Nationally known painter Dean Mitchell was inspired at an early age to become an artist, and he credits his maternal grandmother — Marie Brooks — for that. The artist is honoring her in a beautiful way that will continue for years to come. How?

There are countless ways to honor those who have been influential in our lives. For artists, that typically comes in the form of a painting — perhaps a portrait — of the individual, executed with sensitivity and care. Well-known and accomplished painter Dean Mitchell has taken a different avenue to honor his grandmother Marie Brooks.

Mitchell was born in 1957 in Pittsburgh but was reared in Quincy, Florida. The artist recalls walking the streets of downtown Quincy frequently with his grandmother — fondly recalling how her umbrella shaded him from the sun. On one special day when Mitchell was 5, the two casually entered a five-and-dime store called McCroy’s, where Brooks purchased for him a paint-by-numbers set. Although she had no interest herself in art, Brooks noticed that Mitchell appeared to have an interest. That simple, historic purchase changed the course of his life forever.

Fast-forward to 2017 and Dean Mitchell ranks among the best-known and most collected artists in the United States. Mitchell has been featured in numerous publications, including the New York Times, American Artist, Artist Magazine, Fine Art International, PleinAir Magazine, and Art News. Moreover, his works can be found in both public and private collections across the country.

On November 11, the artist will officially open a fine art gallery in his hometown of Quincy. Mitchell has named his space the Marie Brooks Gallery — a beautiful tribute to the woman who has been such an important influence on his career and personality. “My grandmother’s love, dignity, and respect for others have shaped my life,” Mitchell said. “Her moral and spiritual influence gave me a sense of self-worth, pride, and the inner strength to pursue my dreams. Family, community, and a place to feel safe was important to her. Education was always stressed along with hard work. My grandmother would often say, ‘Baby, ain’t nobody gonna give you nothing. You gotta work for what you want in life.’”

Mitchell’s hope is that the gallery and his story will inspire others to work hard and follow their dreams, and to bring hope to all who come through the doors. The gallery will feature rotating exhibitions by Mitchell and will also serve as a space for the artist’s workshops and drawing classes. Mitchell also looks to have the gallery serve an important role in elevating the arts in Quincy, providing lectures on art and supporting local scholarships.

On November 11, the gallery will be hosting a grand opening reception from 10am-5pm. To learn more, visit The Marie Brooks Gallery.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Only a talented artist would find an abandoned golf center in the North Bronx, New York, a subject worthy of extended consideration. How beautiful could it be? With this solo display, very.

“End Game” is an interesting exhibition soon to be unveiled at New York’s Lyons Wier Gallery. The solo show features a series of landscape paintings by talented realist painter Valeri Larko that began in 2013. The subject? That would be an abandoned golf center in the North Bronx, accessible only by squeezing through chained fences. “[In the fall of 2013] Larko managed to finished one small painting before a detective caught her in the act of trespassing and strongly suggested that she not return,” the gallery says. “Luckily, that painting was almost finished, and she was able to return a few more times to complete it without running into him again.

“Fast forward to February 2016, she was driving down RT 95 and caught a glimpse of a colorful structure. Later, when exploring the area, she discovered it was the same golf center that she had painted in 2013, This time around, she found a break on the other side of the site allowing her full access to a number of buildings yet explored.”

Once a vibrant 12-acre family entertainment center, the crumbling structures and overgrown natural areas proved to be an engaging subject for Larko, who has since completed a series of paintings to be on view November 9 through December 16. “One of the things I noticed while spending the past year and a half painting at the golf center is the abundance of birds, butterflies, geese, raccoons, and other animals that thrive there,” the artist said. “The overgrown setting had become a de facto nature preserve. Surrounded by wildflowers and birds, it was easy to forget that I was painting in the midst of the busy overbuilt city. While some transformations have been necessary, I miss the old architecture, signage, and natural settings that gave the city its unique visual appeal. In the meantime, my goal is to capture these places before they are lost forever and to keep the stories of these overlooked places alive.”

To learn more, visit Lyons Wier Gallery.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

A dynamic range of 57 American sculptures from the collection of Dr. Michael L. Nieland compose a current exhibition in Pennsylvania. Which late 19th and early 20th century artists are represented?

In 2015, Dr. Michael L. Nieland made a transformational gift to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania: nine incredible sculptures from many of America’s greatest sculptors. An additional 48 pieces are slated to be given in 2018. Now, the institution is celebrating the gift by exhibiting the works in “A Timeless Perfection: American Figurative Sculpture in the Classical Spirit.”

