Although known primarily for his development of the electromagnetic telegraph, Samuel F.B. Morse actually began his career as an artist. The inventor’s artistic endeavors are the subject of an exhibition in Arkansas.
 
Leave it to Samuel Morse to produce a lovely painting that brought together his artistic and scientific pursuits. Most don’t realize that the famous inventor was actually an artist — a fact that the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, hopes to illuminate.
 
“Samuel F. B. Morse’s Gallery of the Louvre and the Art of Invention” opened on January 23 and will be on view through April 18. As its title suggests, the show predominantly focuses on one particular piece by Morse, his monumental “Gallery of the Louvre” — a piece in which the artist chose masterpieces from the Louvre Museum’s collection and depicted them as though they were being exhibited together. The picture reads like a “Grand Tour” masterpiece, showcasing the spoils of a wealthy Englishman having just returned from journeys abroad.
 

Samuel Morse, “View of Mount Etna,” 1842, oil on canvas, 32 x 48 in. (c) Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art 2016

 
The museum notes, “‘Gallery of the Louvre’ is a painting of visual and technical complexity, bringing together Morse’s artistic and scientific pursuits and revealing an adoration of the old masters as well as the artist’s Calvinist worldview and conservative cultural politics. Morse showed ‘Gallery of the Louvre’ as a single-painting exhibition only twice—in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut—where it was praised by critics and connoisseurs but failed to capture the imagination of the public. Crushed by the lukewarm public response, Morse soon ceased painting altogether, moving on to his more successful experiments with the electromagnetic telegraph, and, most famously, Morse code. Today, after six months of conservation and two years of scholarly study, this impressive work of American art reveals Morse’s fascination with the transmission of information: in both his desire to share masterworks from Europe with the American people, and his invention of Morse code.”
 
To learn more, visit the Crystal Bridges 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.
 

Now through May 28 is a colorful exhibition showcasing the landscapes of Erin Hanson. Where?
 
2016 officially marks 100 years for our nation’s National Park Service. In honor of the centennial, the St. George Art Museum in Utah has launched “Erin Hanson’s Painted Parks” — a solo exhibition of the artist’s moving impressionistic landscapes.
 

Erin Hanson, “Journey Into Cedar Breaks,” oil, 58 x 58 in. (c) Erin Hanson 2016

 
“Erin Hanson’s Painted Parks” opened on January 16 and will be on view through May 28. The show will feature 35 works from Hanson. The solo show is just part of a yearlong series of juried art shows at the museum in celebration of our National Parks.
 

Erin Hanson, “Cedar Breaks Color,” oil, 70 x 50 in. (c) Erin Hanson 2016

 
Discussing the exhibition, Hanson noted, “This collection of National Park paintings has been in the process of creation since I was a young girl growing up in Los Angeles. When I was a child, I would look forward eagerly every year to escaping the ordinary routine of city life and having the opportunity to explore the great outdoors. I remember laying on my back under these impossibly tall pine trees, after hiking all day to reach a forested peak in the Angeles Crest National Forest. All I could hear was the surprisingly loud and changing melody of the wind moving through the pine boughs. I was only one day away from my concrete-lined home life, but it felt like an entirely different world.”
 
To learn more, visit Erin Hanson.
 
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.
 

Two leaders in a movement of young artists working to revive traditional landscape painting techniques are the subjects of a compelling exhibition at the Union League Club in New York City. When?
 
Realism and academic traditions in art appear to be experiencing a resurgence, and many of us can barely sit still as we eagerly witness the cultural shift in taste. Two artists at the forefront of reviving traditional landscape techniques, particularly those of the Hudson River School, are Erik Koeppel and Lauren Sansaricq, who are the subjects of an enlightening exhibition at the Union League Club in New York.
 

Lauren Sansaricq, (c) Lauren Sansaricq 2016

 
Having met each other in 2009 while painting in the Catskill Mountains, Sansaricq and Koeppel have “traveled together across the United States and abroad, painting glorious landscapes in the humble and honest manner of their forefathers” the club says. “It should be noted, however, that these works are not copies from art’s illustrious past, but in fact represent a new movement reviving our nation’s past artistic ideals. Both artists adamantly believe that the underlying philosophy of celebrating the glory of nature is an urgently needed voice in today’s culture. This assertion has been well proven by the extensive success both artists have found nationwide, in the form of awards, publications, exhibitions, and collectability. The public has been further amazed to learn that Lauren and Erik create their work by the traditional process of drawing and sketching outdoors in nature and without the use of photography. 
 
“This exhibition includes a broad array of subjects, from the South of France, to the Rocky Mountains, to the pastures of the Hudson Valley where American Landscape Painting was born. We welcome you to take a break from the hustle and bustle of city life, and allow your mind to rest in the peaceful ideal nature contained within these paintings.” 
 
“Kindred Spirits” opened on February 2 and will be on view through February 29.
 
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 experimental lighting display has met Egyptology in a fascinating exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. When can you feast your eyes?
 
