Curtis Gander, “Master Capture,” oil on panel, 7 x 5 in. (c) Douglas Flanders & Associates 2016
People-watching can be entertaining and fun, especially at a museum like the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. See what plein air painter Curtis Gander saw — and captured — at the renowned museum during this unique solo exhibition.
A unique series of miniature paintings by Minnesota painter Curtis Gander is on view at Minneapolis’ Douglas Flanders & Associates. The fascinating series features paintings that show people viewing works of art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The artist writes, “Painting miniatures was a new endeavor — I felt the small scale lent itself to the intimate nature of this series. The MIA miniatures are all based on candid photos that I took during various visits to the museum. I have always enjoyed visiting the MIA and enjoy photography, so the series was a natural outcome of my interests.”
Curtis Gander, “Close Enough,” oil on panel, 8 x 8 in. (c) Douglas Flanders & Associates 2016Curtis Gander, “Master Capture,” oil on panel, 7 x 5 in. (c) Douglas Flanders & Associates 2016Curtis Gander, “Eye-Level,” oil on panel, 6 x 6 in. (c) Douglas Flanders & Associates 2016
“Viewing the Viewer” is currently on view and will show through December 4. To learn more, visit Douglas Flanders & Associates.
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Some critics have called Dulwich Picture Gallery’s current exhibition of landscapes by Andriaen van de Velde a “quiet and delightful rediscovery.” See what has the UK art world buzzing in this featured video.
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Robert Zeller, The Figurative Artist’s Handbook (2017) (c) Robert Zeller 2016
The long wait is just about over, and renowned artist Robert Zeller can barely wait to release his contemporary guide to figure drawing, painting, and composition. When does it hit the shelves?
Fine Art Connoisseur’s Editor-in-Chief, Peter Trippi, perhaps said it best when he described Robert Zeller’s forthcoming book The Figurative Artist’s Handbook as “a milestone.” Continuing, Trippi said, “Obviously a labor of love, it also marks the opening of the next chapter in the rebirth of figuration in America today.”
How exciting! And the wait is almost over. Hitting the shelves in March 2017, Zeller’s contemporary guide to figure drawing, painting, and composition is being met with great anticipation. Via the artist’s webpage: “At a time when renewed interest in figurative art is surging throughout the art world, author Robert Zeller and the Monacelli Press present The Figurative Artist’s Handbook—the first comprehensive guide to figure drawing, painting and composition to appear in decades.
Elizabeth Zanzinger, (c) Elizabeth Zanzinger 2016
“Illustrated with Zeller’s own exquisite drawings and paintings as well as works by nearly 100 historical and contemporary figurative art masters, the book includes some of the finest figurative art of the past and the present day. Some of those included are Michelangelo, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Gustav Klimt, Edward Hopper, Andrew Loomis, Andrew Wyeth, Lucian Freud, Odd Nerdrum, Eric Fischl, Bo Bartlett, Steven Assael, John Currin, and many others.
Daniel Sprick, (c) Daniel Sprick 2016
“Original and thoroughly modern in approach, Zeller’s method of teaching synthesizes three styles of figure-drawing long thought to be at odds with each other. All three methods underlie contemporary fine-arts practice and education. Zeller combines them into one system to offer a cohesive and complete understanding of the human figure.
Zoey Frank, (c) Zoey Frank 2016
“Covering all the basics as well as many advanced techniques, The Figurative Artist’s Handbook is aimed at both students and experienced artists. A practical, how-to guide, it provides in-depth step-by-step instruction and—rare among figure-drawing books—features sections on composition, portraiture, studio practice, and painting.
“Chapters on creativity and on using a sketchbook help readers hone their artistic vision and evolve ideas from the initial inspiration to the fully developed work. Also included is an extensive section highlighting the great movements in figurative art throughout history—from ancient Egypt and Greece to the present.”
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.
Dongfeng Li, “Girls on a Date (1st Place),” 2016, watercolor (c) Missouri Watercolor Society 2016
The Missouri Watercolor Society will mount a holiday exhibition this month featuring over 150 stunning watercolors that are ideal gifts for your family collector.
Featuring a number of outstanding watercolors, the Missouri Watercolor Society will host its biggest exhibition of the year in St. Louis at the 1900 Park Gallery this month. In addition to the over 150 works by national and internationally reputable artists, an awards ceremony will be hosted on Sunday, December 4 between 2 and 4 p.m.
