, joy, rest and comfort are realized by her followers and collectors through her work. A student of Marilyn’s successful workshops was once heard to say to Marilyn, “You have given me a new insight to painting and have instilled in me courage and inspiration to keep painting.”
Top Artists: Watercolor Painter Deborah Chabrian – “Vibrant Narratives”
“To me architectural and still life paintings are anything but still… they are personal narratives, full of life, that tell the story of a person, time, and place that I find… endlessly inspiring.”
Deborah Chabrian is a watercolor artist who transforms houses, gardens, and objects into vibrant narratives. Her paintings have been included in numerous exhibitions throughout the United States and awarded honors from The American Watercolor Society, The National Watercolor Society, The Portrait Institute, The National Academy of Design, and The Society of Illustrators. Her work graces more than 500 book covers and is featured in numerous books and magazines focusing on Fine Art.
Passionate about art since childhood, Deborah was born and raised in Illinois, and won a full scholarship to Parson’s School of Design in NYC, from which she graduated with Honors. There she met her husband, portrait artist Edward Martinez, they are each other’s strongest supporter, and most critical second eye. Over the years they have studied with many inspired artists, most notably, teacher and master realist painter, Burton Silverman. As a lover of watercolor, Deborah discovered Silverman, first through his book, Breaking the Rules of Watercolor, which led to several years of personal study in his NYC atelier. Silverman said of Chabrian: “In some measure Deborah’s work is more than the watercolor medium she uses. Its excellence relies on her visual sensitivity and her expressive content to talk about the wonder of the ordinary, to reveal what our eyes usually just record without really seeing. In this regard, her work is very special indeed.”
The World’s Top Artists: American Painter Eric Johnson – “Masters Style”
Eric Johnson is a Boston based Painter and instructor at The Academy of Realist Art Boston who is devoted to the preservation and growth of traditional painting. He aspires towards adding his own link into the chain of tradition by mastering the working methods of the old masters who he admires and employing those methods into his own working process.
As a complete painter he aspires to reach a high level of verisimilitude and truth in his works on a variety of subject matters from portrait, still life and landscape. Eric primarily makes all of the pigments and paints to create each prepossessing painting. Eric yearns that every new presentation to beauty and truth can show us the old beauty and the old truth only seen from a different angle and colored by a different medium.
