Artists Showplace in Dallas, Texas, is overjoyed to currently be hosting an exhibition of large-scale watercolor works by an accomplished Chinese master. You won’t believe how beautiful they are.
Watercolor is a painting medium that seems perfectly designed for capturing fleeting moments or impressions. Whether an old man caught in a moment or the drifting reflections of light on water, Chinese master Stephen Zhang seems to capture it all during his latest solo exhibition in Dallas this month.
On view now through March 4, “Flow” presents a number of Zhang’s large-scale watercolors with a diverse range of subjects. Zhang grew up in China, and his style and creative process are very much influenced by traditional Eastern watercolor. Even so, the artist’s works are also informed by contemporary arts. Via the gallery, “In his large-scale watercolors, artist and creative director Stephen Zhang freezes fleeting moments: an old man caught in the moment or intriguing light deep in the forest. On the subtle level, Zhang hints at the grave concern that the current state of nature may change permanently, and he builds the portraits with layers of stories and emotions.”
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.
Carlo Dolci, “Adoration of the Kings,” circa 1649, oil on canvas, 117 x 92 cm. (c) National Gallery, London 2017
Florence is known as the Italian city that served as the center of the cultural rebirth called the Renaissance. However, even into the 17th century, the city continued to produce a number of important painters, one of whom is the subject of this exhibition. Who, when, and where?
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone — even among art historians — who’s heard the name Carlo Dolci (1616-1687). Perhaps this is because the times in which he worked, the mid-17th century, which was long after the period that had made Italy the center of the artistic world. Indeed, although Dolci was 17th-century Florence’s most important painter, it was the northern masters such as Vermeer, Rembrandt, Rubens, and others who had taken the reins as Europe’s preeminent painters.
Carlo Dolci, “Saint Matthew Writing His Gospel,” circa 1670, oil on canvas, 52-5/8 x 44-3/4 in. (c) J. Paul Getty Museum 2017
Despite Dolci’s historical obscurity, the life and art of this painter deserve attention, which is what’s happening at the Davis Museum on the campus of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Opening on February 10 and running through July 9, “The Medici’s Painter: Carlo Dolci and 17th-century Florence” is the first exhibition in America devoted to the painter, and includes over 50 autograph works on loans from several of the world’s major museums and private collections. The exhibition is curated by Eve Straussman-Pflanzer, head of the European art department at the Detroit Institute of Arts, who says, “The exhibition will consider Dolci’s art in depth as well as consider art as a critical diplomatic, political, and cultural tool from the early modern period to the present. It provides the first opportunity in the United States to study the life and oeuvre of the most important artist in 17th-century Florence.”
The museum adds, “Best known for his half-length and single-figure devotional pictures, Dolci was also a gifted painter of altarpieces and portraits as well as a highly accomplished draughtsman. He created his first works of art in the mid-1620s, after entering the studio of the Florentine painter Jacopo Vignali (1592–1664) in 1625. Among his first patrons were members of the Medici family and foreign nobility, who immediately recognized his reverence for detail, brilliant palette, and seemingly enameled surfaces.
Carlo Dolci, “Adoration of the Kings,” circa 1649, oil on canvas, 117 x 92 cm. (c) National Gallery, London 2017
“This exhibition moves beyond the notion of Dolci as a sentimental painter or an exclusively devotional one, and returns to an appreciation of the aesthetic merits, naturalistic underpinnings, and cultural context of the artist’s work. Exhibiting Dolci’s oeuvre chronologically with attention to autograph works by the artist, the exhibition will exceed longstanding prejudices by presenting the artist’s exquisite surfaces and breathtaking palette alongside preparatory drawings. Such juxtaposition will reveal the sheer technical virtuosity of the artist as well as the naturalistic vein that forms the foundation of his entire legacy.”
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 the last few years I have been painting a larger percentage of Native American works, and Apache Land is a recent example. It was created for a live auction in Great Falls, Montana, at the C. M. Russell Museum that takes place in mid-March.
