Paul Knight 1965 | British Realist painter

Born in 1965, Paul Knight currently studying Fine Art at Nottingham University.

Michelle Seo - Hongmin | American Pencil Artist | The Golden Era

I started the project Golden Era at the end of July 2009 with my past Hollywood actresses drawings and i'm so happy and excited to see all of 12 ladies right in front of me... there were some times i wanted to quit being tired and lazy.

Humphrey Bogart

Max Gasparini 1970 | Italian painter

Gasparini è nato a Rovato nel 1970. Dalla pittura classica e realistica di oggetti, i paesaggi e ritratti, realizzati con tecnica minuziosa, l'autore è arrivato a liberare il gesto "quasi" per caso. E' stata una folgorazione. I quadri hanno cominciato a prendere forma senza volontà nè studio, eliminando l'iter d'ideazione, progettazione, bozzetto. L'opera nasce da sè, prende forma solo parzialmente controllabile.L'uso di materiali poveri, quali cartoni da imballaggio usati, sacco, tela non preparata, forniscono al pittore il campo di battaglia sul quale i colori avranno reazioni diverse. Una pittura d'impeto, lasciata al caso, così che i materiali possano dialogare ogni volta con vibrazioni nuove: atto puro di fronte alla casualità degli incontri. Il gesto, la chimica e la fisica decidono la forma. La tecnica è nella mente. Ritratti reali o immaginari di donne che non hanno sguardi di cartone.

Ben Heine 1983 | Digital Surrealist painter

Ben Heine is an illustrator, portraitist, caricaturist and photographer. Born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and currently resides in Brussels. He has studied graphic arts, sculpture and holds a degree in journalism. His most recent project caught my eye, which he describes as digital circlism. Using varying sizes of different shaded circles, Heine meticulously arranges them to form incredible digital portraits. In my painting, I've been deeply influenced by German Expressionism, Belgian Surrealism, American Pop Art and Social Realism. So far, I've exhibited my creations in galleries and art events in Belgium, Great Britain, Turkey, Romania, France, Canada, USA, Germany, Brazil, South Korea, Spain and Palestine. I have always had a very generous conception of art, I don’t like the way art is nowadays used for commercial purposes only and proposed to the elite, I think everybody should have the chance to see and enjoy culture. My artistic work is mainly the result of what influences me and inspires me the most in my close environment.

Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890 | Portraits

Vincent Willem Van Gogh, known for his landscapes, seemed to find painting portraits his greatest ambition. He said of portrait studies, "The only thing in painting that excites me to the depths of my soul, and which makes me feel the infinite more than anything else".
To his sister he wrote, "I should like to paint portraits which appear after a century to people living then as apparitions. By which I mean that I do not endeavor to achieve this through photographic resemblance, but my means of our impassioned emotions, that is to say using our knowledge and our modern taste for color as a means of arriving at the expression and the intensification of the character".
Of painting portraits, Van Gogh wrote: "in a picture I want to say something comforting as music is comforting. I want to paint men and women with that something of the eternal which the halo used to symbolize, and which we seek to communicate by the actual radiance and vibration of our coloring".

Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890 | Self-portraits

Vincent Van Gogh 1853-1890 created many self-portraits during his lifetime. He was a prolific self-portraitist, who painted himself 37 times between 1886-1889. In all, the gaze of the painter is seldom directed at us; even when it is a fixed gaze, he appears to look elsewhere. The paintings vary in intensity and color and some portray the artist with beard, some beardless, some with bandages, depicting the episode in which he severed his ear. Self-portrait Without Beard, from late September 1889, is one of the most expensive paintings of all time, selling for $71.5 million in 1998 in New York. At the time, it was the third, or an inflation-adjusted fourth, most expensive painting ever sold. It was also van Gogh's last self-portrait, given as a birthday gift to his mother. All of the self-portraits painted in Saint-Rémy show the artist's head from the right, the side opposite his mutilated ear, as he painted himself reflected in his mirror. During the final weeks of his life in Auvers-sur-Oise, he produced many paintings, but no self-portraits, a period in which he returned to painting the natural world.

Pablo Picasso 1881-1973 | The Cubist Portraits

The total number of artworks he produced has been estimated at 50.000, comprising 1.885 paintings, 1.228 sculptures, 2.880 ceramics, roughly 12.000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs. At the time of his death many of his paintings were in his possession, as he had kept off the art market what he did not need to sell. In addition, Picasso had a considerable collection of the work of other famous artists, some his contemporaries, such as Henri Matisse, with whom he had exchanged works. Since Pablo Picasso left no will, his death duties to the French state were paid in the form of his works and others from his collection. These works form the core of the immense and representative collection of the Musée Picasso in Paris. In 2003, relatives of Picasso inaugurated a museum dedicated to him in his birthplace, Málaga, Spain, the Museo Picasso Málaga.

