Franz Sedlacek (1891 – 1945) was an Austrian painter who belonged to the tradition known as "New Objectivity" ("neue Sachlichkeit"), an artistic movement similar to Magical Realism. At the end of the Second World War he "disappeared" as a soldier of the Wehrmacht somewhere in Poland.
posted by The Whelk on Dec 7, 2011 - 4 comments

On Tor.com, Mefi'sown Patrick Garcon (smoke) is writing lively essays on Victorian fantasy illustration, from the Pre-Raphaelites to Orientalism. [via mefi projects]
posted by The Whelk on Sep 3, 2010 - 12 comments

Why preserve Van Gogh's palette? - an exploration of color from the actual layout of various artists' color palettes - Degas, Delacroix, Gaugin, Moreau, Renoir, Seurat, Van Gogh. (via Neatorama) [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on May 30, 2010 - 15 comments

The Art & Life of Annie Truxell [via mefi projects]: Annie Truxell is a well known painter who has lived a long and fascinating life. Her adventures have been legendary, encompassing Greenwich Village in the 50s, London in the 60s and India in the 70s. She was friends with Franz Klein, Bill de Kooning, Truman Capote, Terry Southern, Mati Klarwein & many other wild & woolly people.
posted by The Whelk on Jul 12, 2009 - 11 comments

Dino Valls (NSFW) (large format slide show of his work) is a self-taught Spanish artist who studied Italian and Flemish masters of the 16th and 17th centuries. Use of egg tempera and oil is one of his favorite painting techniques, requiring great mastery but affording rich color and tone. His works are beautiful, disturbing and surreal. [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Jul 20, 2008 - 61 comments

Did you know that some of the most famous paintings by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Degas, and Toulouse Lautrec were based on photographs? While some impressionists and post-impressionists publicly disparaged photography as mechanical, many others were using it as their secret weapon. The relationship between the two arts was complex and intertwined. (And turning the tables, check out this contemporary Russian woman who is recreating several famous paintings in staged photographs.)
posted by madamjujujive on Nov 12, 2006 - 27 comments

A video game "based on Bob Ross' creative, unique and easy to learn painting techniques and TV show properties" is coming to the next-generation Nintendo system.
posted by AloneOssifer on Apr 5, 2006 - 31 comments

Not safe for work: Baby Art: the profoundly fucked-up artwork of one Trevor Brown, a fabulously unwell individual.
posted by Gator on Mar 2, 2006 - 54 comments

20th-century American artist, Alice Neele , "The Auntie Hero": "While Uptowners were making their way downtown to have their portraits painted by Warhol, Downtowners were going up to 107th Street to sit for this bohemian, auntie-like artist." Check out seven decades of raw, sometimes amazing, but always deeply humane portraits of the often larger-than-life figures who peopled the New York art/lit scene and Neel's personal landscape, including such iconic irrepressibles as Joe Gould, Andy Warhol, Annie Sprinkle, and Bella Abzug. (NSFW)
posted by taz on Sep 16, 2004 - 13 comments

Martin Beck's Last Ten Years: How interesting to be able to look at a painter's work year by year: patterns and even stories seem to develop, disappear and change before (and after) our eyes. Are there any other good chronologically-arranged artist's websites out there? Or do painters habitually avoid them to prevent the detection of similarities and obsessions?
posted by MiguelCardoso on Dec 26, 2003 - 5 comments

Ton Mondrian Is Even Worse Than Mon Mondrian: Use the machine to see how you square up to the Master. [Shockwave required; first link via Bifurcated Rivets.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Jan 23, 2003 - 18 comments

Artists, Lovers And Art Lovers or Amadeo, Anna and Olga: I was astonished to find such a thorough Modigliani gallery as this on the Web, complete with a charming piece on his love affair with the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. It's part of Olga's Gallery, an entirely amateurish affair mounted by Olga and Helen Mataev with the intention of opening their children's eyes to the wonders of the (art) world. Its innocence and guilelessness are obvious, but its enthusiasm for painting - and its anxiety to share what's unsettling and magnificent about art - did much to renew my faith in the good ship Internet and in so many who sail in her. Long live amateurishness and its real root, love! OK, so it's a bit raw around the edges... Who cares? It may be unprofessional, uncool and even awkward - but it's truly lovely.
posted by MiguelCardoso on Sep 9, 2002 - 8 comments