Dongfeng Li, “Girls on a Date (1st Place),” 2016, watercolor (c) Missouri Watercolor Society 2016
Among the notable artists included in the show is renowned watercolorist Daven Anderson, whose remarkable career has spanned several decades. Also on view will be works by Charlotte Huntley, Ann Pember, Diane Schmidt, Terry Lay, Ryan Fox, Jerry Bowman, Mary Spellings, Jan Ross, Dean Mitchell, and April Rimpo.
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.
Emanuela De Musis, “Miss Rachel,” 2015, oil on linen, 42 x 24 in. (c) ARC 2016
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: Emanuela De Musis, “Miss Rachel.”
The Art Renewal Center’s annual salon is one of the world’s most prestigious representational art competitions. Needless to say, the number of applicants and quality of their works makes entry to — and winning — the salon a monumental achievement. This week’s feature portrait was the 2016 winner in the portraiture category, as announced just a few weeks ago. In fact, Boston-born artist Emanuela De Musis took home both first and second place in the portraiture category, though we take this moment to highlight the powerful first place winner, “Miss Rachel.”
Emanuela De Musis, “Miss Rachel,” 2015, oil on linen, 42 x 24 in. (c) ARC 2016
An intense visage greets the viewer in “Miss Rachel,” the sitter’s posture and gaze emanating confidence, power, and grace. Imaged in three-quarter view, the female subject is illuminated by a single light source directly over her head and outside the picture frame. The dramatic tenebrism and theatrical contrast on the figure allow her form to project and lift from the blackened background. Particularly noteworthy is the beautiful blouse worn by the sitter. The cool-white color of the garment allows the warmth of “Rachel’s” skin more attention and, in addition, highlights the brilliant flash of red seen in her lips.
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.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, “Return from the Kermesse,” oil on oak panel, 19 5/8 x 31 1/8 in. (c) Sotheby’s, London 2016
In this ongoing series for Fine Art Today, we take a longer look at the history and features of a soon-to-be-available artwork of note. This week: Pieter Brueghel the Younger, “Return from the Kermesse.”
The holidays were indeed happy if we are to take Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s (1564-1637) popular “Return from the Kermesse” as an accurate representation. As Sotheby’s correctly suggests, “Its beautiful state of preservation allows us to fully appreciate the superb draughtsmanship, understanding of gesture, color, composition, and storytelling that have ensured for Brueghel a lasting reputation.”
A Dutch term derived from “kerk” (church) and “mis” (mass), Kermesse was a fantastic time of celebration that commemorated the anniversary of the foundation of a church and in honor of its patron. It was a popular composition among 16th-century patrons, and Brueghel the Younger’s genius surfaces with incredible color and life in this soon-available lot from Sotheby’s London.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, “Return from the Kermesse,” oil on oak panel, 19 5/8 x 31 1/8 in. (c) Sotheby’s, London 2016
It is a lively scene that greets the viewer. Having just left mass, a procession of villagers dance and walk about in celebration just outside of town. In the foreground, along a muddy road, we find a number of entertaining subjects. A couple is seen having a romantic encounter inside of a horse-drawn carriage. A man who’s had his fair share of beer has found a tree to rest under as a bagpipe player walks by.
“Beyond this cast of principal protagonists,” Sotheby’s continues, “the artist has depicted a village scene still bustling with life, the kermesse seemingly still in full swing: a group of ten figures link hands and dance merrily in circles; two men are on the point of a sword fight as one is withheld by a woman desperately imploring them to desist, herself perhaps the cause of the fracas; beyond them the more sedate activities of organized hockey and archery keep others out of trouble and in the central distance a group of parishioners are filing into or out of church. Brueghel has placed a tree trunk to the right of the revellers to divide the composition into two and in this smaller section we see a far quieter scene, a nearly empty avenue beside a canal populated by just a few couples stumbling home and a cripple begging alms from two women. It is a scene in fact in which one can find any number of narratives and which gives us a clear idea of the spirit of such occasions in early seventeenth-century Flanders.”
Brueghel’s “Return from the Kermesse” headlines Sotheby’s December 7 Old Masters Evening Sale and is expected to command a robust price — though perhaps not as high as previous years. It sold in 2011 for $4.56 million, and auction estimates are now between $2.44 and $3.67 million.
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.
Odd Nerdrum, “The Night,” 2006, oil on canvas, 116 x 79 in. (c) Booth Gallery 2016
Booth Gallery in New York is currently hosting a hauntingly beautiful group exhibition this season featuring one of the biggest names in the art world today.
