The Passing of Robin Hood, N.C. Wyeth On Wikimedia Commons. If I’m reading the Brandywine River Museum’s N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonné correctly, the original is in the New York Public Library. The illustration is from The Adventures of Robin Hood by Paul Cheswick and N.C. Wyeth. The full edition can be found used; but you […]
This year’s post about Santa Claus (or suitable Santa Equivalent) is Old Kris by the great American illustrator N.C. Wyeth (more on N.C. Wyeth in a future post). I had the pleasure of seeing this painting in person recently, as it is in the permanent collection of the Brandywine River Museum and currently on display […]
As I’ve mentioned before, I run hot and cold on Andrew Wyeth. I’m not particularly fond of the paintings that are generally regarded to be his major works — which tend to be figurative and conceptual, with narrative implications — but I do very much like some of his simple and direct observations of his […]
Andrew Wyeth, an American realist painter who in some ways epitomized the conflict between late 20th Century Modernism and the Realist tradition, died today in his sleep in his home in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania at the age of 91. Wyeth was the son of the great American illustrator N.C. Wyeth. Those familiar with the elder […]
I should start out by admitting that, although I really like some of his work, Andrew Wyeth is not one of my favorites. Partly it’s because I find much of his work cold, not in the sense of his frequent depiction of winter scenes, which I like, but in the lack of warmth that I […]
William Heath Robinson, who signed his pictures “W. Heath Robinson”, was an English illustrator, cartoonist, author and watercolorist known in particular for his wry cartoons and his series of drawings depicting unlikely and complicated contraptions for accomplishing mundane tasks. Here in the U.S. we associate the latter with American cartoonist Rube Goldberg, but Robinson was […]
Discovering art that you love by artists whose work is new to you can be a little like meeting a person to whom you’re romantically attracted — there’s an initial rush of infatuation that is so pleasurable the feeling can be addictive. Growing up in northern Delaware (in a house a few hundred yards from […]
Following up on her terrific previous posts of Picturing Winter, a Solstice Celebration and Picturing Spring, an Equinox Celebration, Irene Gallo has once again invited an array of artists and art directors to give her their suggestions for favorite seasonal images, this time for Picturing Summer, a Solstice Celebration. As in those previous posts, the […]
In what I hope will become a regular feature, Irene Gallo, art director of Tor, Forge, Starscape and Tor.com, has reprised the idea behind her post from last December, Picturing Winter, a Solstice Celebration, as Picturing Spring: An Equinox Celebration. The basis of the original post was to ask several illustrators and art directors to […]
I’ve made the mistake in the past of putting off writing about an exhibition that I plan to go to in the hope of writing a first person account; and as a result wind up telling you about the show just as it’s about to close. I won’t do that this time. National Geographic: The […]
Most illustrators are called upon to interpret and represent the essence of a story. Occasionally, illustrators will venture into writing and, even less frequently, writers will have the skill to add illustrations to their own work. Outside of comics, a medium that seems to lend itself better to the role of author/illustrator, it’s rare to […]
“The Poetry of Nature: A Golden Age of American Landscape Painting” is an exhibition on view at the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, PA until June 12, 2016. Organized from the collection of the New York Historical Society, the exhibition features beautiful and often large scale works by Hudson River School painters […]
Pioneering American political cartoonist and illustrator Thomas Nast — who was active during the mid to late 19th century, and particularly during the period of the American Civil War — was instrumental in the creation of the contemporary image of Santa Claus. Though I often credit the later illustrations of J.C. Leyendecker with fully fleshing […]
If I were to look up “muted palette” in my mental art dictionary, the definition would be a painting by Vilhelm Hammershøi. The Danish painter, active in the late 19th end early 20th centuries, was noted for his enigmatic, poetic interiors — sometimes empty, but frequently occupied by a lone figure. This figure was often […]
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is a new museum, scheduled to open in Chicago in 2018, that will house a collection of art owned by film director George Lucas. The collection and the museum are dedicated to art that, like film, is narrative in some way, telling stories whether overtly or by suggestion. This […]
Back in May of this year, I wrote about the effort to publish The Vadeboncoeur Collection of ImageS #13. Long time publisher and classic illustration enthusiast Jim Vadeboncoeur was looking to KickStarter to raise the funds to publish the the ultimate issue of his 13 year labor of love, with a fantastic selection of classic […]
A follow-up to my 2006 article on “Illustrator’s Visions of Santa Claus“, in which I attempted to chronicle how 19th and early 20th century illustrators shaped our contemporary vision of the Jolly One. (Images above: Thomas Nast, Reginald Birch, J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, Norman Rockwell and Haddon Sundblom — with detail)
A few winter images to mark the winter solstice today. If you want more, revisit Irene Gallo’s “Picturing Winter: A Solstice Celebration” from 2011. Images above: John Henry Twachtman, Gustave Courbet, Caspar David Friedrich, Antoine Blanchard, Albert Bierstadt, Ivan Bilibin, Neil Welliver, Alphonse Mucha, Ivan Shishkin, Maxfield Parrish, Andrew Wyeth, N.C. Wyeth, Toshi Yoshida)
Following the internet meme of the moment, more “selfies” created without benefit of iPhone or Android device, and previously uploaded into public consciousness by way of galleries, museums, books and libraries. See my previous post on “selfies“. (Images above, self-portraits by: Antony van Dyck, Frida Kahlo, John Singer Sargent, Hans Holbein the Younger, Chuck Close, […]
There are times, of course, when paintings can be arresting because of their color and drama; there are also times when paintings can be striking because of their subtleties. The refined, intimate still life paintings of Sara Lamb are a case in point. Lamb uses a muted palette, carefully controlled value contrasts and deft variation […]