PleinAir Salon Grand Prize winner Kathleen B. Hudson has a stellar solo exhibition of her newest oils on view now at the Artists’ Attic in Lexington, Kentucky! Will you be one of the lucky viewers?

The incredibly talented and quickly ascending painter Kathleen B. Hudson has a robust group of about 40 of her newest oils currently on view at the Artists’ Attic in Lexington, Kentucky. Titled “Atmospheric Impressions,” “the paintings in the show represent some of my best work,” says Hudson, “both studio and plein air, from the past year. All collectors will get to take home a copy of the current issue of PleinAir magazine with my painting on the cover.”

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.

Seventeen regional artists from around the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, are currently showcasing a vibrant display of plein air paintings during this selling invitational. Where can it be found?

Located within a gorgeously restored stone Victorian-style home just across the street from Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center is the hidden gem of Groveland Gallery, which just last week hosted an opening reception for its first Plein Air Invitational exhibition. Featuring 10 of the gallery’s artists along with seven guest artists, the show seems to have been a natural response to the growing popularity of the gallery’s Plein Air SmackDown — a paint-out now in its seventh year in which gallery artists work on location before displaying and selling their works.

The invitational is slated for August 5, 2017, and gallery owner and director Sally Johnson believes the exhibition will whet appetites and help build anticipation for what will surely be the SmackDown’s biggest year to date. If the July 20 opening reception was any indication, Johnson was right. The gallery was packed with artists, collectors, friends, and enthusiasts until its doors closed at 8:30 p.m. and there was much talk and excitement surrounding the upcoming paint-out.

Gallery artists represented in the show include Richard Abraham, Kristie Bretzke, Joshua Cunningham, Robert Dorlac, Barbara McIlrath, Carl Oltvedt, and Holly Swift. Guest artists include Neil Sherman, Bob Upton, Scott Lloyd Anderson, Carl Bretzke, Andy Evansen, Aaron Jacobs, Stuart Loughridge, and Dan Mondloch.

The exhibition continues through September 1. To learn more, visit Groveland 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: Jan van Eyck, “Portrait of a Man.”

It’s been called a number of things, including “Man with the Red Turban,” “Portrait of a Man,” and “Self-portrait.” The identity of the man in Jan van Eyck’s (circa 1390-1441) canonical “Portrait of a Man” is unknown, but the mystery surrounding the painting is certain.

Painted in 1433 and housed today within the walls of London’s National Gallery, Van Eyck’s “Portrait of a Man” is a masterful example of the early use of oil. The sitter — with his confrontational gaze — is rendered beautifully in the cutting-edge medium. His chaperon — commonly misidentified as a turban — is a brilliant vermillion red, which threatens the viewer almost as much as the stern expression.

Several elements have suggested to scholars that the visage painted is that of the artist himself. To begin, the sitter’s dress would have been appropriate for a man of Van Eyck’s social status. Further, an inscription on the frame — which is still original — reads “I do as I can” (AIC IXH XAN), which can perhaps be interpreted as a kind of self-promotion. Indeed, many scholars also believe a self-portrait would explain the chaperon. The folds, lines, light, shading, and texture of the headgear would have been a vivid display of the artist’s talents, undoubtedly impressing potential patrons.

The National Gallery writes, “Van Eyck uses light and shade in a subtle and dramatic way: the sitter seems to emerge from darkness, his face and headdress modeled by the light that falls from the left. The viewer is drawn towards the image by the penetrating gaze of the sitter. The painting, so carefully inscribed, was presumably one of particular significance to the painter, suggesting further a possible self-portrait.”

To learn more, visit the National 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.

Fine Art Connoisseur was honored to be invited to celebrate with the legendary David Hockney on the artist’s 80th birthday at the Getty Museum Center in Los Angeles.

By Vanessa Françoise Rothe

Two exhibitions are on view: “Self-Portraits,” curated by Julian Brooks of the Getty, and a clever grouping of Hockney’s mosaic photography. Of particular interest to Fine Art Today readers is the “Self Portraits” exhibition, which ranges from Hockney’s painting of his 17-year-old self in school to recent self-portraits created with the pen tool on a computer. Of special note are his mid-career graphite works and a fine watercolor. The exhibition features a selection of self-portraits made over a span of 65 years.

As the gallery text notes, “Laced with wit and sensitivity, these works — created for Hockney’s own interest and not for sale — display an intense scrutiny of his features over time.” Hockney, the museum notes, was not at first interested in doing self-portraits, but  after seeing works in his travels — such as Rembrandt’s self-portraits and that artist’s studies of his features in different states, happy and sad, mouth open in astonishment — Hockney began to show interest. The show portrays not only different stages in his art career, but his ever-changing use of mediums as well, from graphite, to watercolors, to modern day renditions using an iPad; this small but interesting exhibition underscores his experimentation.

The evening was a celebration of the artist with not only friends and some reporters, but patrons of the museum who took the time to come and support Hockney’s works, career, and the arts in general. The Getty, shining as always as a beacon in the hills in Los Angeles, is proud to represent a very fine collection ranging from Rembrandt — interesting to see the influence on Hockney of those works in the next building — to Alma-Tadema, to Van Gogh, as well as some of the contemporary artists who have been influenced by the masters. Getty Director Timothy Potts aims to continue in this vein of linking the permanent fine art collection to new and informative exhibitions and has an exciting year planned ahead.