Curated by art critic Donald Kuspit and gallery director Casey Gleghorn, Booth Gallery’s current exhibition “Sensuous & Pensive: At Odds & Overlapping” is a visual feast and conceptual journey through contemporary and imaginative realism. Featuring works by nine artists — some represented by one work, others by multiples — “the exhibition takes a fresh look at the ‘conceptual’ label in contemporary art,” the gallery suggests. “The collection of works is a varied perceptual feast. Visitors are invited to contemplate both the pure visual experience (sensuous) versus the intellectual experience (pensive) elicited by each piece. What is revealed is that the exhibited works convincingly activate both categories of perception.”
Odd Nerdrum, “The Night,” 2006, oil on canvas, 116 x 79 in. (c) Booth Gallery 2016
Among the artists included in the show is kitsch master Odd Nerdrum, along with Mike Cockrill, Neverly Fishman, Alberto DiFabo, Chad Wys, Lynn Stern, Marjorie Grigonis, Maynard Monrow, and Joseph Beuys.
“Sensuous & Pensive: At Odds & Overlapping” opened on November 18 and will continue through January 14. To learn more, visit Booth 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.
Dorian Vallejo, “Blossom,” oil, 44 x 58 in. (c) Sirona Fine Art 2016
Fine Art Connoisseur is the proud sponsor for an artist panel and reception at Sirona Fine Art next month. The panel and exhibition features more than 20 top contemporary representational artists, including Erin Anderson, whose painting “Felix Looking Backward, Looking Forward” graces the cover of the November/December 2016 issue.
The exhibition “Chévere” will open at the incredibly beautiful Sirona Fine Art in Hallandale Beach, Florida, on December 3. As part of the opening reception, Fine Art Connoisseur has sponsored an artist panel featuring more than 20 national and international artists.
“Chévere” will showcase over 50 artworks by 40 artists and includes a range of favorite genres, including figurative, narrative, environmental, emotional, street, poetic, and history. The show was curated by Didi Menendez and collaborator Sergio Gomez. Via the gallery press release and excerpted from an article written by Daniel Maidman of The Huffington Post, “(The exhibition) manifests as an issue of Menendez’s Poets/Artists Magazine, and as an exhibition at Sirona Fine Art. Menendez herself is a Cuban expatriate. Some of the participating artists are from Latin America, others not. Therefore some of the artists draw on memory and experience of their own countries and peoples, and others on their encounters with cultures foreign to their own, and others still on imagination and images cobbled together from film and art and literature. The project becomes a great act of communion and empathy, a celebration of being together.”
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 few weeks ago we highlighted just a few details about the stunning new campus for the Florence Academy. The atelier recently released a video with even more views of the incredible transformation.
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Anthony Brunelli, “Hanoi Market 2.0,” 2015-2016, oil on canvas, 40 x 74 in. (c) Bernarducci Meisel Gallery 2016
Showcasing the works of photorealists Robert Bechtle, Richard Estes, John Salt, and several others, Bernarducci Meisel Gallery is a proud host of a great exhibition this fall.
A stunning range of contemporary photorealist paintings is currently being displayed at New York City’s Bernarducci Meisel Gallery. They largely feature cityscapes and urban settings, and viewers will have difficulty distinguishing where the real world ends and the created world begins.
Blackwell, “Broadway,” 1982, oil on canvas, 90 x 60 in. (c) Bernarducci Meisel Gallery 2016Anthony Brunelli, “Hanoi Market 2.0,” 2015-2016, oil on canvas, 40 x 74 in. (c) Bernarducci Meisel Gallery 2016
Among the talent represented in the show includes Robert Bechtle, Richard Estes, John Salt, Ron Kleemann, Neil MacCormick, Max Ferguson, Bertrand Meniel, Don Eddy, Robert Neffson, Adam Normandin, Raphaella Spence, Nathan Walsh, Blackwell, Anthony Brunelli, Robert Cottingham, Robert Gniewek, Gus Heinze, Don Jacot, Charles Jarboe, and Cheryl Kelley.
Cheryl Kelley, “Old Town,” 2016, oil on aluminum panel, 48 x 36 in. (c) Bernarducci Meisel Gallery 2016Richard Estes, “Old Police Headquarters,” 1984, oil on board, 20 1/4 x 15 in. (c) Bernarducci Meisel Gallery 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.
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