The show will include all 57 sculptures to become part of the museum’s permanent holdings. Among the artists included in the show are John Talbott Donoghue, Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, Malvina Hoffman, Mario Korbel, Boris Lovet-Lorski, Adolph Alexander Weinman, Paul Wayland Bartlett, Walker Hancock, and Frederick MacMonnies.

According to the museum, “While the collection is entirely figurative and primarily comprised of sculpture, book ends, candleholders, vases, and inkwells add a utilitarian aspect to it. The gift also includes 40 pieces of medallic art designed by some of the same artists and produced by the Society of Medalists and American Numismatic Society, further broadening the scope of the Museum’s collection. All of the utilitarian pieces and medallic art gifted by Dr. Nieland will be included in the exhibition.

“A remarkable new generation of academically trained American sculptors emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the height of the Gilded Age, they achieved widespread critical and commercial success for works created on public commission as well as for private patrons. Working on both grand civic platforms and on a more intimate, domestic scale, they transformed the art of American sculpture. New York City was at the heart of the transformation, but other major American cities, including Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston, provided encouragement, support, and venues. Surprisingly and unfortunately, the flowering of these artists was relatively brief, and amid rapidly changing aesthetics in the 20th century, the reputations of many of these sculptors dimmed. Despite increased interest in their work in recent decades among scholars, curators, and collectors, their careers, achievements, and even their names, once famed, are now recalled only narrowly.

“‘This outstanding collection gives us an opportunity to rediscover another dimension of modern American art from the late 19th century into the first half of the 20th century,’ states Barbara L. Jones, Chief Curator and organizer of the exhibition. ‘By exploring the lives and aesthetic achievements of these sculptors, the exhibition will expand awareness and deepen the public’s knowledge of this extraordinary era of American sculpture, in addition to bringing overdue recognition to these artists.’

“‘This is the third transformational gift of art to be received by The Westmoreland as a result of our recently completed campaign. With works ranging from six to nearly 60 inches in height, this stunning collection provides diversity in the arena of American figurative sculpture and complements works already in our collection,’ says The Richard M. Scaife Director/CEO Judith Hansen O’Toole of the extraordinary gift from Dr. Nieland.

“Dr. Nieland describes the works of art in this collection as, ‘in part, depicting the beauty of the human body, a central focus of art since the beginning of time.’ He further states, ‘Altogether, the works reinforce the poetic assertion in Genesis (1:27) that the human form, male as well as female, represents the image of The Creator. Sensuality is implicit in these pure and refined objects, but utilization or exploitation of the human form for other purposes can border upon the salacious.’ Regarding his decision to gift the works to the Museum, he says, ‘The Westmoreland with its devotion to American art is a perfect fit for this collection. Our good fortune to have possessed these beautiful sculptures presents us with the opportunity and obligation to pass them on. Someone owned them before us and inevitably the time arrives to look to their preservation and conservation in the hands of others. I am thrilled that my treasures have found a new home in The Westmoreland Museum of American Art.’”

“A Timeless Perfection: American Figurative Sculpture in the Classical Spirit” continues through December 31. To learn more, visit The Westmoreland Museum of American Art.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Women Painting Women — an online resource and Web-based community that has showcased more than 430 contemporary women painters from across the globe, is currently showing 53 paintings from 30 contemporary female artists in its first ever traveling museum exhibition. Where did it land on October 18?

Texas A&M University’s J. Wayne Stark Galleries is the proud host of Women Painting Women’s (WPW) first ever traveling museum exhibition. On view now through December 16, the exhibition — curated by WPW co-founders Alia El-Bermani and Diane Feissel — honors the human spirit and explores the complexity of being a woman today.

According to the press release, “The collection of paintings avoids voyeuristic depictions and delves into such concepts as identity, role association, fragility with dignity, and emotional complexity. The women depicted in the paintings vary in age, race, and their pose to reflect the modern woman.” “To see this show is to live more than the female experience,” suggested Elizabeth Jackson of ArtSee Magazine. “The psychological complexity of the portraits, the emotional intensity, and the humor — all are fundamental aspects of what it is to be human. The view here is sensitive and compellingly complicated.”

