Paul Laurenzi, 1964 | Figurative painter

Paul Laurenzi was born in Antibes, France.

It was after various small interventions in the world of advertising and children's book that Paul Laurenzi, joined an association of painting based in the South of France.

This allows him to participate in various local exhibitions and sympathize with its president, professional artist.

The latter encourages him to present its works in a gallery from Marseille, which so agrees to expose his works of art.

His first "official" exhibition, beside Bernard Buffet's works takes place then, in 1987.

George Spencer Watson | Romantic / Portrait painter

George Spencer Watson R.O.I., R.P., A.R.A., R.A. (8 March 1869, in London - 11 April 1934, in London) was an English🎨 portrait artist of the late romantic school who sometimes worked in the style of the Italian Renaissance.

• Career

He studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1889, and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1891.

He won Royal Academy Schools Silver Medals in 1889 and 1891, and the Landseer Scholarship in 1892.

He was elected to the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) in 1900, Royal Society of Portrait Painters (RP) in 1904, Associate of the Royal Academy in 1923, and a Member of the Royal Academy (RA) in 1932.

• Personal life

in 1909 He married Hilda Mary Gardiner, a dancer and mime artist, and follower of the actor Edward Gordon Craig. They had a daughter, Mary Spencer Watson (1913–2006), who became a sculptor.

In the year of 1923 he bought Dunshay Manor in the hills of the Isle of Purbeck, after already having spent holidays in nearby Swanage.

He died in London and a memorial exhibition was held at the Fine Art Society in the same year. There is a memorial to him in the north vestibule of St James's Church, Piccadilly.

Some of his works are held at Tate Britain, the Harris Art Gallery, Preston and collections in Bournemouth, Liverpool, Plymouth and the National Gallery of Canada.

Born in London, Watson studied at the Royal Academy from 1889; he exhibited there from 1891 and also at the Paris salon. Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Galerie Heinemann, Munich in 1912, and at the Fine Art Society in 1914.

His work A Lady in Black (1922) is owned by the Tate Collection.

Frank Owen Salisbury (1874-1962)

Francis ("Frank") Owen Salisbury (18 December 1874 - 31 August 1962) was an English artist🎨 who specialized in portraits, large canvases of historical and ceremonial events, stained glass and book illustration.

In his heyday he made a fortune on both sides of the Atlantic and was known as “Britain’s Painter Laureate”.

His art was steadfastly conservative and he was a vitriolic critic of Modern Art - particularly of his contemporaries Picasso🎨, Chagall🎨 and Mondrian🎨.

Salisbury was born in on December 18, 1874, in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, as a son of a plumber and glazier. He learned the art of stained glass in the workshop of his brother in St Albans.

Antonio Ambrogio Alciati | Romantic / Portrait painter

Born in Vercelli, Italy, in 1878, Antonio Ambrogio Alciati (1878-1929) moved with his mother and his sister to Milan in 1897 to attend the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, where his teachers were Vespasiano Bignami, Giuseppe Mentessi and Cesare Tallone.

Tallone helped him to perfect his portrait painting technique, and introduced him into wealthy Milan middle class society.

Between 1902-1910 he painted a series of pictures inspired by romantic and family subjects, while also working on the decoration of churches and villas in Lombardy.

In the ten years from 1910 his style underwent an evolution as he abandoned the use of shaded tones and a dull, almost monochromatic range of colors, gradually acquiring greater constructive vigor and a variety of bright colors.

Georgy Kurasov / Георгий Курасов, 1958 | Cubist painter

Georgy Kurasov was born in the USSR, in what was then Leningrad. He still lives and works in the same place, but now the country is Russia and the city is called St Petersburg. Without any effort on his part whatsoever, Georgy seems to have emigrated from one surreal country to another.

His native city was irrational from the very moment of its foundation. Situated on the same latitude as the southern shores of Alaska, on the swampy delta of the River Neva where no one had ever settled before, this new capital city grew up on the very edge of a monstrous empire.

William Acton (1906-1945)

William Hamilton Mitchell Acton (16 August 1906 - 31 August 1945) was an Anglo🎨-Italian painter🎨 who died while in active service during World War II.

