Sergej Glinkov - Port au Prince [2008]

Sergej Glinkov’s work mostly consists of oil painting, but also includes drawing, watercolour and collage. His most recent works are the result of an artistic journey embarked upon in Kiev, the city of his birth, and continued in Venice, the city that adopted him. One of the central themes is the human figure interpreted as matter that is physically embodied through time. The spatial quality of Glinkov’s work is both figurative and anti-figural.

[Oil on burlap, 90 x 150 cm]

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes - Hope

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes - Hope [c.1872]

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (December 14, 1824 – October 24, 1898) was a French painter, who became the president and co-founder of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts and whose work influenced many other artists. He was born Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes in Lyon, Rhone, France, the son of a mining engineer, descendant of an old family of Burgundy. In Montmartre, he had an affair with one of his models, Suzanne Valadon, who would become one of the leading artists of the day as well as the mother, teacher, and mentor of Maurice Utrillo. His work is seen as symbolist in nature, even though he studied with some of the romanticists, and he is credited with influencing an entire generation of painters and sculptors.

Wassily Kandinsky - Orientallsches

Wassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow, on December 4th, 1866. It wasn't until 1896 that Kandinsky decided to seriously study art. The sudden change in his life had been triggered by his interest in the work of Monet, an artist who's work has had a profound impact on many others. Kandinsky was fascinated by the impressionist artist's style, as he had never before seen paintings which weren't meant to perfectly imitate reality. Kandinsky studied in Munich, under Anton Azbé, sketching, anatomy and life drawing. He then studied under Franz von Stuck, then moved on to found and the avant-garde Phalanx Exhibiting Society, and write about art. His administrative skills served him well as director of the Phalanx Exhibiting Society, while his writings about spirituality had prepared him for his works about colour theory. Wassily Kandinsky continued painting until his death, on December 13th, 1944.

[Colour woodcut, 125 x 190 mm]

Lorser Feitelson - Genesis #2 [1934]

A painter, Lorser Feitelson (Savannah, Georgia, 1898 - Los Angeles, California, 1978) became known for abstraction but briefly explored mural painting of regionalist subjects. In his signature work, Feitelson used many images and symbols that evoke dreams and address the subconscious mind. He was a key figure in modern art in California at a time when that area had little exposure to avant-garde styles of which he explored a variety including Surrealism, Cubism and Kinetic work.

[Oil on fibreboard, 102.1 x 121.8 cm]

Vincent van Gogh - Branch of an Almond Tree in Blossom [1890]

In January 1890, Vincent van Gogh’s work at last began to attract some attention. The critic Albert Aurier made him the subject of a long, rather overblown but insightful article, “Les Isoles: Vincent Van Gogh”, in the journal Mercers de France, and the avant-garde Belgian group Les Vingt invited him to exhibit at their show in Brussels.

Theo sent them a number of Vincent’s paintings, which stirred up some controversy: a Belgian painter, Henri de Groux, denounced them and as a result was almost involved in a duel with Van Gogh’s friend, Toulouse-Lautrec. At the exhibition itself, Van Gogh made his first sale in the public world of exhibitions and auctions: the painter Anna Boch, sister of the ‘poet’ whose portrait he had painted at Arles, bought The Red Vineyard for 400 francs.

Two months later, ten of his paintings were shown at the exhibition organized by the Salon de Independents. This was in no sense a popular success, but it represented a significant degree of recognition by his fellow artists. Pissarro and others examined the canvases by Van Gogh stored in Paris at Pere Tanguy’s; Gauguin wrote from Pont-Aven to congratulate and praise him.

Van Gogh’s reactions alternated between pleasure at becoming known and a masochistic rejection of it. In any case, his personal affliction was more immediately important. After three months of good health, two quite mild attacks in December 1889 and January 1890 led him to hope that he was beginning to get better. Then, at the end of February, he had a devastating seizure, worse than anything before, in which he tried to poison himself by swallowing his paints.

Significantly, this occurred shortly after Joanna van Gogh, wife of Vincent’s brother Theo, gave birth to a son. Almond Blossoms by Vincent Van Gogh was sent to Joanna as a form of congratulations from Vincent to celebrate the event.

Gerrit van Honthorst - The Matchmaker

Gerard van Honthorst (November 4, 1592 - April 27, 1656) was a Dutch painter of Utrecht. He was brought up at the school of Abraham Bloemaert, who exchanged the style of the Franckens for that of the pseudo-Italians at the beginning of the 16th century. Honthorst's works are numerous, and amply represented in English and Continental galleries. His most attractive pieces are those in which he cultivates the style of Caravaggio, those, namely, which represent taverns, with players, singers and eaters. He shows great skill in reproducing scenes illuminated by a single candle, amply employing the style of chiaroscuro. But he seems to have studied too much in dark rooms, where the subtleties of flesh colour are lost in the dusky smoothness and uniform redness of tints procurable from farthing dips.