Alia El-Bermani added, “Each artist looks beyond the surface of her subject, beyond mere replication of the physical world before her, in search of deeper realities. These artists have found a freedom to avoid voyeuristic depictions of the female form to examine honest and sometimes personal narratives about the struggles and resilience of the indomitable contemporary woman.”

To learn more, visit here.

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More than 20 years after the legendary Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the institution has once again mounted a revealing exhibition surrounding the Dutch Golden Age master and his relationships with contemporaries.

On view now through January 21, 2018 at the National Gallery of Art is a stellar exhibition featuring some of the most iconic and prized Dutch Golden Age masterpieces. “Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting” had a very successful run in 2017 at the Musée du Louvre and the National Gallery of Ireland before landing in Washington, D.C., for American audiences to enjoy. The show features some 65 masterpieces by Johannes Vermeer and his contemporaries — including Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Nicolas Maes, Eglon van der Neer, Caspar Netscher, and Jacob Ochtervelt.

The paintings are organized by theme, composition, and technique as a way of highlighting how the painters admired, challenged, and pushed each other toward greater artistic achievement. “The paintings also reflect how these masters responded to the changing artistic climate of the Dutch Republic in the third quarter of the 17th century, particularly in Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Deventer, Rotterdam, and Delft,” the museum reports.

National Gallery Director Earl A. Powell III adds, “The 1995 ‘Johannes Vermeer’ show endures as one of the most significant exhibitions in the Gallery’s history. ‘Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting’ will undoubtedly have the same impact while also deeply enriching our understanding of the web of influence among 17th-century Dutch artists.”

To learn more, visit the National Gallery of Art.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

If I were to ask you to describe the “classical” style, what would you say? Most would describe a stark white building with a large colonnade decorating its façade. Others might cite examples of ancient sculpture; white marble icons of figurative beauty and mathematical proportions. I often like to joke with my students that, for the most part, we’ve got it all wrong.

Regardless of the fact that white marble classical architecture, sculpture, and the artworks they inspire are incredibly beautiful, historians have proven that, originally, they were painted with vivid colors. In fact, a majority of classical Greek sculpture wasn’t even fabricated in marble at all, but rather bronze.

The Legion of Honor in San Francisco will be opening a great exhibition on October 28 that seeks to highlight this misconception. “Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World” will present ancient sculpture in their original, vibrantly colored glory. “Defying the idea of the stark white marble of antiquity,” the museum reports, “the installation is the result of over 30 years of groundbreaking research in pigmentation of ancient sculpture by international scientists and archaeologists. On view will be nearly 40 reproductions of well-known Greek and Roman artworks painted in brightly colored authentic pigments, uniquely juxtaposed with 30 statues and carved reliefs from ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, and Rome from the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco’s own holdings, supplemented with magnificent loans from Californian and European collections.

“When the idea of classicism took hold during the Renaissance, artists like Michelangelo and other masters hailed form and composition, instead of color, as the most prominent and venerable features of ancient sculpture. Over time, knowledge of color in ancient sculpture became all but forgotten and any evidence of polychromy was ignored. But even today, after millennia of burial and exposure to the elements, faint traces of color pigments on ancient sculptures can sometimes be detected with the naked eye. Additionally, advances in technology and research have allowed for an understanding of the evolution and extent of ancient polychromy. Techniques such as ultraviolet fluorescence photography and the examination of ancient pigments via ultra-violet-visible (UV-VIS) absorption spectroscopy have allowed an international team of archaeologists and scholars to create astonishing color reproductions.

“This exhibition will not only challenge the widely accepted ideal of achromatic ancient sculpture, it will also address how this misconception has influenced the history of sculpture. Works from ancient Greece and Rome will also be joined by sculptures from Egypt and the Near East to reveal a fuller range of polychromy from across the ancient Mediterranean world.”

“Gods in Color: Polychromy in the Ancient World” will continue through January 7, 2018. To learn more, visit the Legion of Honor.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Gallery ONETWENTYEIGHT in New York is excited to soon be showcasing the engaging paintings of an ascending artist. Titled “Spring Essence,” this exhibition offers an intimate painterly probing of what some theologians refer to as “thin places” or “thin spaces.” What does this mean?

There’s certainly a lot to visually and psychologically take in during “Spring Essence,” an upcoming solo exhibition of recent works by painter Maxwell Stevens at Gallery ONETWENTYEIGHT in New York City. In the show, Stevens’ paintings brilliantly combine both abstract and representational qualities.