Only five works of art attributed to Hieronymus Bosch exist in the United States, which is why June 30 was a significant date for a particular renowned institution.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, is currently displaying a stunning painting of “The Temptation of St. Anthony” by Dutch master Hieronymus Bosch. Opened on June 30, the public exhibition of the painting will be its first since 2003. Via the museum’s press materials, “The ‘Temptation of St. Anthony’ returns to the Nelson-Atkins after being lent in early 2016 to the Het Noordbrabants Museum in The Netherlands for the largest ever Bosch retrospective to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his death. The Bosch Research and Conservation Project authenticated the painting in 2015 after extensive testing, which was chronicled in a recent documentary by Pieter van Huystee about Bosch’s quincentennial exhibition in his hometown.

“‘The Temptation of St. Anthony’ will be shown alongside ‘Christ Crowned with Thorns,’ an autograph painting by Bosch’s contemporary Albrecht Bouts, which also makes its museum debut since its respective authentication. Both works will be presented in a special exhibition that will focus on the scholarly and scientific techniques used to determine the attribution of the paintings.”

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.

Gallery 1261 in Denver, Colorado, has a new location on Wazee Street, and its first show in the new spaces features a diverse range of representational talent. Whose work can you find on the walls through August 5? Find out here.

Nineteen of the world’s foremost representational painters are currently being shown at Gallery 1261’s new exhibition space. Titled “Exordium,” the group show runs from July 13 through August 5. Represented artists include Mia Bergeron, Suchitra Bhosle, Gregory Block, Scott Burdick, Valerio d’Ospina, Dianne L. Massey Dunbar, Ron Hicks, Quang Ho, Patrick Kramer, Wang Kun, Susan Lyon, Robin Cole Smith, Daniel Sprick, Josh Tiessen, Kevin Weckbach, Aaron Westerberg, Pamela Wilson, Vincent Xeus, 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.

A remarkable exhibition of contemporary photo-realist figurative works by two acclaimed painters will soon be on view at RJD Gallery in Bridgehampton, New York. It opens this Saturday, and there’s extra incentive for collectors.

Themes of identity, youth, and contemporary culture are explored with beautiful clarity through the paintings by Rachel Moseley and Katie O’Hagan in “A Girl Next Door,” opening Saturday, July 22 at RJD Gallery. A percentage of sales, as well as a raffle, from the reception will benefit the Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI), the oldest and largest organization dedicated to serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth.

Via the gallery, “Recognized by numerous organizations for their exceptional representational techniques, these artists create intimate and emotional paintings that captivate viewers. Moseley creates pop-portraits of the diverse contemporary youth within her community while O’Hagan’s psychological landscapes offer us an opportunity for introspection and challenge us to see beyond the outward appearance.

“Gallery owner Richard Demato continues his philanthropic efforts, raising awareness and funds in support of Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI), which believes that all young people regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential. During the opening reception of ‘A Girl Next Door,’ a percentage of sales, as well as a raffle, will benefit this incredible organization.

“Further enhancing the context of our ‘girl next door’ we are concurrently exhibiting Daniel Pollera, a Hamptons-based painter specializing in architectural landscapes and seascapes, the cityscapes of Italian painter Marco Martelli, and urban landscapes of UK-based painter Rick Garland. Mingle with the artists, Katie O’Hagan and Daniel Pollera, and many of the HMI supporters.”

To learn more, visit RJD 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 very nice exhibition at The Atelier at Flowerfield in New York is currently showcasing the soft, radiant landscapes by the popular Christian White.

Opened on July 13 and continuing through August 31, “Christian White” is a solo exhibition of recent works by the show’s namesake. White was born in Rome, Italy, in 1953, while his father, sculptor Robert White, was on a Prix de Rome fellowship at the American Academy in Rome. He grew up in a family of artists, studying drawing, painting, and sculpture from a very young age. He began taking life drawing at Stony Brook University at age 10. White studied welding, stained glass, and mosaics in Holland at age 13, and began studying painting in 1966 with Paul Russotto before attending Liceo Artistico in Rome, Italy in 1968-69. He has a BFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Major early influences include his maternal grandfather, Dutch painter Joep Nicolas, family friend Fairfield Porter, Paul Georges, and Robert Kulicke. In Rome, Christian developed relationships with Jack Zajac, Gregory Gillespie, Gilbert Franklin, and many other artists. He moved to Harrison Street in lower Manhattan in 1977 after graduating from RISD. He had his first solo exhibition in 1975 at the Harbor Gallery in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. His first solo show in Manhattan was at the Steven Adams Gallery in the East Village in 1986, followed by shows at Ingber Gallery, the Garrison Art Center, and the Great American Salvage Company. He has had yearly one-man shows at Gallery North, in Setauket, Long Island, since 1983.

To learn more, visit The Atelier at Flowerfield.

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.