Willem Haenraets – Dutch Impressionist Painter
Willem Haenraets
Achievements and the main contribution to Art:
His main contribution to art lies in his ability to capture the essence of the Impressionist style while infusing his own unique interpretation, filling everyday scenes in his paintings with a sense of tranquillity and beauty
Throughout his career, Haenraets has received recognition and acclaim for his artistic contributions. His paintings have been exhibited in prestigious galleries, art markets, cultural institutions, and museums around the world.
He exhibited and sold his works in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United States, and Spain, ultimately gaining international recognition.
Family and Education background: Willem Haenraets was born on February 9, 1940, in Heerlen, which is a town in the south of the Netherlands.
When he was 16 years old, he started his education at the City Academy of Arts in Maastricht. Four years later he obtained a scholarship from the Belgian Government to study at the National Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp, in the Master class of Professor Sarina ( Atelier Opsomer) and Professor Vaarten.
Professional work experience:
During his time at the Belgian National Institute for Fine Arts in Antwerp, where he also opened his very first studio and got his first model.
During that time, the artist began exhibiting and selling his works. In Antwerp he created many portraits, receiving a large number of commissions thanks to a port owner he knew.
After completing his studies, he travelled to Paris. He painted portraits from morning to night on the Place de la Tertre and was able to buy his first house in Bergen, North Holland, where he lived with his wife Hannah. During this period, he created many paintings that were sold in galleries and art markets.
By the mid-1980s, Willem began producing prints of his paintings and gained recognition internationally, receiving invitations to art fairs and exhibitions in the United States, England, and Germany. His original paintings were showcased on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, leading to further exhibitions worldwide, including in Nagoya, Japan. In the 1990s, the artist started exhibiting his works in a gallery on Stokstraat in Maastricht.
Currently, the artist works with publishers, who distribute his work all over the world, in the form of litho and giclee-prints.
His exhibitions have been held in Maastricht, Amsterdam, Bruges, Frankfurt, Milan, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Nagoya and Hondon de las Nieves.
Personal life:
After working in Paris, аrtist lived in their own house in Bergen, Hollandthere with his first wife Hannah and little daughter Hester.
His life was quite harsh on him at some stage, when his first wife died in a car accident, leaving Willem behind with their 6 weeks old daughter.
Haenraets decided to return to Heerlen, where the artist settled in Kasteel Terworm and delved into his work.
In the late 1970s, he met his second wife, Thea, and her daughter Susan, and they later had a son named Bram.
In 2003 artist and his family bought a house in Spain, Hondon de las Nieves. He currently lives with his wife Thea and family in Spain, in the vicinity of Alicante.
Eugene J. Paprocki – American impressionist painter
Eugene J. Paprocki
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1971
Nationality: American
Occupation: Artist
Movements: Impressionism
Styles: His unique style of impressionism captured the essence of his subjects through his use of light and colour. His subjects included the natural beauty of the world around him. He finds beauty in the simplicity of ordinary objects and places, infusing them with a sense of nostalgia and emotion.
Genres: He is known for impressionist plein air painting.
Subjects: Landscapes, seascapes, cityscapes, gardens, architecture, still life painting and tender portrayals of children playing at the seashore.
Mediums: Paprocki works with various mediums, including oil on canvas and watercolour.
Unique distinction: His paintings have graced the walls of The White House, the U.S. Embassies in Kuwait and Uruguay, and many large corporations. In 1997, the White House selected Paprocki to paint the program cover for the Annual Pageant of Peace held in D.C. In 2013, the University of Notre Dame commissioned the artist to create four monumental murals for their permanent collection.
Influenced by: The works of the French and the American Impressionists. Paprocki’s work has been influenced by his extensive travels in Europe, where he painted and visited great museums.
Achievements and the main contribution to Art: Eugene J. Paprocki is an internationally collected American artist. He has been featured in numerous one-man exhibitions and prestigious group shows on two continents. His paintings hang in more than 1000 public, private, and corporate collections in over a dozen countries around the world.
Early Life and Education
Professional Work Experience and Artistic Journey
Notable Achievements
Exhibitions
Collections
Aldo Balding – Short biography and most famous paintings
Aldo Balding – British Figurative Artist
born in 1960 in Southsea, England.