“Superimposed with a splashy and colorfully vivid palette of scarlet, fuchsia, and rose complimented by minty greens, the visually tactile abstractions display an increase in clarity and fluidity, blending areas between abstraction and figure, with lightly scraped passages shifting in and out of focus,” the gallery writes. “Slight progressions in time are indicated by a clock on the wall and the shifting emotional tenor of the conversation, and these changes are further mirrored by watery abstractions that fluctuate and spill across each scene in a progressive manner.”

Continuing, the press release reads, “Seeking in painterly terms what some theologians refer to as ‘thin places’ or ‘thin spaces,’ and taking the position that these divine places are more psychologically than geographically defined, the artist has turned towards private scenes in his own home during Easter weekend as his point of departure. Deepening his commitment to his multi-layered approach and to the materiality of his works, canvases have been glazed dozens of times to achieve a mirror finish, while retaining a painterly approach to rendering each delicate scene with thousands of tiny brushstrokes blended together to fuse each picture. Curvilinear gestures slide across the glassy images, culminating in vibrant, floral abstractions that seem to hover and blossom above each miniaturized scene, inviting the viewer’s gaze from both near and afar as they become both voyeur and participant in the artist’s search for a thin place through his art.

“Accompanying the ‘Spring Essence’ suite are oval panel paintings cut from heavy slabs of mahogany, their beveled edges gently curving to meet the wall, while fragments of earlier deconstructed paintings are collaged onto raw linen, standing in stark contrast to the freshly painted abstractions, creating a historical subtext within the overall presentation, allowing past and present to coalesce together.”

To learn more, visit Gallery ONETWENTYEIGHT.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

An incredible lineup of artworks by many of the most prominent painters working in the field of realism today feature during a must-see exhibition in Denver, Colorado. Details here.

“Legacy” is perhaps one of the most star-studded exhibitions to have been mounted in 2017, making it a must-see for anyone in the Denver area in November. Opening on November 7, the exhibition headlines some of the most prominent painters working in the field of realism today.

Curated by Anthony Waichulis, the exhibition aims to not only highlight the immense skill of the represented artists, but to celebrate and acknowledge their contributions in the field of art education as well. The show will be hosted at the Vida Ellison Gallery (Level 7) at the Denver Central Library and closes on December 31.

Via the exhibition press release: “For nearly 40,000 years mankind has been contributing to a vast visual record of the human condition. Weaving creativity with convention, each generation of mark-makers would pass along to the next an evolving visual vocabulary that would eventually overcome barriers of time, distance, language, and culture. Today, art educators prepare new generations of creatives to contribute new chapters to this unique, ongoing epic. Legacy is a celebration of these educators.”

Participating artists in “Legacy” include Juliette Aristides, Dru Blair, Neilson Carlin, Rodney Davis, Jon deMartin, Edward Dillon, Michelle Dunaway, Kerry Dunn, Paul Foxton, Donato Giancola, David Gray, Amanda Hallenius, Russell Harris, Jeffrey Hein, Timothy Jahn, Joel Carson Jones, David Kassan, Jeremy Lipking, Deborah Lloyd, Edward Minoff, Juan Martinez, Kevin Moore, Tim Reynolds, Mario Robinson, Richard Schmid, Jordon Sokol, Dan Thompson, Sadie Valeri, Scott Waddell, Jeffrey Watts, Anthony Waichulis, Leah Waichulis, Patricia Watwood, and Elizabeth Zanzinger.

To learn more, visit Gallery 1261.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Last Rites Gallery in New York has established a reputation for showcasing incredible representational art, but with a surreal and fantastical twist. That trend continues with “13th Hour,” a magnetic display of surrealism that fits perfectly with the Halloween season.

“Conjured by mastermind Paul Booth, the annual ‘13th Hour’ exhibition accentuates the dual nature of humanity and invites the viewers to take part in one of the most engaging and comprehensive exhibitions of contemporary surrealism,” Last Rites Gallery says. Sound like fun? I would certainly say so.

The show’s namesake describes the final minute before 1am, “in which entities that are bound to other dimensions and otherworldly realms intrude on our own reality,” the gallery continues. “Those who exist within both places during the 13th hour traverse and wreak havoc on our world, responsible for conducting the mischief onto ill-fated humans.”

