Michelangelo Buonarroti | Quotes

• A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.
• Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.
• The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
• My soul can find no staircase to Heaven unless it be through Earth's loveliness.

Paul Cadmus | Life and artworks

The American artist Paul Cadmus (1904-1999) was a Thirty year old unknown, outside of his own New York bohemian circles, painter in 1934, but then he became famous, or should we say, infamous almost overnight when a major artistic scandal erupted over his risqué, and much publicized painting, The Fleet’s In!

The painting depicts US sailors on rowdy and lecherous shore leave and it aroused the anger and ire of US Navy top brass, not only for its depiction of the Navy but also its obvious sexual connotations that fed into the myth of naval life.

Nikolai Belsky (1868-1945) At School Doors, 1897

Author: Nikolay Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky (Russian painter⏩, 1868-1945)

Title: У дверей школы /At the Door of the School

Date: 1897

Medium: Oil on canvas

Current location: The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky (1868-1945) was an academic, a portrait and landscape painter.

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky graduated from Petersburg Academy of Arts where he studied at J. Repin.

At the beginning of the XX th century the pictures of N. Bogdanov-Belsky are exhibited at the established museums of Russia and obtained by them. He also had a flair for portrait painting-he painted the Russian tsaz Nikolay II, prince Sergey Alexandrovich and Emperess Maria Fyodorovna.

The artist received the highest award for his contribution into art-the title of Academician full member of the Academy if Arts.

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky settled in Riga in 1921. Organized a studio, where ethnic Latvians studied too. He was very productive as a portrait and landscape painter. In 1936 was awarded the highest award of Latvia, the Order of the Three Stars.

The collapse of monarchy and the bolshevik power made him move to Riga where he continued painting, especially rural landscapes, the peasants of Latgale.

From 1922 to 1940 there were held 7 exhibitions of the works of N. Bogdanov-Belsky in Latvia. In 1936 the artist was awarded the order of Three Stars. Many of his paintings are available in the Latvian Art Museum such as "Visit", "To school", "Dreamer".

The artist had t leave Latvia in 1944 and he died in Berlin in 1945.

Pietro Annigoni | Realist painter

Pietro Annigoni (7 June 1910 - 28 October 1988) was an Italian portrait and fresco painter. He is best known for his portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, 1956.

Life

Born in Milan in 1910, Annigoni was influenced by the Italian Renaissance. From the end of the 1920s on, he lived mainly in Florence where he studied at the College of the Piarist Fathers.

In 1927, he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where he attended the courses given by Felice Carena in painting, Giuseppe Graziosi in sculpture, and Celestino Celestini in etching.

Ann Hardy | Impressionist painter | Figures

Ann Hardy, American painter*, is an accomplished artist, winning numerous prestigious awards*. She has had three paintings accepted to Art for the Parks and has received the merit award at the Salmagundi Club as well as many other awards.

Painting is a way of life. It keeps me constantly growing, connected with the world, and provides a purpose in life. Paint like I live life--with gusto and enthusiasm.