Shaun Berke, 1983 | Symbolist /Figurative painter

Shaun Berke - American painter, philosopher and outdoorsman from Thousand Oaks, California.

"Explorations in culture cultivated my dedication to nature, unearthing insights from mind, myth, and man".

Graduate: Moorpark College, Art Center College of Design, The Nerdrum🎨 School.

Member: The Getty Research Institute, World Wide Kitsch, The Halkyon Guild, The Alpine Fellowship.

Awards🎨 from The Art Renewal Center, Westlake Village Art Guild, Thousand Oaks Art Association.

Love letter from Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera | My night / La mia notte, 1939

Lettera di Frida Kahlo Diego Rivera,
Città del Messico, 12 settembre 1939
Mai spedita!

La mia notte mi strema.

Sa bene che mi manchi e tutta la sua oscurità non basta a nascondere quest’evidenza che brilla come una lama nel buio, la mia notte vorrebbe avere ali per volare fino a te, avvolgerti nel sonno e ricondurti a me.

Nel sonno mi sentiresti vicina e senza risvegliarti le tue braccia mi stringerebbero.

La mia notte non porta consiglio.

La mia notte pensa a te, come un sogno a occhi aperti.

La mia notte si intristisce e si perde.

La mia notte accentua la mia solitudine, tutte le solitudini. Il suo silenzio ascolta solo le mie voci interiori".

"La mia notte è lunga, lunga, lunga.

Gerda Wegener | Wegener’s wife In 'The Danish Girl'

Gerda Wegener: The Lady Gaga of the 1920s

The Danish Girl tells the story of the painter Einar Wegener, who had the world’s first gender-reassignment surgery and became Lili Elbe.

But his wife Gerda had a fascinating life and career of her own.

by Helen Russell, The Guardian News

Eddie Redmayne is already being Oscar-tipped for his latest role in Tom Hooper’s biopic, The Danish Girl - the story of the painter Einar Wegener, who underwent the world’s first gender-reassignment operation to become Lili Elbe. But there was another woman behind Einar and Lili.

Walter Osborne (1859-1903) Genre painter

Walter Frederick Osborne was an Irish🎨 Impressionist / Post-Impressionism landscape / portrait painter, best known for his documentary depictions of late 19th century working class life.

Most of his paintings are figurative and focus on women, children, the elderly, the poor, and the day-to-day life of ordinary people on Dublin streets, as well as series of rural scenes.

He also produced cityscapes, which he painted from both sketches and photographs.

Jules Bastien-Lepage | Naturalist painter

The day after French painter Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884) died at his Paris studio on rue Legendre, on the 10th December 1884, the world press announced his premature death and burial in the family cemetery in Damvillers in the Meuse region of France.

In just ten productive years, this son of a modest farming family had won an eminent place in the French and international art scene, even if it was challenged at times.

Halil Pasha | Signora con guanti / Lady in gloves, 1886

Eseguita dal pittore Halil Pasha (1857-1939), la Lady in Gloves del 1886, anticipò l'altra tela, la Lady in Gloves, nota anche come "Madam X", (1889) per la quale, al pittore Turco gli fu assegnato un premio alla Mostra Internazionale di Parigi del 1889.

La modella della Madam X, fu quasi certamente una scrittrice, la moglie del pittore Aliye Hanim.

La Madam X fu elogiata dai principali critici dell'epoca per la sua "finitura nitida" e fu paragonata al lavoro del pittore Francese Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904).

Halil Pasha | Lady in Gloves, 1886

Daniela Astone, 1980 | Figurative Realist painter

Daniela Astone was born in Pisa, Italy and raised in Porto Santo Stefano, in Maremma (Italy), a costal town south of Florence. She discovered her passion for drawing and painting at a very young age, and began nourishing and cultivating her craft early on.

In 1998, after graduating from the High School for Visual Arts of Grosseto, she moved to Florence to study illustration at the International school of Comix.

Upon arriving, she first worked in illustration, then, in 2001, enrolled in The Florence Academy of Art🎨, where she is now an instructor. In 2003, Daniela participated, as a student, in the exhibition, "Realism Revisited" at Panorama Museum, Bad Frankenhausen, Germany.

Man Ray (1890-1976) | Quotes / Aforismi

• "An original is a creation motivated by desire. Any reproduction of an originals motivated be necessity. It is marvelous that we are the only species that creates gratuitous forms. To create is divine, to reproduce is human".
• "Is photography an art? There is no point in trying to find out if it is an art. Art is old-fashioned. We need something else".
• "Non ha senso continuare a chiedersi se la fotografia sia o meno una forma d'arte, perché l'arte è fuori moda e noi abbiamo bisogno di altro".