Nationality: British
Occupation: Figurative painter
Unique distinction: Aldo Bolding has been recognized for his ability to capture the essence and emotion of his subjects, his high level of drawing skill, as well as his pleasant and beautiful subject matter.
Influenced by: Sargent, Zorn, Sorolla and Munnings,
Movement: Contemporary figurative art movement.
Style: His style can be described as contemporary figurative realism, with a focus on capturing the human form and emotion.
He incorporates elements of realism, expressionism, and impressionism, characterized by vibrant use of colour, and a strong emphasis on capturing human emotions and stories.
Aldo’s painting style is also romantic, narrative and almost cinematic.
Subjects: His subjects often include portraits, human figures and everyday scenes, with a focus on capturing the individuality and inner life of his subjects.
Mediums: Aldo Balding works primarily with oil paints on canvas
The main contribution to Art: The chief peculiarity and novelty of his art lies in the ability to infuse his paintings with a sense of emotional depth and realism, to add an element of mystery to the paintings and let the viewer fill in the gaps to determine what is going on.
“I always try to put an element of mystery in my work,” he says. “You can suggest so much in a gesture, in the way someone stands. I like narrative in painting because it casts the viewer into a voyeuristic role.”
Aldo explains why so many of the figures in his work have their backs to us: “When a person is face-on, it’s a portrait, and the mystique is gone.”
In his paintings, he’s just telling his captivating, open-ended stories and trying to convey the feeling of the timeless feel of his work. “I prefer to think of the scenes I depict as timeless. They are little dramas that could be from any era.”
Aldo’s intention is to capture a moment in time, rather than an individual frame from a feature film.
He works quickly and a mid-sized painting normally takes between 2 to 3 days in an ‘alla prima’ style as he tries to keep the ‘wet-in-wet’ technique.
He prefers to be “stingy” in colour tones, using no more than five or six at any one time. “I consider myself a tonalist painter, – Aldo says, – though colour is another tool I like to employ to influence mood. I look for colour harmonies that already exist in the subject. .”
Awards: Aldo Balding has been awarded ‘Best of Show’ in the Boldbrush Competition (2013), was an Arc Salon Finalist in 2004, 2006 and 2016, and took first prize in the NSE Exhibition and Artist International competition (2003) and Artist International first prize (2002).
Education background: He initially studied civil engineering and architecture before deciding to go to art school around the age of 22. He then studied Illustration and Graphic Design at The University of Southampton Faculty of Art and Design.
Professional work experience: Beginning his career as a freelance illustrator his work appeared in and on the front covers of numerous magazines including the Sunday Times Culture Magazine, TV Times and Punch and an array of advertising agencies. He moved to the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France in 2004 to become a full-time artist where he now paints and runs art workshops.
Throughout his career, Balding has exhibited his work in numerous galleries and exhibitions around the world. Balding is represented worldwide in galleries across the UK, USA, France, and South Africa. Balding’s work has been exhibited in numerous galleries around the world, such as:
Solo Exhibitions
2020, 2019 Galerie Anagama Versailles
2020, 2015, 2013, 2011: Christopher Moller Art, Cape Town, South Africa
2008, 2006: Catto Gallery, London 2006: Alexander Gallery, Bristol
His paintings have been shown at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the BP Awards at the National Portrait Gallery.
The Frieder Burda Museum in Baden Baden also has his work in their collection.
Personal life: Aldo Balding was born in 1960 in Southsea, England. He was born and raised in the United Kingdom and currently lives in the South of France, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.
More Paintings оf Aldo Balding
Givi Siproshvili – Original Georgian Artist. Biography and Best Pictures
Givi Irakliyevich Siproshvili
Born: 1940 (according to some sources, on 24 September), Georgia
Nationality: Georgian
Occupation: Professional artist painter, graphic artist, and sculptor
Unique distinction: Givi Siproshvili is known for his unique variety of styles and deep understanding of the world around him. His art is characterized by its originality, versatility and uniqueness of art vision.
His creative trends: Art Nouveau, modern, abstractionism, impressionism, and expressionism.
Influenced by: Kornelli Sanadze and Ucha Japaridze
Early influences: The themes of many of his works were greatly influenced by the Georgian folk art, ancient culture and history of Georgia. The rich artistic traditions of the Caucasus region played a role in shaping Siproshvili’s early artistic sensibilities.
