James Tissot and the Belle Époque

James Jacques Joseph Tissot [1836-1902], French painter, illustrator and etcher, born at Nantes.

Studied from c.1856 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, under Lamothe and H. Flandrin; became friendly with Whistler and Degas.

Early influenced by Henri Leys and painted pictures of Faust and Marguerite.

Later turned to scenes from contemporary life, especially of fashionable women, under the influence of Manet and Alfred Stevens.

Josef Kote, 1964 | Modern Impressionist painter

Born in the scenic port town of Vlore, Albania, modern artist Josef Kote, emerged eager to share his unique vision with the world.

Kote immersed himself in the arts early on, the atmosphere around him constantly inspired the young visionary living in the metropolis of Vlore of commercial industry and old world charm.

This was the perfect backdrop for an aspiring artist talent like Kote, the city's handsome, bright buildings and coastline provided Kote with an abundance of creative material.

Yuri Klapouh, 1963 | Genre / Landscape painter

Ukrainian painter Юрий Клапоух graduated from the Moscow Institute of painting of V.I.Surikov in 1993.

Professionally engaged in painting during 15 years.

His favorite themes are Russian landscape, classical portrait and genre scene of the rural life.

Took part in many group and personal exhibitions. His paintings are in private collections in the USA, Czechia, Poland, Austria, the Republic of South Africa and Germany.

Rolf Armstrong | Pin-up painter

Rolf Armstrong (1889-1960) was born in Bay City, Michigan to Richard and Harriet (Scott) Armstrong. Armstrong's work for the Pictorial Review was largely responsible for that magazine achieving a circulation of more than two million by 1926.
A year later, he was the best selling calendar artist at Brown and Bigelow.
In 1930, RCA hired him to paint pin-ups to advertise their products, and in 1933 the Thomas D. Murphy Company signed him to produce a series of paintings for their line.
Rolf Armstrong died in 1960 on the island of Oahu, Hawaii as one of the best "pin-up" artists of the first half of the twentieth century.

Silvia Pelissero, 1991 | Pop Surrealism / Watercolor painter

Silvia Pelissero is an Italian* watercolour portrait artist with a sort of abstract style, best known as Agnes Cecile. She went in an art high school in Rome, than she has continued as a self-taught. Her influence on a huge number of people, artists and fans, is even more incredible considering the fact she was born in 1991.

Ann Hardy | Impressionist painter | Still lifes

Ann Hardy’s studio is in a treehouse. She has a small gallery/office in a separate building on her property.
Her home is a small, wonderful stucco and rock building overlooking a tributary of water. The large room has a four sided fire place in middle of room with kitchen, eating, TV, and conversation center around the fireplace.

She planned and built all three. Through understanding this, you can see that she is very much an independent thinker and is in touch with her inner child. For Ann, life is fun and focused and hopefully balanced. All subject matter is included in Ann’s work, with an emphasis on still life. She uses a lot of transparent glazes and heavy opaque in a painting.

Angela Sekerak | Impressionist painter

Inclined toward art since a young age, American painter🎨 Angela Burns (née Sekerak) studied representational art at Pensacola Christian College.

While there, she spent a rigorous six years painting under the mentorship of Brian Jekel. Through her training, she was exposed to the great masters of oil painting: John Singer Sargent🎨, Joaquín Sorolla🎨, Cecilia Beaux and the American Impressionists, who have had a profound influence on her work.

Angela also gleans inspiration from modern masters including Daniel Gerhartz🎨, Richard Schmid🎨, Nancy Guzik🎨 and many others.

Ambrosius Benson (1495-1550)

A painter of religious compositions and portraits, Benson was active in the Low Countries but was of Italian origin.

The first information on the artist dates from 1518 when he became a citizen of Bruges.

The following year he was registered as an independent master in the painters and decorators’ guild in hat city, whose records state that he was originally from Lombardy. Benson first worked as an assistant in the workshop of Gerard David who exercised an important influence over his style and against whom he initiated a court case.