Anselm Kiefer, 1945 | Neo-expressionist painter / sculptor

"Art is difficult, it is not entertainment!" - Anselm Kiefer, German painter and sculptor.

Biography from: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Anselm Kiefer was born in Donaueschingen, Baden-Württembürg, Germany, and raised near the east bank of the Rhine in the region of the Black Forest.

Kiefer was named after the nineteenth-century classical painter Anselm Feuerbach and planned from childhood to become an artist.

After studies at the university in Freiburg and the academy in Karlsruhe, he studied informally in the early 1970s with the artist Joseph Beuys on occasional visits to Düsseldorf.

Anselm Kiefer | Die fruchtbare Halbmond / La Mezzaluna fertile | Sammlung Essl Museum

Dora Hitz | Impressionist / Symbolist painter

Dora Hitz (30 March 1856, Altdorf bei Nürnberg - 20 November 1924, Berlin) was a Court Painter to the Romanian Royal Family, a member of the November Group and co-founder of the Berlin Secession.

Dora Hitz mainly painted figures, especially portraits of women, girls and mothers, sometimes in the style of symbolism.

Since her stay in France she has painted oil paintings, gouaches and watercolors in the Impressionist style.

When she was six years old, her family moved to Ansbach and at thirteen she was sent to Munich to study at the "Damenmalschule der Frau Staatsrat Weber", an art school for young women, where she studied with Wilhelm von Lindenschmit the Younger.

Otolia Kraszewska (1859-1945)

Otolia Gräfin Kraszewska (February 15, 1859 in Żytomierz - March 3, 1945 in Munich) was a Polish cartoonist, illustrator and painter.

Studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg with Ivan Aivazovsky.

Around 1890, she left for Munich and settled there permanently, becoming involved with the Polish colony centered around Józef Brandt.

Gustave François Barraud (Swiss, 1883-1964)

Gustave François Barraud (Geneva, 1883-1964) was an Swiss painter, illustrator and designer.

Is particularly well known for his still lifes, flowers, landscapes, portraits, female figures, wood engravings and lithographs.

Leopold Müller | Orientalist painter

Leopold Carl Müller (9 December 1834 - 4 August 1892) was an Austrian genre painter noted for his Orientalist works.

Biography

Born in Dresden to Austrian parents, he was a pupil of Karl von Blaas and of Christian Ruben at the Academy in Vienna.

Obliged to support his family after his father's death, he worked eight years as an illustrator for the Vienna Figaro.

Johann Victor Krämer | Orientalist painter

Johann Victor Krämer (23 August 1861 in Adamsthal - 6 May 1949 in Vienna) was an Austrian painter and photographer, working generally within the Orientalist genre.

He was a founding member of the Vienna Secession, and received many awards through his life.

Eilif Peterssen | Skagen painter

Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen (4 September 1852 - 29 December 1928) was a Norwegian painter.

He is most commonly associated with his landscapes and portraits.

Biography

Hjalmar Eilif Emanuel Peterssen was born in Christiania, now Oslo, Norway.

He was the son of Jon Peterssen (1814-1880) and Anne Marie Andersen (1812–1887).

He grew up in the neighborhood of Hegdehaugen in the district of Frogner.

Hans Gude | Romantic painter

Hans Fredrik Gude (March 13, 1825 - August 17, 1903) was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters.

He has been called a mainstay of Norwegian National Romanticism.

He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting.

Gude's artistic career was not one marked with drastic change and revolution, but was instead a steady progression that slowly reacted to general trends in the artistic world.

Betsy Westendorp de Brias, 1927 | Homage to life

Betsy Westendorp de Brias is a Spanish contemporary painter.

Westendorp is best known for her cloudscapes, her flowers, and her high-society portraits, including those of Spain’s Royal Family - she painted the now-King Felipe VI and his sisters as a child.

In 2021 the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, in partnership with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, De La Salle University Publishing House, and Pioneer Insurance, is honoring Betsy Westendorp de Brias with the artist’s major retrospective entitled, "Passages: Celebrating the Artistic Journeys of Betsy Westendorp".

Ettore Roesler Franz | Vanished Rome / Roma sparita

Ettore Roesler Franz, painter and watercolorist, son of Luigi and Teresa Biondi, was born in Rome on May 11, 1845 and here died on March 26, 1907.

Founder and President of the Society of Watercolor Artists in Rome, he is among the Italian painters of the nineteenth century who most exposed and have established himselves in Italy and abroad.

He can be considered as one of the most valuable examples of the late nineteenth century of Realism genre and among the best Italian watercolourists ever.

Maurice Barraud (Swiss, 1889-1954)

Maurice Barraud (born on February 20, 1889 in Geneva and died on 11 novembre 1954 in the same city), was a Swiss painter and illustrator.

At a young age, Maurice Barraud, together with his brother, Gustave François, who later also established himself as a painter, led a studio for advertising graphics.

He also studied painting and modeling at the École des Beaux-Arts.

In 1914, he moved to painting and, together with his brother, Émile Bressler, Gustave Buchet and others, founded the artist group "Le Falot".

