Works by Sergio Roffo — perhaps one of the foremost American coastal landscape painters — will soon be on display at Quidley & Company in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

For decades, Sergio Roffo has been hard at work mastering the New England coastal landscape, both near his home and farther afield. “With a solid grounding in the fundamentals of his craft,” the gallery writes, “Roffo captures the small details — the texture of dune grass, the particular quality of light of a Nantucket Harbor sunset — that bring a scene to life. Roffo is a plein air painter of the first degree; he displays a clear talent for expressing the elegance of nature through his masterful brushwork and ability to capture light and atmospheric effects.

“His intimate relationship with his subject matter — the sea, sky, beaches and boats that surround him — is evident in all of Roffo’s work. This emotional component, along with a uniformity of excellence, lends the work a greater degree of complexity, and has earned him an enthusiastic following.”

Roffo will be presenting several of his newest works at Quidley & Company, opening the evening of Friday, August 18. To learn more, visit here.

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.

The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, is celebrating 30 years of excellence this September during its annual Show & Sale. The show features a wide selection of art for sale, parties, panel discussions, and more. Details here!

There will soon be a lot going on in Jackson, Wyoming, at the National Museum of Wildlife Art (NMWA)! From Friday, September 8 through September 17, the NMWA will host its annual Western Visions Show & Sale. Although the event is met with widespread success each year, 2017 is special as the museum celebrates its 30th anniversary.

On the slate this year are several exciting events, including a Sculptor Panel Discussion with renowned sculptor Walter Matia, who will lecture on the history of animal sculpture from 1831 to 1975. Also hosted in 2017 will be a Benefactor Welcome Cocktail Party, an Artist Party, a Conversation with the Museum’s Curators Past & Present, and of course the Show & Sale.

“In honor of our 30th anniversary, the Show & Sale features artists whose work is in the Museum’s permanent collection,” the NMWA writes. All told, over 100 artists will be included in the show, representing the top wildlife artists in the world.

To learn more, visit the NMWA.

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.

On August 21, 2017, many parts of the United States will experience one of the most extraordinary natural events — a total solar eclipse. Although this is the first of its kind in 21st-century America, there have been of course been many others throughout history and around the globe that have been captured by curious artistic minds.

The Princeton University Art Museum recently opened a great exhibition in coordination with the August 21 total solar eclipse that will sweep across the United States from Washington to Georgia. “Transient Effects: The Solar Eclipses and Celestial Landscapes of Howard Russell Butler” opened on July 22 and continues through October 8.

An artist with a degree in science, Butler captured the transient moments of natural phenomena in the late 19th century. An 1876 graduate of Princeton, “Butler was focused on capturing images of the solar system through the medium of painting,” the university reports. “While Butler initially sought a career as a scientist, which included working in Thomas Edison’s lab in Menlo Park as an illustrator, he eventually pursued a career as a painter. After studying with landscape painter Frederic E. Church, he drew upon his knowledge of science to explore art through a different lens. He later founded the American Fine Arts Society, which is now known as the Arts Student League of New York.”

To learn more, visit the Princeton University Art Museum.

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.

Marty Kober, owner of a 500-year-old tempera painting, has spent the better part of 15 years trying to prove the panel is, in fact, a long-lost work by Renaissance genius Michelangelo. Where does he stand in 2017?

In 2011, Italian scholar and art historian Antonio Forcellino published The Lost Michelangelos — a book that details the discovery of two lost paintings that are believed to have been executed by Michelangelo. “Through a combination of careful historical research, extensive restoration and meticulous radiographic analysis, Forcellino shows that these paintings can be traced back to the studio of Michelangelo,” Polity Press suggests. “The extraordinary story calls into question the received view of Michelangelo’s work and fills in a missing piece in our understanding of one of the greatest artists of all time.”

One of these paintings, which shows a deceased Christ slumped in the lap of the Virgin flanked by two angels, belongs to Marty Kober of Rochester, New York. In fact, the painting had hung over the Kober family’s mantel for years before its owner resolved to protect the painting and investigate its history.

Unfortunately, many American experts refused to look at the painting, leading Kober to travel to Italy for restoration and investigation. “What we noticed is there are multiple changes from the underdrawings to the painting phase; a copyist would never do that,” Kober suggested. “The tempera, the layering, and the pigments are virtually the same.”

Kober has also said he has found documentation that suggests the painting was a gift from Michelangelo to one of his closest friends. Other documents supposedly trace ownership from her all the way to Kober’s great-great-grandfather’s sister-in-law.

