Representational & Figurative Art

10 Things You Need To Know About Jan van Eyck

August 13, 2023 (updated August 13, 2023) Published by artistvenu

Officials unveil the restored exterior panels of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, an altarpiece painted by the Van Eyck brothers in 1432, at Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium on October 12, 2016. Photo credit EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images.

Flemish painter Jan van Eyck (1390 – 1441) was one of the key artists of the Early Northern Renaissance. His technical brilliance and mastery of formal composition contributed to his reputation as one of the innovators of Early Netherlandish painting, while his art served as a model to generations of painters both North and South of the Alps. Ready to learn more about him?

1. There is a rumor that he invented oil painting

Giorgio Vasari, (the main source of art history gossip from the 16th century) in his famous Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects claimed that Van Eyck invented oil painting. Although nowadays it is proven to be a myth, Van Eyck definitely contributed to a revolution in art, switching from egg paint (tempera) to much richer and deeper colors available in oil paint. Moreover, he perfected the oil painting by applying several thin translucent layers of paint to the panels, which eventually created a unique illusion of depth.

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Who Was N.C. Wyeth? Learn About the 20th Century Illustrator Responsible for Over 100 Books

August 11, 2023 (updated August 11, 2023) Published by artistvenu

In an era that’s known as the Golden Age of illustration, illustrator Newell Convers Wyeth (aka N.C. Wyeth) was one of its superstars. The American painter contributed illustrations to over 100 books and painted over 4,000 images.

His realistically rendered pictures visualized classic tales like Treasure Island, The Last of the Mohicans, and Robinson Crusoe. Wyeth also created illustrations for advertising campaigns such as Coca-Cola and Kellogg’s Foods. While considered one of the most successful illustrators of his time, Wyeth also had a thriving studio practice that included murals and private commissions—though it was commercial illustrations where he found the most fame.

Wyeth was a prolific artist and illustrator whose studio and residence in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, can still be viewed today. Read to learn more about his background, notable works, and the tragedy that ended his life at the age of 62.

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Community and Connection Center in Damien Cifelli’s Portraits of a Fictional World

August 10, 2023 (updated August 10, 2023) Published by artistvenu

“Summiting Taro Mountain”

“I think it says a lot about humans that we have been creating alternative worlds as long as we have been around, whether it’s a way of escaping our reality or thinking of new ways of living,” says Damien Cifelli. From a stoic greengrocer to a gathering of friends to a bored shop clerk, vibrant colors illuminate a stylish cast of characters in the London-based artist’s paintings.

Cifelli’s work revolves around a fictional world called “Tarogramma,” drawn from his experiences traveling and living abroad, and many of the pieces shown here are part of the artist’s solo exhibition Welcome to Tarogramma at Moosey. “As a kid, I was fascinated by adventure novels, explorers, and the idea of discovering a new place,” he tells Colossal.

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Brice Marden, Painter Who Redefined Abstraction, Dies at 84

August 10, 2023 (updated August 10, 2023) Published by artistvenu

An in-process work at Brice Marden’s Hydra workshop in 2007. PHOTO CATHERINE PANCHOUT/SYGMA VIA GETTY IMAGES

Brice Marden, an acclaimed painter whose abstractions quietly pushed the style in new directions, repeatedly injecting it with new life during an era when painting was presumed to have hit a wall, has died at 84.

His daughter, Mirabelle Marden, wrote on Instagram that Marden had died on Wednesday in his home in Tivoli, New York. “He was lucky to live a long life doing what he loved,” she wrote, noting that he had continued painting up until Saturday.

From the 1960s onward, Marden painted in many different modes, often taking the oil-on-canvas approach at a time when other painters were untethering the medium from traditional ways of working. Marden’s style may have made him different from many of his colleagues with more explicitly conceptual ambitions, but he continued to find admirers because of it.

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Holi: A Vibrant Celebration of Colors

August 8, 2023 (updated August 8, 2023) Published by artistvenu

Maqbool Fida Husain, Holi, ca. 1951, Grosvenor Gallery, London, UK.

Celebrated during the spring full moon, the Hindu festival of Holi is a joyous occasion that marks the arrival of Spring. This lively festival of colors holds great significance in Indian religion and culture. In addition to its traditional importance, artistic representations of the festivities vividly depict the vibrant enthusiasm, energy, and happiness associated with this ancient religious celebration.

Ancient Roots of Spring Festivals

The festivities of Holi begin on the evening of the full moon day, known as Purnima, in the month of Falgun, starting with the traditional bonfire known as the burning of Holika. Like many spring festivals, Holi has ancient origins deeply rooted in Hindu mythology and Vedic texts.

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The New Yorkers: Susanna Heller, Karlis Rekevics and Rackstraw Downes

August 7, 2023 (updated August 7, 2023) Published by artistvenu

Karlis Rekevics, “Broad Ordinary Occasions #11” (detail)

What happened was that after my painter friend and I saw the show at the Studio School we headed down to the Lower East Side and it was so hot we decided to stop in at Betty Cunningham and there we stayed in the AC on a couch (bless her!) discussing these three remarkable artists who take new York as their subject.