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso was exceptionally prolific throughout his long lifetime. One of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon 1907, and Guernica 1937, a portrayal of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp are commonly regarded as the three artists who most defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics. His revolutionary artistic accomplishments brought him universal renown and immense fortune, making him one of the best-known figures in 20th century art.

Pam Hawkes | British portrait painter

Exhibitions
2010 20/21 British Art Fair London / Flying Colours Gallery
2009 Eagle Works, Wolverhampton / Catto Gallery london
2009 20/21 British Art Fair London / Flying Colours Gallery
2008 Contemporary Art Fair, Dublin / Contemporary Art Fair, London
2007 Contemporary Art Fair, Dublin / Catto Gallery, London
2006 Chelsea Affordable Art Fair London / Rose Café, Santa Monica
2005 Cool, Venice, Los Angeles, USA
2005 Kraft Gallery, Los Angeles / Chelsea Affordable Art Fair, London
2004 Compton Cassey, Cheltenham / London Art Fair, Islington
2003 Barn End Gallery, Solihull / London Art Fair, Islington
2002 XU Gallery, Birmingham / Compton Gallery, Cheltenham
2001 Contemporary Art Fair, London / London Art Fair, Islington
2000 Affordable Art Fair, Bristol / British Art Fair, New York, USA.

Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta 1870-1945 | Genre and Portrait painter

Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaletawas was a spanish Genre and portrait painter noted for his theatrical paintings of figures from spanish culture and folklore depicting of traditional spanish characters, including peasants, gypsies, and bullfighters. Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta born in Eibar, near the monastery of Loyola. He was the son of metalworker and damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the organizer and director of the royal armoury in Madrid. In his youth, he drew and worked in his father's workshop. He was educated by the Jesuits in France. His father wanted him to be an architect, and with this objective in mind, he was sent to Rome, where he immediately followed the strong impulse that led him to painting. After only six months' work he completed his first picture, which was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1890. Continuing his studies in Paris, where he lived for five years, he was strongly influenced by Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 1864–1901. Only upon returning to his native land did he find his true style, which is based on the national spanish tradition embodied in the work of Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, El Greco 1541-1614 and Francisco José De Goya 1746-1828.
His own country was slow in acknowledging the young artist whose strong, decorative and rugged style stood in opposition to the styles of well-known modern spanish artists such as Fortuny, Madrazo, and Benlliure. It was first in Paris, and then Brussels and other European art centres, that Zuloaga was hailed by the reformers as the regenerator of Spanish national art and as the leader of a school. He is now represented in galleries across Europe.

Brenda Burke | England | Classical realist painter

Internationally recognized as a brilliant and sensitive portrait painter, classically trained in Europe, Brenda Burke sees every aspect of life as a creative challenge. Her collectors avidly wait for each new series she creates, as she applies the various skills of the old masters to create fresh and exciting contemporary masterpieces. She embellishes figure studies with raised gold and platinum leaf, creates magnificent flower pieces in tempera with oil glazes. Encaustics give dazzling effect to backgrounds for semi-nudes, who are often wrapped in the antique lace she finds a constant inspiration. Brenda Burke divides her time between her homes in New Orleans and England.

Will Wilson 1957 | Realist american painter

Wilson began his career with the John Pence Gallery in 1980. Since then, he staged thirteen highly successful one-man shows at the gallery. In addition to his shows in San Francisco, he has exhibited with Baltimore Life Gallery, Baltimore, MD; Schuler School Of Fine Arts, Baltimore, MD; Salmagundi Club, New York, NY; St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, MD; Society of Illustrators, New York, NY; Denver Rotary Show, Denver, CO; Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; Memorial Art Museum, Rochester, NY; The Grand Central Art Galleries, New York, NY, The National Postal Museum, Washington DC; The Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA; and The Smithsonian, Washington DC. Wilson is a master of his painting craft. He creates between 8-10 works each year, ranging in size from 9x10 inches to 70x50 inches. He paints portraits, allegorical figures, trompe l'oeil, and still life layered with narrative. His paintings are tight and precise. For Wilson, it is important to observe, then render all of his subjects in the greatest detail. His work is often whimsical and fantastic, a unique marriage of disciplined execution and a boundless, blossoming imagination. Each of his works contains contemporary references, addressing a multitude of ideas embedded in his meticulously crafted compositions. Wilson has been awarded prizes for his paintings in New York, Maryland, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Virginia, Missouri, and Washington DC. His works have been acquired by museums, well-known corporate collections, and private collectors of note. Numerous publications including: ArtNews, US ART Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Magazine, American Artist and International Artist Magazine have singled out Wilson in articles setting forth his presence as a major force on the American art scene.

