Favorite Artists
 

I am curious who your favorite artists are. If you could give their name and photo of their work that would be great. If your really feeling up to it, you could even add a short bio. Thanks for stopping by.....

Hi Joseph,

My favourites need no bio or samples of their work. I am absolutely obsessed with all that has been produced by one person and that is Michelangelo. To me he is the greatest where art is concerned and for me there is no greater teacher. I have travelled extensively and repeatedly to see his works and have spent countless hours studying them, embedding the images in my mind, trying to learn. I only can hope that through what I

Joseph,

I have many favorite artists (if you can say that) but among them is a Russian Impressionist who came to America in the thirtys and loved to paint native people wherever he traveled. His name is Nicholai Fechin. More well known in the west but highly regarded among portrait painters everwhere. Try http://askart.com/artist/F/nicolai_ivanovich_fechin.asp and see attachment. Books on Fechin are hard to come by and therefore costly when found but worth every dime.

Zorn and Serov
 

The first two examples below are Anders Zorn work and a site: http://www.algonet.se/~mgus/zorn/portraits.html

The last two are Vanlentin Serov at http://www.abcgallery.com/S/serov/serov.html

Riley,

I too call Fechin my favorite! Out of all the masters out there, he is one that I still puzzle over especially when it comes to his technique. Classically trained. Amazing stuff, almost abstract in nature, heavy pigment, loaded with nuances of color, yet other areas of the canvas still show the primed surface underneath, etc.

I recently left one of his shows in Seattle at the Frye and stood in amazement. I understand he would squeeze out his pigments onto newsprint overnight to leech out the oils and then painted with this heavy pigment. His use of a palette knife along with brushes is so right on. He had the habit of licking his knife with saliva to smooth out areas escpecially in the forehead, cheeks, chin, nose and hands. A very, very contemporary artist! Someday I need to venture out in this direction! Below is one of my favorites, The Manucurists!...L

A close up Fechins hands!