Susanna Heller was always in motion. I wonder if there is an inch of New York pavement that she didn’t cross or stand and draw on. She wanted to draw everything in the city all at once and devised this beautiful stenography to do it. She covered the waterfront; she took aerial views; I remember some remarkable drawings of an historic church uptown smoldering after a fire; she drew the ruin of the towers after 9/11. The weather (and the air itself) is always a part of these drawings, sometimes benign, with blue skies and scudding clouds, but often a storm is either threatening or upon us.

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The Exquisite Illustrations of a Pioneering Woman Herbalist

August 5, 2023 (updated August 5, 2023) Published by artistvenu

Elizabeth Blackwell, illustration of Garden Cucumber, or Cucumis sativus

In the mid-1730s, Elizabeth Blackwell did something that no one like her had ever done. Over the course of two years, she became the first British woman to produce a fully illustrated herbal — a kind of encyclopedic botanical reference guide — for commercial sale. The book was meant to aid scientists and doctors in developing and administering treatments for diseases through the use of plant-based therapies. Humans have long relied on plants for medical help, but previous herbals often featured limited or confusing images. By contrast, Blackwell’s specimens were observed from life in London’s Chelsea Physic Garden and rendered in large, detailed, hand-colored engravings. From local St. John’s Wort to the “curious love-apple” (tomato), Blackwell’s herbal features 500 plants from across the globe.

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Whether Painting Indoors or Out, Canadian Artist Keiran Brennan Hinton Imbues His Serial Studies With Intimacy and Devotional Intensity

August 4, 2023 (updated August 4, 2023) Published by artistvenu

Keiran Brennan Hinton, Morning Coffee (2023).Courtesy of the artist and Charles Moffett.

At daybreak, Canadian artist Keiran Brennan Hinton (1992) angles a canvas—the biggest one he can fit—into the back of his car. He has refined this packing process, limiting himself to necessities. Into the car goes an easel, umbrellas, tarps, the six pigments he has narrowed his palette to (two blues, two reds, two yellows), along with whatever sustenance he needs for the hours ahead.

“These are the logistical things that I’ve had to figure out over the past couple of years,” he explained to me during a video call from a studio he’s rented for the summer in Toronto.

Brennan Hinton, who earned his MFA at Yale in 2016, started painting en plein air several years back and has spent the intervening years crafting a practice that is adaptable, responsive, and focused. When Brennan Hinton is working on a nocturnal scene, for instance, he might head out well into the evening hours, adding a headlight to his kit.

“I bought a gazebo recently to shield myself from rain if I’m painting in the forest behind my house. I also have a bug suit and the headlight,” he said, with a smile. “With the headlight on, all the bugs start to come to you. I go back and forth between having the light on so I can see the palette in the painting, but also not wanting to be fully swarmed. Sometimes, halfway through a painting, it’ll start to rain, so then I’ll have to incorporate that rain into the work itself. The works become panoramas of time in some way, and they try to incorporate everything that happens from the beginning to the end of the painting.”

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Sisterhood in Art: Portraying Sisters

August 1, 2023 (updated August 1, 2023) Published by artistvenu

Helene Schjerfbeck, A Boy Feeding his Little Sister, 1881, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland.

It’s not surprising that many artists with sisters painted their portraits, especially early in their careers. They were probably easily available for modeling and they often supported the artists’ efforts and careers. Each of the five portraits below depicts sisters in their own unique way – from an honest painting in a home setting to a splendid allegorical representation created for a wealthy client. Enjoy and share with your sister!

Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946) remains a hidden gem of Finnish art. Her style changed dramatically throughout her life. That is why among her artworks, we find Realist, Symbolist, and Expressionist pieces. This painting depicts an everyday event: a boy feeding his little sister. Schjerfbeck created it in 1881 in Brittany, France. Schjerfbeck was enchanted by the models, she saw “something beautiful, fresh and genuine” in these Breton children. Even though critics found something appealing in the picture, this work aroused disapproval in the Finnish press – what gave offense was that the painting was large (115 x 94.5 cm) meanwhile its subject was trivial.

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Masterpiece Story: Rain, Steam and Speed by JMW Turner

July 31, 2023 (updated July 31, 2023) Published by artistvenu

JMW Turner, Rain, Steam and Speed, 1844, National Gallery, London, UK.

JMW Turner‘s Rain, Steam, and Speed is a masterpiece of Victorian Romanticism infused with hopes, fears, and reminisces. It catapults the viewer into the path of an oncoming train. Modernity cannot be avoided.

Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837 to begin a 63-year-long reign known as the Victorian era. It was an era marked by intense technological change and industrialization. One of the great symbols of the industrialized Victorian era was the rising presence of trains in everyday British lives. The first passenger trains were developed in the 1830s. By 1844, inexpensive one-penny commutes became possible under the Railway Regulation Act. This price regulation promoted a market boom to use more than 3200 kilometers of railway tracks circuiting the British cities and countryside. Within a short 15 years, the British public had adopted trains as a preferred means of transportation. Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) captures this exciting revolutionary method of travel through his painting Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway. It is a masterpiece of Victorian Romanticism infused with hopes, fears, and reminisces.

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