Styles: Siproshvili is known for his diverse and unique style.
His art is characterized by a combination of realistic and expressionist elements, with a focus on the human figure and the emotions it conveys.
He effortlessly navigates through different styles, ranging from realism and impressionism to symbolism and abstraction.
Genres: His works are characterized by a variety of genres such as portrait, landscape, still life, and symbolic compositions.
Subjects: Givi Siproshvili often depicts ordinary people in their everyday lives, capturing the essence of their existence and also using historical and mythological themes.
Techniques: In his works he applies several authors’ own developed painting techniques, using different materials and technology of overlaying many layers of paint.
Art Mediums: Siproshvili works with various mediums, including paint on canvas, paper, and sculpture. His mediums of choice include oils, acrylics, and mixed media, allowing him to express his artistic vision in various textures and layers.
Givi Siproshvili. Wilonchilist
Education: In 1964, he entered the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi at the Faculty of Graphic Arts. A year later he transferred to the faculty of painting. His teachers in the Academy of Arts were prominent artists such as Kornelli Sanadze, Koki Maharadze, Lapiashvilli, and Ucha Japaridze. Being a student in the Academy, he took part in many All-Union artistic exhibitions. In 1971, he graduated from the Tbilisi Academy of Arts with a speciality in painting.
This rigorous academic background equipped him with the technical skills and theoretical knowledge that would later underpin his artistic practice.
Professional milestones:
1974: Became a member of the Union of Artists of both the USSR and Georgia.
2000: Joined the International Federation of Artists (UNESCO), gaining international recognition.
2013: Became a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, further solidifying his artistic standing.
Achievements and contributions: Siproshvili’s main contribution to the art world lies in his ability to break free from stylistic constraints and embrace artistic exploration.
His diverse body of work challenges viewers’ perceptions and sparks conversations about creativity, identity, and the human experience.
Also took part in art exhibitions of near and far abroad countries – Germany, America, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada and other countries.
Numerous works of the artist are in collections and museums in Russia, Georgia, the former Soviet Union, America, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany, France, Canada and other countries.
The works are in the collection of the residence of the Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia the Second, by whom the artist was personally accepted and blessed for creative activity.
Personality and interests: Givi Siproshvili is known for his deep understanding of the world around him and his unique artistic style. His artwork suggests a passionate and inquisitive individual driven by a deep appreciation for beauty and a constant search for artistic expression. The artist’s work expresses his worldview and life position.
Keiko Tanabe: Capturing Light and Atmosphere in Watercolor
Keiko Tanabe
She was born in Kyoto, Japan.
Nationality: Japanese
Occupation: Watercolor artist, instructor, author
Unique distinction: Keiko Tanabe is known for her mastery of the loose and expressive style of vibrant plein-air watercolor painting, seamlessly blending traditional Japanese sumi-e ink techniques with Western watercolor methods. She is recognized for her unique ability to infuse her watercolor paintings with a sense of tranquillity and emotional depth
Influenced by: Alvaro Castagnet, American and Japanese watercolor masters
Movement: Impressionism, Realism.
Styles: Tanabe’s style can be in general described as impressionistic, with a focus on capturing light, color, and mood in her paintings. Her creative style can be best characterized as loose and expressive, with a focus on capturing the play of light and shadow, on conveying the atmosphere and mood of each subject.
Watercolor Painting. Tanabe is known for her mastery of the watercolor medium, utilizing techniques such as wet-on-wet and dry-brush. Her favourite is Wet-on-wet technique, which involves applying paint to wet paper, allowing the colors to blend and flow together organically.
Subjects: Landscapes, cityscapes, floral still lifes, showcasing her keen observational skills in capturing the beauty of both natural and urban environments. She finds beauty in ordinary moments and seeks to convey the emotions associated with these experiences through her artwork.
Achievements and main contribution to art:
Her main contribution to art lies in her ability to capture the beauty and spirit of various locations through her unique watercolor technique. She has held numerous solo exhibitions globally and has been featured in prestigious art publications.