Some art historians are convinced, including Dr. William Wallace, art history professor at Washington University and a leading authority on Michelangelo. Wallace believes the work at least comes from the master’s inner circle, even if not executed by Michelangelo himself. He says, “There’s no scientific way to determine this — it’s a matter of opinion, of numerous numbers of scholars over time, and unfortunately we just have to wait.”

Kober added, “Yeah, I’m that guy that just won’t go away — we have great institutions, the best equipment. They can look at this all over again and when you assemble all of that, the documents, the painting itself, it only can point to one thing — the great artist of all time, Michelangelo, made this.”

To learn more, visit CBS.

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.

China’s fine art traditions, practices, and imagery have long been linked to significant political and cultural movements in that country’s history. From 1911 to 2017, there have been periods of the Republic of China, High Socialism, and Reform, respectively — each of which were witnessed by prolific artist Dong Yifang (1925-2006).

Opening August 28 and on view through October 7 at Purdue University Galleries in West Lafayette, Indiana, is an exciting visual survey of the life’s work of Chinese ink painter Dong Yifang. Through three distinct periods of Chinese history in the 20th century, Yifang both found and evolved his artistic voice, and explored each period in depth through ink, oil, and watercolor paintings.

“Dong began his artistic practice in the 1930s by developing a solid foundation in traditional Chinese painting through his studies with teacher and painter Qin Zhongwen,” the university writes. “At the Beijing College of Art, from 1942-1945, Dong learned oil painting from Wei Tianlin (1898-1977), an impressionist who had studied in Japan. In 1946, Dong studied watercolor painting at Fu Jen University and worked with Gustav Ecke at Beijing College of Art. Through these experiences, Dong Yifang became skilled in both Western and traditional Chinese painting techniques. Early in his career, Dong’s work reflected his studies and understanding of traditional artistic practices; his paintings also revealed a love for the landscape. During the period of High Socialism, Dong struggled with the limitations that resulted from the politicization of art, as socialist realism became the official art style of the People’s Republic of China. Finally, during the period of Reform (1977-present), modern Western art was reintroduced, and Dong Yifang found the freedom he needed to continue his artistic development. In the 1990s, Dong established a method of painting by building upon the techniques of traditional Chinese ink painting and incorporating Western-influenced naturalism. His final works reveal not only a unique understanding of material, light, space, and form, but a thought-provoking commentary on the artist’s never-ending search for mastery of craft and originality of voice within a world of political and social change.

“‘Dong Yifang: Painting Through a Century of Change in China’ will feature ink paintings and sketches by Dong Yifang, supplemented by original art work of Dong’s teachers, colleagues, and students: Qin Zhongwen (1896-1974), Lu Yanshao (1909-1993), Song Wenzhi (1919-2000), Wei Tianlin (1898-1977), and Wang Yani (b. 1975).”

To learn more, visit Purdue University.

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.

Nestled at the base of the Book Cliffs in Eastern Utah lies the small city of Helper, which has — in one way or another — been called home by these 19 female artists.

The Helper Project, a non-profit organization established by several community members and artists in 2016, along with local sponsors, has decided to promote Helper women artists through an opening exhibition called “The Nest” at Amjworks studio this month. The exhibition opens on August 12 and will be on view through September 30, and the represented artists have a special connection to Helper either through family ties, calling Helper their home presently or in the past, or having participated in the Helper Art Workshops. Among the artists included are Anne Morgan-Jespersen, Kathleen Royster, and Anne Kaferle.

“A catalog highlighting the works of all participating artists, including an essay by renowned Utah Art Historian Donna Poulton Ph.D., will be available for purchase during the exhibition,” according to the press materials. “The artist movement has played an integral role in helping the community recognize its own value. Art, whether written, spoken, painted, sculpted, or danced, becomes an historical record. It informs us, and future generations, about cultural diversity, economic conditions, technological advancements and social attitudes present at the time of the creation of the work. The work exhibited here, by these remarkable artists, is destined to become part of the unique historical record of Helper, Utah.”

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.

America’s only complete collection of presidential portraits outside the White House is currently on lavish display at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., as part of an extensive four-phase renovation.

