French Fauvist Painter and Sculptor, 1869-1954
Henri Matisse is considered the most important French artist of the 20th century and, along with Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential modernist painters of the last century. Matisse began studying drawing and painting in the 1890s. A student of the masters of Post-Impressionism, Matisse later made a reputation for himself as the leader of a group of painters known as Les Fauves. An ironic label given to them by a critic, the name reflected Matisse's aggressive strokes and bold use of primary colors. In 1905 Matisse gained sudden fame with three paintings, including Woman with the Hat, purchased by the wealthy American ex-patriot Gertrude Stein. Beyond painting, he worked with lithographs and sculpture, and during World War II he did a series of book designs. Later in his career he experimented with paper cutouts and designed decorations for the Dominican chapel in Vence, France. Along with Picasso, Related Paintings of Henri Matisse :. | Amido (mk35) | Still Life | Pastordle (mk35) | Green Stripe | The Hindu Pose (mk35) | Related Artists:
Lambert Sustris(c. 1515-1520 - c. 1584) was a Dutch painter active mainly in Venice during the Mannerist style. He is also referred to as Alberto de Olanda (Albert of Holland). He was born in Amsterdam, and only came to Venice when over 40 years old. His training is unknown, but he was utilized by the studio of Titian for the depiction of landscapes. He accompanied Titian on his trips to Augsburg in 1548 and 1550 - 1551, and there executed portraits. Returning to Venice, he was influenced by Parmigianino and Andrea Meldolla. He was a teacher to Girolamo Muziano. His son was Friedrich Sustris.
Jan provoostDutch, born circa 1465-1529,South Netherlandish painter. He probably came into contact with Simon Marmion, the renowned painter and book illuminator from Valenciennes, via Jacquemart Pilavaine, a publisher and illuminator in his native Bergen. Provoost married Marmion's widow, Jeanne de Quaroube, before 1491, and it is thus assumed that Marmion was his teacher. In 1493 Provoost moved to Antwerp, a promising town for artists, where he registered as a master in the Guild of St Luke, but in 1494 he travelled to Bruges. He became a citizen there and soon played an important part in the painters' guild. In 1506 Maximiliaen Frans (1490-1547) was his pupil. Provoost received commissions for decorative work from the town council and church authorities in 1509, 1513 and 1520, the year of the Triumphal Entry of Charles V into Bruges, for which he worked on the decorations. He returned to Antwerp the same year to meet Albrecht Derer, who may have drawn his portrait. Derer visited Bruges in April 1521 and was Provoost's guest. Of Jan Provoost's children, Adriaen Provoost (b 1508) became a painter and Thomas Provoost a glassmaker, both active in Bruges. Jan Provoost's time as a pupil in a northern French miniaturist's workshop was of decisive influence on his later oeuvre. His work radiates assurance, with its precise drawing, restrained expression and airy landscapes, and he was successful in Bruges, where there was little competition after Hans Memling's death in 1494.
Boris Kustodiev1878-1927
Russian
Boris Kustodiev Galleries
The Russian Revolution of 1905, which shook the foundations of society, evoked a vivid response in the artist's soul. He contributed to the satirical journals Zhupel (Bugbear) and Adskaya Pochta (Hell??s Mail). At that time, he first met the artists of Mir Iskusstva (World of Art), a group of innovative Russian artists. He joined their association in 1910 and subsequently took part in all their exhibitions.
In 1905, Kustodiev first turned to book illustrating, a genre in which he worked throughout his entire life. He illustrated many works of classical Russian literature, including Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls, The Carriage, and The Overcoat; Mikhail Lermontov's The Lay of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich, His Young Oprichnik and the Stouthearted Merchant Kalashnikov; and Leo Tolstoy's How the Devil Stole the Peasants Hunk of Bread and The Candle.
In 1909, he was elected into Imperial Academy of Arts. He continued to work intensively, but a grave illness??tuberculosis of the spine??required urgent attention. On the advice of his doctors he went to Switzerland, where he spent a year undergoing treatment in a private clinic. He pined for his distant homeland, and Russian themes continued to provide the basic material for the works he painted during that year. In 1918, he painted The Merchant's Wife, which became the most famous of his paintings.
The Merchant's Wife, (1918).In 1916, he became paraplegic. "Now my whole world is my room", he wrote. His ability to remain joyful and lively despite his paralysis amazed others. His colourful paintings and joyful genre pieces do not reveal his physical suffering, and on the contrary give the impression of a carefree and cheerful life. His Pancake Tuesday/Maslenitsa (1916) and Fontanka (1916) are all painted from his memories. He meticulously restores his own childhood in the busy city on the Volga banks.
In the first years after the Russian Revolution of 1917 the artist worked with great inspiration in various fields. Contemporary themes became the basis for his work, being embodied in drawings for calendars and book covers, and in illustrations and sketches of street decorations. His covers for the journals The Red Cornfield and Red Panorama attracted attention because of their vividness and the sharpness of their subject matter. Kustodiev also worked in lithography, illustrating works by Nekrasov. His illustrations for Leskov's stories The Darner and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District were landmarks in the history of Russian book designing, so well did they correspond to the literary images.