Her paintings are held in private collections and have been exhibited in renowned art galleries and museums around the world. She also had her paintings published in leading art magazines in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
Her art has been enjoyed by many in nine self-published books as well as on four DVDs that have been produced to date. She published book “Journey Home Volume 1: My Watercolor Paintings of Japanese Landscapes 2005 – 2015”, a collection of selected watercolor works of Japanese landscapes that includes more than 180 paintings of the places she visited in the last 10 years
Additionally, Tanabe has also authored instructional books and conducted workshops and demonstrations, sharing her expertise and passion for watercolor painting with aspiring artists. Since 2011, she has been invited to and completed successfully hundreds of workshops and numerous live demonstrations around the world.
Family background:
Grew up in an art-loving family in Kyoto. Her father is a renowned scholar of French literature in Japan. Won numerous children’s art awards, fostering early artistic passion. As a young child, she enjoyed the arts including drawing and painting. She said, «My very first plein-air experience was when I was 6 years old (and I enjoyed it), and I participated in many outdoor painting events for children».
Education background:
She earned a B.A. in intercultural communication from International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan She came to the US to study at UCLA in 1990. Later Keiko earned an M.A. in international education from UCLA in California
She was mostly self-taught, focusing on developing her unique watercolor style. She learned basic drawing and watercolor painting skills at a local community school in San Diego.
Attended a workshop by Alvaro Castagnet in 2005, a pivotal moment in her artistic journey.
Professional work experience:
She worked in international relations positions in a Japanese government trade organization in Tokyo, at a large law firm in San Francisco and at a private consulting firm in San Diego. Keiko embarked on a professional art career in 2005 and started exhibiting publicly. Keiko Tanabe has had solo exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world, including the prestigious Salmagundi Club in New York City (2019). She has also served as a juror for international watercolor competitions.
In 2015 she was named an official Ambassador for Winsor & Newton.
In 2018, she was appointed to the advisory board of the American Watercolor Weekly.
In 2018 and 2019, she was invited to be a faculty member for the Plein Air Convention & Expo, the world’s largest plein-air painting event.
Personality traits: Keiko Tanabe is known for her humble and dedicated approach to her art. She is generous and dedicated to her craft. She is passionate about capturing the beauty of the world around her and expressing it through her paintings. Shares her knowledge and love of watercolor with enthusiasm. She said that passion, the joy of creating, being helpful and watching other people discover joy kept her engaged and committed to your craft over the years.
In her free time, she enjoys exploring nature, travelling, and immersing herself in different cultures, which further inspires her artistic endeavours.
Keiko currently lives in San Diego, California.
EDOUARD MANET -Most celebrated paintings
(23 January 1832, Paris, France – 30 April 1883, Paris, France) (aged 51)
Nationality: France
Category: Art workers
Occupation: Painter
Specification: Impressionism, Realism, leading artist in the transition from realism to impressionism., a crucial figure in the rise of the Impressionist movement
Gender: Male
Personal Life: He was short, handsome, witty kind and generous toward his friends
Spouse: Suzanne Leenhoff, a Dutch pianist (m. 1863).
Creative style: He was a revolutionary in art, pertly and courageously applied paradoxical elements in his art, implemented the brilliant alla prima painterly technique never cultivated pleinairism seriously and remained a studio painter.
Most celebrated paintings: The Luncheon on the Grass (Le déjeuner sur l’herbe) (1863), Olympia (1863), Young Flautist or The Fifer (Le Fifre)(1866), A portrait of Zola (1868), The Balcony (1869), Boating(1874), A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (Le Bar aux Folies-Bergère) (1882).
Biography on Genvive
Edouard Mane. Argenteuil (1874)
Edouard Mane. Marguerite in the garden of Bellevue (1880)
Edouard Mane. Boating (1874)
Edouard Mane. Luncheon on the Grass (1863)
Edouard Mane. Olympia (1863)
Edouard Mane. Un bar aux Folies Bergere (1878)
Justyna Kopania – Contemporary Polish Artist
Justyna Anna Kopania
(born on June 11, Warszawa, Poland)
Nationality: Poland
Category: Art workers
Occupation: Painter
Gender: Female
Style: Impressionism, Expressionism
Genre: Wide variety of genres, from landscapes and cityscapes to portraits and still life pieces. Inspirational
Medium: Oil painting on huge canvases.
Subjects: Landscape, Seascape, sailing ships
Based: Warszawa, Mazowieckie – Poland
Creative vision:
In painting I try to show the “world”, which could beseen by looking at reality that surrounds us, from another perspective,unusual, remote, sometimes through the eyes of the child, sometimes music, composer, or someone wholooks lichen on the sea, the moon , the sky and the stars …, the river … looks out the window and looks out into the street.