A portrait of former President Barack Obama by acclaimed artist Chuck Close from 2013 is among the artworks on brilliant display at Washington’s National Portrait Gallery. Titled “America’s Presidents,” the temporary exhibition will offer visitors a change to “see an enhanced and extended display of multiple images of all the United States presidents,” the museum reports, “including Charles Willson Peale’s portrait of George Washington, currently on loan from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The exhibition also features whimsical sculptures of Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and George H. W. Bush by noted caricaturist Pat Oliphant. Presidents Washington, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt are given expanded attention because of their significant impact on the office. Presidents from FDR to Bill Clinton are featured in a video component of the exhibit.”

“America’s Presidents” is temporarily on view now through September 4 at the museum’s west gallery on the second floor. On September 22, the exhibition reopens at the newly restored and refurbished “America’s President’s Gallery.” Gilbert Stuart’s “Lansdowne” portrait of George Washington will also be reinstalled after September 22 after 18 months of careful conservation and analysis.

To learn more, visit the National Portrait 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.

In this occasional series, Fine Art Today delves into the world of portraiture, highlighting historical and contemporary examples of superb quality and skill. This week: Elena Vladimir Baranoff, “Richard Chartres, Lord Bishop of London.”

For collectors and art enthusiasts looking for the highest-quality portraits, the annual BP Portrait Awards are the gold standard. Selected from nearly 3,000 entries from artists representing over 80 countries, the exhibition (which is on view now through September 4 at London’s National Portrait Gallery) offers a grand prize of £30,000 and near instant celebrity.

Among the accepted works in the 2016 edition of the BP Portrait Awards is a work from the hand of an artist who’s no stranger to the exhibition: Elena Vladimir Baranoff. A champion of traditional Medieval egg tempera painting and techniques, Baranoff is among the “Hall of Fame” portraitists living today. Her absolutely magnificent portrait of Richard Chartres, Lord Bishop of London — painted in 2013 — has earned the first spotlight for Portrait of the Week.

At first encounter, one is immediately struck by the brilliant red robe worn by the Bishop. His gaze, slightly averted and elevated, undoubtedly connotes his role as a Biblical scholar, thinker, and teacher. The softness of the flesh, incredible detail, and overall photographic realism is a direct result of Baranoff’s mastery of egg tempera. Baranoff founded the Egg Tempera Movement — an organization established to promote and preserve this traditional painting method — and the Bishop was a noted supporter of the project.

To learn more, visit the BP Portrait Award 2016.

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.

In just a few days, The Hockaday Museum of Art will host its third annual exhibition and sale “A Timeless Legacy – Women Artists of Glacier National Park”.  A destination for superior western fine art by leading women artists, this year’s event also includes esteemed speakers from New York City and Wyoming.

Opening events for the third annual “A Timeless Legacy – Women Artists of Glacier National Park” begin on August 12 at the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell, Montana, which include a fundraising sale and new education seminar on art collecting.

Titled the “Discovery Series”, this year the museum welcomes Salmagundi Club Chairman, Tim Newton, and Kathy Thompson, director of the Buffalo Bill Art Show in Cody, Wyoming.  Newton and Thompson will focus their talks “on the ins and outs of art collecting and how art can enrich the community through private collections, museums, and other sources” a press release notes.  “The program, which includes brunch, will be held August 12 from 10 A.M. to Noon at the Red Lion Hotel in Kalispell.”  Reservations are required and tickets are $25 for members and $35 for non-members.

The exhibition “A Timeless Legacy” will open August 15 and continue through September 23 at the Hockaday Museum.  Featuring 28 participating artists, viewers will encounter a diverse display of exquisite western art by leading women artists.  Subjects include landscape, wildlife, figurative, and more.  “These artists follow in the footsteps of the pioneering women artists who have painted in Glacier Park over the last century” the release continues.  “Featured works reflect the vastness and grandeur of the Park, including landscapes and wildlife, as well as indigenous cultures and early visitors.”

Represented artists include Deborah Berniklau, Shawn Cameron, Stephanie Campos, Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey, Carole Cooke, Sheila Cottrell, Lori Forest, Linda Glover Gooch, Margaret Graziano, Terry Cooke Hall, Ann Hanson, Julie Jeppsen, Jennifer Johnson, Laurie Lee, Krystii Melaine, Darcie Peet, Stacey Peterson, Heide Presse, Elizabeth Robbins, Sandy Scott, Sharon Standridge, Kathryn Stats, Sonya Terpening, Linda Tippetts, Rebecca Tobey, Echo Ukrainetz, Sally Vannoy, and Sarah Woods.

To learn more, visit the Hockaday Museum or A Timeless Legacy exhibition page.

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.