Gustave Buchet | Futurist painter

Gustave Louis Buchet (1888-1963) was a painter from the canton of Vaudv - Swiss Confederation, active in Paris during the interwar period, marked by Futurism and then Purism.

Gustave Buchet began his artistic training with four years of study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, where he was particularly influenced by Eugène Gilliard.

From 1910-11 he attended, for four months, the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris and then returned back to Geneva.

Frederick Sandys | Pre-Raphaelite painter

From: Tate Gallery

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Sandys, born Anthony Frederick Augustus Sands at Norwich, studied under his father Anthony Sands, a drawing master and portrait and subject painter.

He was educated at Norwich Grammar School and at the Government School of Design at Norwich.

An early patron was the Revd James Bulwer, Rector of Stody and a former pupil of Cotman.

Sandys made architectural and antiquarian drawings for him and etched his drawings.

Georg Achen | Naturalist painter

Georg Nicolai Achen (23 July 1860 - 6 January 1912) was a Danish painter.

One of the more accomplished Naturalists of his generation, from the 1890s he specialized in portraits.

Born in Frederikssund and moved with his family to Copenhagen in 1871, he was the younger brother of the architect Eggert Achen.

Achen first studied painting under Vilhelm Kyhn before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1877 to 1883.

Thereafter he studied under P.S. Krøyer at Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler.

He first exhibited at Charlottenborg in 1883 and at Den Frie in 1896.

In the 1880s, he painted mainly landscapes but from the 1890s, he became one of Denmark's most popular portraitists, creating especially artistic paintings of members of his family.

Under the influence of Vilhelm Hammershøi, his interiors with a dark female figure in pink, grey and brownish hues testify to his simple, aesthetic approach.

One of his most appreciated works is Drømmevinduet (The Dream Window), an oil painting of a maid peering out of one of the windows in Liselund Slot, painted in 1903.

Georg Achen died in Frederiksberg on 6 January 1912.

Awards

In 1890, Aachen was awarded the Thorvaldsen Medal for Min Moders Portræt, a portrait of his mother. | Source: © Wikipedia

Georg Nicolai Achen (23 luglio 1860-6 gennaio 1912) è stato un pittore Danese.

Uno dei Naturalisti più affermati della sua generazione. Dal 1890 si specializzò in ritratti.

Nato a Frederikssund e trasferitosi con la famiglia a Copenaghen nel 1871, era il fratello minore dell'architetto Eggert Achen.

Achen studiò pittura per la prima volta con Vilhelm Kyhn prima di frequentare la Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts dal 1877 al 1883.

Successivamente studiò con P.S. Krøyer al Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler.

Espone per la prima volta a Charlottenborg nel 1883 ea Den Frie nel 1896.

Nel 1880 dipinse principalmente paesaggi, ma dal 1890 divenne uno dei ritrattisti più famosi della Danimarca, creando dipinti particolarmente artistici dei membri della sua famiglia.

Sotto l'influenza di Vilhelm Hammershøi, i suoi interni con una figura femminile scura in tonalità rosa, grigie e marroni testimoniano il suo approccio estetico semplice.

Una delle sue opere più apprezzate è Drømmevinduet (La finestra dei sogni), un dipinto ad olio di una cameriera che sbircia da una delle finestre di Liselund Slot, dipinto nel 1903.

Georg Achen morì a Frederiksberg il 6 gennaio 1912.

Premi

Nel 1890 Aachen ricevette la medaglia Thorvaldsen per Min Moders Portræt, un ritratto di sua madre. | Fonte: © British Wikipedia

Emma Sandys | Pre-Raphaelite painter

Emma Sandys (born Mary Ann Emma Sands) (1843-1877) was a 19th-century British Pre-Raphaelite painter.

Emma Sandys was born in Norwich, where her father, Anthony Sands (1806-1883), gave her some early art lessons.

In 1853 the family added a ‘y’ to their surname.

Leonardo Bazzaro | Pittore naturalista

Considerato uno dei principali esponenti del naturalismo lombardo, al pari di Eugenio Gignous e Filippo Carcano, la produzione artistica di Leonardo Bazzaro (1853-1937) è maggiormente concentrata su soggetti paesaggistici dove viene esaltata la rappresentazione del quotidiano familiare.

Nei primi anni di attività, Bazzaro si orienta su vedute prospettiche di interni di chiese e di noti palazzi milanesi, con un'impronta verista di matrice sei-settecentesca derivata dal maestro Giuseppe Bertini: gli ex compagni di Brera gli attribuiscono il soprannome piccolo Velasquez, ad attestare la forte intensità espressiva raggiunta in queste prima fase.

Thomas Benton | Regionalist painter

From: National Gallery, Washington D.C.

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Named after his great-uncle, a five-term senator, Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) was born on April 15, 1889, in Neosho, Missouri.

His father, Maecenus Eason Benton, was a lawyer and a United States representative from 1896-1904, so the young Benton spent his early years in both Washington, DC, and southwest Missouri.

Benton dropped out of high school at 17 and started working as a cartoonist for the Joplin American newspaper.

His mother, Elizabeth Wise Benton, was supportive of his artistic ambitions, but Benton’s father enrolled him in the Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois, in 1906 before agreeing to allow him to attend the Art Institute of Chicago in 1907.