Joaquín Sorolla 1863-1923 | Realist/Impressionist painter

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida was a spanish painter, born in Valencia, who excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the sunlight of his native land. Joaquin Sorolla was the eldest child born to a tradesman, also named Joaquin, and his wife, Concepcion Bastida. His sister, Concha, was born a year later. In august 1865 both children were orphaned when their parents died, possibly from cholera. They were thereafter cared for by their maternal aunt and uncle. He received his initial art education, at the age of fourteen, in his native town, and then under a succession of teachers including Cayetano Capuz, Salustiano Asenjo. At the age of eighteen he traveled to Madrid, vigorously studying master paintings in the Museo del Prado. After completing his military service, at twenty-two Sorolla obtained a grant which enabled a four year term to study painting in Rome, Italy, where he was welcomed by and found stability in the example of F. Pradilla, the director of the Spanish Academy in Rome. A long sojourn to Paris in 1885 provided his first exposure to modern painting; of special influence were exhibitions of Jules Bastien-Lepage and Adolf von Menzel. Back in Rome he studied with Jose Benlliure, Emilio Sala and Jose Villegas.

Alain Picard | Fine artist and portrait painter

Alain Picard earned a BA in illustration from Western CT State University and went on to study at the Art Student's League in New York City. Picard cites Sargent, Degas, and Sorolla among his artistic influences. A love of light and beauty are immediately apparent in his pastel and oil paintings. Alain's work has been featured in such publications as The Artist's Magazine and The Pastel Journal. He has garnered top awards throughout the Northeast in esteemed exhibitions including the Portrait Society of America, the Hudson Valley Art Association, the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists, the Connecticut Pastel Society and the Pastel Society of America. Alain is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America as well as the Connecticut Pastel Society where he serves as President. In 2004, The Artist's Magazine highlighted Alain as one of 20 contemporary artists "On the Rise". He later won the Best Portfolio Award at the 2009 Portrait Society of America Conference in Washington, DC. A frequent workshop instructor and demonstrator for art associations, schools, galleries and museums, Alain was recently invited to demonstrate a portrait in pastel at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. He lives with his wife and two sons in Southbury, Connecticut.

Frans Hals 1580-1666 | Dutch Golden Age | Baroque style

Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter especially famous for portraiture. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals was also instrumental in the evolution of 17th century group portraiture. Hals was a master of a technique that utilized something previously seen as a flaw in painting, the visible brushstroke. The soft curling lines of Hals' brush are always clear upon the surface: "materially just lying there, flat, while conjuring substance and space in the eye". Lively and exciting, the technique can appear "ostensibly slapdash" - people often think that Hals 'threw' his works 'in one toss' (aus einem Guss) onto the canvas. Research of a technical and scientific nature has clarified that this impression is not correct. True, the odd work was largely put down without underdrawings or underpainting 'alla prima', but most of the works were created in successive layers, as was customary at that time. Sometimes a drawing was made with chalk or paint on top of a grey or pink undercoat, and was then more or less filled in, in stages. It does seem that Hals usually applied his underpainting very loosely: he was a virtuoso from the beginning. This applies, of course, particularly to his somewhat later, mature works. Hals displayed tremendous daring, great courage and virtuosity, and had a great capacity to pull back his hands from the canvas, or panel, at the moment of the most telling statement. He didn't 'paint them to death', as many of his contemporaries did, in their great accuracy and diligence whether requested by their clients or not.

Gustave Jean Jacquet 1846-1909 | Academic Classical artist

During the 19th century, particularly in France, people developed a vivid fascination with the past and paintings of the bygone eras were in demand. Jacquet specialised in painting nudes, portraits and genre subjects in which he evoked the elegance of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
These works were exquisitely painted with every attention paid to detail; his use of colour is rich and vibrant and his rendition of luxurious cloth is outstanding.

Nikolai Shurygin 1957 | Russian realist painter

Shurygin was born in 1957 in Kimry, Russia. In 1979 he graduated from Moscow School of applied arts (design). During 10 years the painter has been studying multilayered painting which secrets were lost in the beginning of XIX. This unique technique was used by flemish painters as well as russian painters such Kiprensky, Levitsky, Borovikovsky and many others. The uniqueness of the technique consists in the point that every layer of paint is visible through the layer above. Using this technique the artists achieved the incredible realism of depicted subject whether a human face or any texture - silver, gold, brocade, fur, glass, etc. The term of producing a portrait or a still-life in this technique is from 4 to 12 months. Nikolai Shurygin’s works are in private collections, located in Russia, Italy, USA, Germany, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky local museum of Russia.