Although the exhibition will only be available for limited times over an eight-weekend period, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York can expect large and eager crowds for its recently opened Egyptian show. “Color the Temple: Scene 1” will present viewers with a rare glimpse into how relief sculptures in the Temple of Dendur may have originally appeared. Using precise analysis and projectors, images of the “original” colors are shown on top of the actual objects.
 
The museum writes, “Colors that likely decorated an ancient Egyptian temple when it was built 2,000 years ago, but have since eroded away, can be seen at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this winter. To be shown for a series of eight weekends beginning January 29, the experimental lighting display ‘Color the Temple: Scene 1’ combines the scholarly knowledge of specialists in the Egyptian Art Department with the technological expertise of staff in the MediaLab at the MET. The colors that were probably used in antiquity will be projected onto a ritual scene carved into the sandstone of the beloved Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing, providing visitors with a new perspective on ancient art. In the scene, the Roman emperor Augustus, depicted as a pharaoh, makes an offering to Egyptian deities. Constructed in around 15 BCE, the Temple’s external walls have retained no original color.”
 
To learn more, visit the Metropolitan Museum 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.
 

Beginning February 13 in Florida, visitors to this museum are afforded the opportunity to view over 150 works of portraiture and self-portraiture from some of the biggest names in the history of art. Where?
 
Opening soon at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, “Contemplating Character: Portrait Drawings and Oil Sketches from Jacques Louis David to Lucian Freud” is sure to be a fantastic exhibition of life-like — and abstracted — visages.

The names included in the exhibition, which features more than 150 works from both public and private collections, are sure to draw major crowds. Among others, they include the aforementioned Jacques Louis David along with Gustave Dore and Edouard Vuillard. Via the exhibition webpage: “Others include portraits of other artists, family members and friends, and famous people, among them a rare, early profile of George Washington and another of author Oscar Wilde. The collection focuses on rare portraits, many capturing the deeper personality of the subjects. Lucian Freud, for example, is known for his penetrating portraits, and there are even two drawings by the legendary cartoon artist R. Crumb. The exhibition also complements the MFA’s own distinguished holdings of portrait paintings and sculpture. Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator Emeritus of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, developed the show from his personal collection. He has written: ‘Every drawing in this exhibition has moved me deeply in some human way, and it is both my conviction and hope that individuals who view this exhibition will make a similar connection and feel the presence of the personalities who have been drawn and painted over the last two centuries.’”

To learn more, visit the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg.

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.
 

Portraiture has the ability to communicate with viewers on a deep, human level that continually draws artists — and collectors — to the genre. During his latest solo exhibition, painter Luke Hillestad captures the essence of his sitters from a breadth of generations.
 
Open now at the delightful Douglas Flanders & Associates in Minneapolis, Minnesota, “AEON: Portraits of Youth and Age” features the latest mastery to emerge from the studio of Luke Hillestad. A former apprentice of the world-renowned Odd Nerdrum, Hillestad’s work showcases one of the ways contemporary artists are bringing traditional techniques and palettes back to their historical grandeur. The artist works in the historical Apelles palette (white, black, yellow, and red), and Hillestad’s paintings display a remarkable degree of harmony and balance, each piece seeming to have an interior glow and timeless appeal.
 

Luke Hillestad, “Don,” oil on linen, 22 x 20 in. (c) Luke Hillestad 2016

 
“My favorite people embody youthful energy and elder-like virtue,” writes Hillestad. “Too often our childish curiosities are curtailed and ancient wisdoms ignored. No doubt, the advertisement industry’s amplification of the 18-24 year-old market has rushed children into pre-mature adulthood and distracted from a healthy respect for old age. In this exhibition, AEON, I focused on these ages that bookend the human archetype. For me, painting is an extended meditation about themes I want to work through and people I admire. Here I invite you to take your time and consider the values you want to embody; those which have been with you since your youth and those you desire to embrace as you age.”
 

Luke Hillestad, “Maiden, Mother, and Crone (triptych),” oil on linen, (c) Luke Hillestad 2016

 
The exhibition also displays several self-portraits of the artist, both autonomously and in the guise of a “Drunken Noah.” Whether the sitter was the artist himself or a member of his family, each work is treated with delicacy and acute observation. Adding to the power of the images is the overwhelming sense that Hillestad has touched on more than physiognomic signifiers. In short, the works have presence, character, emotion, narrative, mystery, and so much more. As Hillestad — and many others like him — forge ahead, “AEON” shines bright as an indicator of the splendor to come from representational art world.
 

Luke Hillestad, “Colton,” oil on linen, 20 x 18 in. (c) Luke Hillestad 2016

 
To learn more, visit Douglas Flanders & Associates  
 
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 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: George Morland, “The Gipsies’ Tent.”
 
Born in London in 1763, painter George Morland was on an artistic career trajectory from an early age. Drawing by the age of 3, Morland received his first honorary exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1773 — at age 10. He was raised in a home of privilege, and Morland’s talent was recognized by his father, who pushed the budding artist to cultivate his skills from an early age.
 