• Biography

William Hamilton Mitchell Acton was born in Florence on 16 August 1906, the son of Arthur Acton (1873-1953), an art collector and dealer, and Hortense Lenore Mitchell (1871-1962), the heiress of John J. Mitchell, President of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank. Harold Acton was his older brother.

He attended Chateau de Lancy, Geneva, and Eton College; at Eton his contemporaries were Robert Byron, Brian Howard, Alfred Duggan and Anthony Powell, who remembers William fondly in his memoirs.

In 1922 a reproduction of his painting, Nature Morte, appeared in the Eton Candle.

At Eton he was among the founders of the Eton Society of Arts in February 1922 with Brian Howard, Henry Yorke, his brother Harold, Robert Byron, Alan Clutton-Brock, Hugh Lygon, Anthony Powell and Colin Anderson.

In 1925 Acton moved to Christ Church, Oxford, with many of his friends, but remained for only one year.

Brian Howard wrote a satirical profile of William Acton in his Continuation of Oxford Portraits of 1925-6 which appeared in the Cherwell. Other profiles were: David Herbert, Mark Ogilvie-Grant, René Crevel, Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath and Charles Plumb.

In the previous issue the profiles had been Robert Byron, Harold Acton, John Sutro, Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, Edward Henry Charles James Fox-Strangways, 7th Earl of Ilchester.

At Oxford William Acton's friends were Hugh Lygon, Robert Byron, Brian Howard, Michael Parsons, David Plunket Greene, Roy Harrod, Evelyn Waugh and John Sutro.

After college the Acton brothers were part of a circle including Diana Mitford and her first husband, Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, John Betjeman, Roy Harrod, Henry Yorke and his wife, Robert Byron, Evelyn Waugh, Randolph Churchill and Diana Churchill.

William Acton sketched the Mitford sisters.

Not long after being demobilised from the Pioneer Corps during World War II, William Acton died on 31 August 1945 after a short illness and is buried with his family at Cimitero degli Allori.

Several works by William Acton have been sold at auctions, including "Armiola🎨" sold at Christie's in 2016 for £16,250 (£17,393 in 2018 sterling). | © Wikipedia

William Hamilton Mitchell Acton (16 agosto 1906 - 31 agosto 1945) fu un pittore Anglo🎨-Italiano🎨 che morì mentre era in servizio durante la seconda guerra mondiale.

• Biografia

William Hamilton Mitchell Acton nacque a Firenze il 16 agosto 1906, figlio di Arthur Acton (1873-1953), un collezionista d'arte e commerciante, e Hortense Lenore Mitchell (1871-1962), l'erede di John J. Mitchell, Presidente dell'Illinois Trust and Savings Bank. Harold Acton era il suo fratello maggiore.

Nel 1925 Acton si trasferì a Christ Church, Oxford, con molti dei suoi amici, ma rimase per un solo anno. 

Poco dopo essere stato smobilitato dal Corpo dei Pionieri durante la seconda guerra mondiale, William Acton morì il 31 agosto 1945 dopo una breve malattia e fu sepolto con la sua famiglia al Cimitero degli Allori.

Diverse opere di William Acton sono state vendute all'asta, inclusa "Armiola🎨" venduta a Christie's nel 2016 per £ 16.250.

Herbert James Gunn (1893-1964)

Sir (Herbert) James Gunn RA (30 June 1893 - 30 December 1964) was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter.

Sir Herbert James Gunn (also known as Sir James Gunn) was born in Glasgow on 30 June 1893, the son of Richard Gunn, a draper, and Thomasina Munro.

He studied for several years at the Glasgow School of Art and the Edinburgh College of Art.

In 1911, he went to the Académie Julian in Paris where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens.

Stuart Luke Gatherer, 1971 | Figurative painter

Gatherer was born in 1971 to Scottish and Dutch parents. He was brought up in the Eastern Highlands of Scotland, and attended Edinburgh College of Art from where he graduated in 1995 with an MA Honors degree in Fine Art.

Successful shows in London, New York and Scotland with an ever-widening following of collectors, and with an escalating commercial value he is established as one of Scotland's most exciting young painters, building on the classical tradition of figurative painting to develop his own unique style.