Fellow artists and those who simply appreciate good art, don’t miss this amazing website: http://www.artrenewal.org/
It’s easy to get lost in the online galleries linked to this site…every artist’s work is unique yet spectacular in its own way, and all the paintings are technically excellent. Also, I really enjoy and agree with much of thier worldview on art:
“We have painstakingly unraveled an understanding of how and why great traditional art nearly perished. For the sake of our children, our culture, and posterity, the Art Renewal Center is dedicated to traditional humanist art, which is essential to the health and welfare of mankind, and to a critical and truthful analysis of the modernist onslaught by which it was nearly consumed.”
While I personally enjoy well-executed modern art (sometimes a mood or emotion can be expressed in a fascinating way through non-representational work), there is something timeless and enduring in the representational work of the masters. Below are some of my favorite images I found on the site:
Gaston Bussiere
Joan of Arc
1908
Oil on canvas
The colors, ethereal mood and atmosphere of this piece are just breathtaking.
Shane Wolf (age 31)
Shane in the Grand Manner
Oil on Canvas 2008
I love that the artist is so young yet so accomplished here. There is something very striking to me about self-portraits of other artists: maybe it’s the eyes that look out from the canvas that say, I know myself better than any other person I’m going to paint. You can get a depth with the self-portrait that is fascinating. Also, you can be honest with yourself without worrying that you’ll be offending anyone. While in Scotland this summer I visited a portrait museum, and remember being in a huge room full of portraits, from floor to ceiling. I kept coming back to one portrait because it had a drama and strength to it that the others lacked; the eyes and expression pulled you in. It was one of the only self-portraits in the room.