I wanted to highlight a couple of things about the Apache way of life that had existed for centuries before it disappeared in the late 19th century. They had become a serious horse culture by this time, and they were the masters of the mountainous and rugged country of the southwest. The dramatic beauty of this incredible landscape frames in the painting, and I added a flock of sand cranes to give a further sense of space and action. As the central figure leads a horse through the brush on a rocky hillside, his US Cavalry jacket gives us a clue about the challenges Apaches faced in the rapidly changing 1800’s.
We see here a visual device that I never tire of using, that being a strong light source that creates cool shadows and warm golden highlights…I also have posed the horses and figures in a design that creates tension and a feeling of action as they move down the rocky slope. All of these elements come together that for me describe the character and the land of the Apache.”
Stephanie Revennaugh is an artist with a life-long passion for the horse. She expresses her creative drive and fascination with the animal by modeling the equine form in clay with her hands and simple tools. It is then transformed into bronze through the alchemy of casting and patina.
Originally from Ohio and raised in Costa Rica and Bolivia, Revennaugh’s artistic and equestrian pursuits have found her living in Kentucky, Colorado, Montana and France. Currently, she splits time between Montana and Arizona.
Revennaugh is the recipient of the 2017 National Sculpture Society’s Marilyn Newmarket Memorial Grant. Her work has been shown at numerous art and equine events including the National Sculpture Society Annual Exhibition, the Sporting Art Auction at Keeneland Racetrack and Longines Master Los Angeles. She won the Ex Arte Equinus VI Portfolio Award in March 2015, received Best New Artist award at DCW Museum’s Cowgirl Up!
Stephanie’s work can be seen at the Celebration of Fine Art in Scottsdale, AZ January 14 – March 26, 2017. The Celebration of Fine Art is a unique art experience which gives visitors the opportunity to watch 100 artists in their working studio under one roof. Open daily from 10 am – 6 pm. Visitors enjoy strolling through the 100 artist studios under the 40,000 square foot exhibit tent. Artists are on-site creating, allowing for the visitor to watch them at work, discover what inspires them and the techniques used to create the works of art. Come to Scottsdale to see more of Stephanie’s works in person and discover the stories behind each unique work of art.
Many individuals with creative minds seek New York City, while others embark on journeys far beyond the city limits. One accomplished painter spent 2016 away from Manhattan, using the time for exploration and self-discovery. The results currently hang here.
A classically trained painter working in the Hudson River School tradition, Emilie Lee uses drawing, note-taking, and plein air sketching to create beautiful large-scale paintings that “are a distillation of time, memory, and close observation of the natural world,” she suggests.
On view February 1 through February 17, “After New York” is a fascinating look into Lee’s journey outside New York in 2016, when the artist traveled from Maine to California and Costa Rica. Located at New York’s Dacia Gallery, “After New York” features approximately 16 paintings produced without the use of photography — a break from the artist’s normal process. “I chose this limitation so I can be completely present with the dynamic, living qualities of my subject,” Lee says, “and embrace the unpredictable results that occur during the painting process. When I’m painting in nature, absorbed in the intricacies of light and color, I feel bursting with gratitude for the perfection of life and the fun of painting. Of course, I am usually alone in the woods when this occurs, so it is my sincere pleasure to share this work with you now.”
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.
Wonderful prints by a near-forgotten female historical artist headline an exhibition this February that’s sure to delight the connoisseur. She was an Official War Artist of the Second World War, and her powerful images deserve your attention.
The Fine Art Society, located in London, England, yesterday opened a memorable exhibition surrounding the life and career of near-forgotten artist Ethel Gabain (1883-1950). A successful printmaker and painter, Gabain is currently experiencing some renewed appreciation for her achievements as an Official War Artist during World War II.
On view through February 28, “Ethel Gabain: Life Studies” delves into the artist’s powerful images of war — but not necessarily the subjects one might expect. In fact, Gabain was given the task of depicting British women workers, and “her lithographs celebrate robust and determined women working together,” the gallery writes. “Gabain was able to emphasize both their femininity and their bravery, grasping their personal emotion in the collective action. Ethel Gabain’s emotional subtlety and technical brilliance are combined in images which are distinctive. Although she would have been quite surprised at the idea of being called a feminist artist, she was possibly one of the most insightful and important artists of her age.”