Opening on October 28 and continuing through November 11, “13th Hour” has brought together a collection of globally renowned artists who blur the line between beautiful and grotesque, exploring themes of human existence, as well as humanity’s psychological dwelling in the “unknown” — the confusion and uncertainty of our existence that poses many questions, but reveals fewer answers.

“Observers are led on a visual journey through each artist’s individual interpretations of the 13th hour,” the gallery writes, “wandering through mysterious realms and conjuring stories formed by the many mediums of fine art. Illuminating from these works of art are vivid nightmares, old ones stained in our memories and new ones clawing at the surface, further revealing the darker zones of our minds that coexist with our worldly perceptions.”

Represented artists include Logan Aguilar, Samuel Araya, Audra Auclair, Rachel Bridge, Saturno Buttò, Zofia Bogusz, Caniglia, Adrian Cherry, Nannette Cherry, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Paul Cristina, Damien Echols, Darwin Enriquez, Erik Ferguson, Grady Gordon, Gabriela Handal, Fred Harper, Stuart Holland, Ben Howe, Michael Hussar, Jeremy Hush, Stephanie Inagaki, Miles Johnston, Kikyz1313, Eric Lacombe, Darby Lahger, Jesse Levitt, Jed Leiknes, Qixuan Lim, Eli Livingston, Brian Mashburn, Bam Maslar, Caitlin McCormack, Jim McKenzie, Emil Melmoth, Harry Michalakeas, Yomico Moreno, Matt Mrowka, Billy Norby, Juan Miguel Palacios, Shane Pierce, David Richardson, Lee Harvey Roswell, Alessandro Sicioldr, Brian Smith, David Stoupakis, Henrik Uldalen, Hannah Vandermolen, N8 VanDyke, Way$hak, & Pamela Wilson.

To learn more, visit Last Rites Gallery.

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.

Hearts were heavy across the fine art landscape this week after it was announced that John H. Moran (1942-2017) — founder of John Moran Auctioneers — passed away on October 3. We take a moment here to honor his legacy.

Via Jeff Moran, son of John H. Moran:

Dear Friends,

It is with a heavy and saddened heart I bear the news that on October 3rd, our founder, president, and friend peacefully departed on his next voyage — which, in true fashion, was during of one of the most successful auctions in our company’s history.

The Moran Family has received such an outpouring of support from friends and clients alike, I feel compelled here to express our deepest gratitude and with that, it is important to me to reciprocate with some important insights about my father.

The beauty of the auction business is that we get to handle, research, photograph, conserve and sell an unbelievable amount of interesting property each year which requires concentrated focus all the time. You need to have a burning passion for this business, and I can assure you that we do, as he did. Working alongside him over the years, my father reminded me that we are only the temporary custodians of our most prized possessions. This idea helps put things into perspective when dealing with the acquisitive nature of the art and antiques business.

Yet for my dad, it seems the scales were tipped inversely. We ran an auction business, but the people were often more interesting than their stuff! I remember my father would come home from work and say over dinner, “I met the most interesting gentleman today,” and he would proceed to share a tale about this person’s life story. Some stories were more riveting than others but most earned dinner table merit. One fellow in particular I remember hearing about, then meeting, was Walter. This man had inherited a sizable trust but preferred the simpler life of a 21st-century hobo. We eventually sold the contents of his parent’s estate, but he could not wait to be done with the excruciating process of dismantling his childhood. My dad and I sat and listened to Walter for hours, as this tall and quiet man, who resembled a figure in a Thomas Hart Benton painting, went on to describe his adventures (and misadventures) whilst jumping on and off trains for the last 20 years across the U.S. We all laughed together and got to be friends through the business.

Walter was just one character in a cast of thousands that created the larger storybook of our company. The people truly are as interesting as their stuff, sometimes more so. I believe this is the primary reason my father gravitated towards the auction business because for him, his passion was the people first, the stuff second. This was the guiding principle that would set Moran’s apart from the competition, and that is how he built our business.

His passing comes as not as a surprise to those close to him — as does the void that his death has left in the community — like a large oak tree that has fallen in the neighborhood and people stare at in disbelief that it is no more.

As I process my father’s death, it helps me to focus on the vitality of his life and the times we shared together. Specifically, the legacy he left behind with the auction company and the friends he made along the way in 50 years of doing what he loved and all the success that comes from that. If you are reading this e-mail, it means that you have participated with our company in some way, large or small, and are part of our story. Thank you.

— Jeff Moran

This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.