“Perhaps the world that surrounds us is really quite different than we perceive it to be. Perhaps in every drop of rain, each grain of sand, and every snowflake there are millions of colors that you can see, if you look for them…this is the unique perspective I look for in my paintings.”
Main works:
Kopania exhibits 60 works of art in her personal gallery on Artist Become. Her works have been exhibited in galleries throughout Poland and Europe.
Writers and Poets about creativity. Best Quotes
If you strike upon a thought that baffles you, break off from that entanglement and try another, so shall your wits be fresh to start again.
Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BC), ancient Greeks playwright
True wisdom consists not in seeing what is immediately before our eyes, but in foreseeing what is to come
Terence (195/185–159 BC), Roman playwright
Fortune favors the brave.
Terence
Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.
Rumi (September 30, 1207 –December 17, 1273), Persian poet and Sufi mystic
Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about…Say yes quickly, if you know, if you’ve known it before the beginning of the universe.
Rumi
There is a community of the spirit. Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and being the noise. Drink all your passion, and be a disgrace. Close both eyes to see with the other eye.
Rumi
Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.
Rumi
Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
Rumi
As one who sees in dreams and wakes to find the emotional impression of his vision still powerful while its parts fade from his mind – Just such am I, having lost nearly all the vision itself, while in my heart I feel the sweetness of it yet distill and fall.
Dante Alighieri (c. 1265–September 9, 1321), Italian poet (Paradiso)
The pen is the tongue of the mind.
Miguel de Cervantes (September 29,1547–April 22,1616), Spanish novelist
The earth has music for those who listen.
William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564–April 23, 1616), English poet and playwright
Peder Mørk Mønsted – Danish realist painter
Peder Mørk Mønsted
(10 December 1859, Grenå, Denmark – 20 June 1941, Fredensborg, Denmark)
Nationality: Danish
Category: Art workers
Occupation: Painter
Specification: Photorealistic approach to his subjects, romantic and poetic view of nature, meticulous attention to both detail and colour.
Art genre: landscape and portraite paintings.
Education: He receive painting lessons at the art school in Aarhus. In 1875, Mønsted moved to Copenhagen, where from 1875 to 1878 he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts with Niels Simonsen and Julius Exner.
In 1878 Mønsted left the Academy to study under the artist Peder Severin Krøyer.
Personal life:
He was the son of Otto Christian Mønsted, a prosperous ship-builder, and Thora Johanne Petrea Jorgensen. He had an elder brother, Niels.
On March 14th, 1889, at Frederiksberg, Peder Mork Mønsted married Elna Mathilde Marie Sommer. Nine years later the couple had a son, Tage.
Traveling which Boosts Creativity:
Mønsted travelled extensively throughout his long career, being a frequent visitor to Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, North Africa and the Middle East..
In 1882 -1883, he spent time in Rome and Capri then, the following year, visited Paris, where he worked in the studios of William Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), the famous French academic painter.
In 1884, he first visited North Africa, in 1885 his journeys took him to Sicily and Taormina
and in 1889, he went to Algeria. After that, he visited Egypt and Spain.
During his later years, he spent a great deal of time in Switzerland and travelling throughout the Mediterranean.
His travels produced numerous sketches that became paintings.
He established himself in Copenhagen and most of his landscapes and coastlines were devoted to Scandinavia.
He was especially popular in Germany, where he held several shows at the Glaspalast in Munich. In 1995, a major retrospective, called “Light of the North”, was held in Frankfurt am Main.
The artist died in Fredensborg, Denmark on June 20, 1941, aged 81.
His works can be found in museums: Chi-Mei Museum in Taiwan and the Dahesh Museum in New York, in Aalborg and Bautzen.
Most of his works are in private collections.
Koukei Kojima – Modern Japanese Landscape Painter
Koukei Kojima
(bоrn in 1931)
Nationality: Japan
Category: Art workers
Occupation: Painter
Education: He graduated from Tama University of Arts.
Specification: Japanese style painting who draws the landscape painting. Japanese style painting method: Natural pigments on silk
Creative style: Sansui, landscape painting in Japan. The word san means yama (mountains), sui means mizu (river)
Awards: The Sougenkai association prize
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