Throughout his career, Morland was known for his pastoral subjects and love of wildlife. Late in the painter’s career, his elegant and refined subjects were gradually replaced by scenes of rural, humble life in the English countryside. Unfortunately, publishers, who produced for great profit thousands of engravings after the artist’s work, exploited the popularity of Morland’s images.
 
Although his life and career were marred by several unfortunate bouts of debt and drunkenness, Morland produced art at a prolific rate. Scholars estimate that his total production was no less than 4,000 pictures.
 
The market for the painter’s work today is modest, with prices often ranging around $20,000. Heading to the block on February 20 via Heritage Auctions is “The Gipsies’ Tent” — a quintessential of both the artist and English Romanticism. Deep within the English countryside, a travelling family of gypsies has stopped at the end of the day to camp. Beneath lush foliage and trees, a mother tends to her two young children as others nap and set up their site. The feathery brushwork is lovely in the piece, and it is accentuated by the balanced palette of pastel greens, blues, pinks, and oranges. Auction estimates are between $15,000 and $25,000.
 
To view the full catalogue, visit Heritage Auctions.
 
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.

“Early Snow”
Soft Pastel
8 x 10 in.
$650

www.tirwinart.com
 
About the artist:
Terry Irwin is a Colorado artist who paints in both soft pastels and oils.  Her current work celebrates “the road less traveled”, painting landscapes and wildlife within the American West and Southwest.
 
After graduating from Northern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Fine Art, she designed, built and painted what she coined her ‘environmental’ room screens which were feature in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart and the Washington Design Center, in D.C.  After moving to Colorado, she turned to focus on Fine Art, painting in pastels and oils.  “I am drawn to the magic of light and shadow and to objects that offer a unique vantage point.”  It is that strength of image that compels her interest in each painting.
 
She admits to an on-going love affair with the West with its wide open spaces, panoramic mountain ranges and diverse wildlife.  Her current excursions into wilderness areas are spent sketching, plein air painting and forming concepts for paintings that will present a completely unique point-of-view or perspective.
 
“I am drawn to the qualities of light on form and the way the spectrums of light alter and ultimately define a subject.  I try to convey the mood or feeling of a subject in a way that the viewer might not have the opportunity to experience for themselves.” 
 
Irwin has won numerous awards including the “Best in Show” at the Mile High International Pastel Exhibition in Denver, in 2015.  Her work can be seen at ElkHorn Gallery in Winter Park, Colorado and at Michael’s Fine Art Gallery on Main, in Canon City, Colorado.
 
www.tirwinart.com
303-972-8795
[email protected]
 

“Portobello”
Egg Tempera on Panel
8 x 10 in.

www.rosereneefineart.com

Both born in the mid-sixties, Olga and Aleksey Ivanov received their classical art education in Moscow, Russia and have been in collaboration ever since. Their early education focused on classical drawing, live model painting, human anatomy, and art history. 

After graduation they explored the world of the European Renaissance and Russian Iconography. This along with their work in restoration led them to what has become their highest passion: egg tempera and gilding. The egg tempera technique dates back to early Greek and Roman art. It is a demanding skill that was largely abandoned when oil paints were introduced in the 16th century. This highly sophisticated medium demands full attention, perfect blending, and exceptional skill and sensitivity as each of the many layers are added to a work. 

The husband and wife team are both equally involved in each piece created. They immigrated from Russia to the United States in 2002 and now live and work in Denver, Colorado. Their works are in collections across the globe and grace the cover and pages of magazines.
 

“And He Bearing His Cross”
Graphite on Paper
40 X 32 in.
$3995.00
 
LivvnArt Colorado and The Religious Academy are pleased to announce our monthly LivvnArt Biblical Gallery Show.  LivvnArt Biblical focuses on creating Classical Visual Art as it relates to Biblical stories.  This month we have pieces from Paul Grass, Vera Anderson, John Stadler, Patricia Johnson, Sarah Phippen and more.  Preview show on www.livvnart.org.
 
Join us Saturday February 27th for our demo at Christian Used Books, christianusedbooks.net, where our Biblical Artists will create your favorite Biblical Narrative.  Our show will be available to see in our Biblical Art Gallery Friday February 5th – Tuesday March 1st at the LivvnArt Gallery, 216 South Grant, Denver CO 80209, online at www.livvnart.org, and by apt, [email protected].  We will also have Artwork from artists that have donated to the Gideon Grass Trust including Shari Cannon available for purchase.  
 
As always 7% of our proceeds go towards the Brandy Cattoor Children’s Trust.  The Brandy Cattoor Children’s Trust was created in December of 2014 when LivvnArt’s CEO passed away from a two month battle with Breast Cancer at 27. We currently have been blessed to sell some of Brandy’s work on our site at this location: http://www.livvnart.org/#!trust-store/bamfw 
 
Artists from around the world including Paul Grass, Gregory Mortenson, Niki Covington, Mike Malm, Quang Ho, Joseph Brickey, Robert Barrett, and many more have generously donated work to helping Brandy’s three small children all under the age of 5 years old left behind.  100% of the donated work go towards helping this precious family.