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.
Not to worry if you don’t because there’s a fantastic opportunity to learn this weekend in Fredericksburg, Texas. You won’t be disappointed if you take a look here.
Brilliant paintings and sculptures by renowned artist Bruce R. Greene, CA, will soon grace the walls of InSight Gallery in Fredericksburg, Texas. It opens tomorrow, February 3, and the gallery will host a reception between 6 and 8 p.m. And just as exciting is a sculpting demonstration slated for Saturday, February 4 from 1 to 3 p.m.
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.
Lovers of Victorian painting and watercolor will be tickled pink to learn about this monumental exhibition just opened at an esteemed gallery. Among the highlights are works by Frederic Leighton, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and Edward John Poynter. Enough said?
More than 60 stunning Victorian paintings and watercolors by many of the period’s most accomplished artists are currently on view at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, England. Titled “Victorian Treasures,” the exhibition delves into a period marked by important change “in the way people used and viewed art,” the gallery writes. “Painters focused on the imagination of the spectator and began exploring new, challenging subjects. They explored the fundamentals of human existence and painted emotional scenes inspired by legend and mythology. Artists were also interested in classification, documentation, and enlightenment and freely experimented with new ways of representing the physical world.”
Along with the aforementioned, other artists featured in the show include Pre-Raphaelite masters John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt. “Victorian Treasures” opened on January 27 and will be on view through May 7. To learn more, visit the Walker Art 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 recently opened exhibition is a disturbing yet beautiful exploration of how several historical artists captured images of war.
More than 100 outstanding etchings and lithographs compose a gripping exhibition at the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego, California. “Witness to War” opened on January 27 and will continue through May 28, and it is being met with great acclaim.
Depicting searing images from the 17th to the 20th centuries, “Witness to War” features the works of Francisco de Goya, Jacques Callot, and George Bellows. Among the wars represented are the Thirty Years War, the Napoleonic War, and the First World War. Via the museum, “When war again is once a crucial issue ‘Witness to War’ speaks to its violence. Difficult to look at with the many scenes of savagery and suffering it yields compassion for victims of such suffering and abuses. ‘Witness to War’ highlights the way art speaks in different voices to different generations, and transcends the particularities of a specific war, encouraging viewers to integrate the artist’s intention with our own experiences and beliefs to create meaning for these works 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.
Jacob Jordaens, “Portrait of Elizabeth van Noort,” circa 1630s, black, red, and white chalk on paper, 12-3/8 x 9-5/8 in. (c) Ackland Art Museum 2017
News out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, late last week was making waves in the museum world as UNC alumni Sheldon and Leena Peck made one heck of a gift. The inside scoop is here.
Administrators of both the University of North Carolina and its on-campus art institution, the Ackland Art Museum, are jumping for joy after renowned alumni Sheldon and Leena Peck made a stunning donation valued at over $25 million. The unprecedented gift includes an $8 million endowment to support a new curator. More importantly, the gift features 134 17th-century masterworks, including several drawings by Rembrandt van Rijn.
Jacob Jordaens, “Portrait of Elizabeth van Noort,” circa 1630s, black, red, and white chalk on paper, 12-3/8 x 9-5/8 in. (c) Ackland Art Museum 2017
Not only does the donation significantly bolster the Ackland’s current collection, it marks a historic moment for university museums around the country. With the gift, the Ackland Art Museum becomes the first university art museum to own a collection of Rembrandt drawings. University Chancellor Carol L. Folt said, “This amazing gift of European Golden Age art treasures — preserved for nearly 400 years and lovingly collected by the Pecks over the past 40 years — delights us today with its timeless beauty and will forever inspire future generations of students, scholars, and visitors that come to our historic campus. These drawings are a remarkable window through which we glimpse past cultures and times through the eyes of masters. We are honored by the inestimable value of the Pecks’ gift because it advances Carolina’s public mission to serve the people of North Carolina and makes the university a destination for people of all ages from around the world for all time.”
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.
Fill your mind with useful art stories, the latest trends, upcoming art shows, top artists, and more. Subscribe to Fine Art Today, from the publishers of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.
