December 2013
ARC Salon Reported in <i>Epoch Times</i>
December 26, 2013
 Two Lovers by Nick Alm First Place Figurative 2012/2013 Salon | The upcoming ARC Salon Competition is already making it's way into newspapers. To read the article, click here. | |
| "After a hundred years of suppression, traditional realism in the fine arts is returning in full force," said ARC founder Fred Ross, explaining the importance of such a competition. "Contemporary realism is the true inheritor of the 600 years of advancement in the fine arts before it took a disastrous turn down the blind alley of modernism and post-modernism. We believe that realism is the only form of fine art which is equivalent to a universal language that cuts across all forms of the spoken and written word, and which is capable of communicating and expressing the widest range of ideas, concepts, beliefs, values, and mankind's hopes dreams, fantasies, fears, loves and joys, as well as chronicling in this universal language what it means to be human now and throughout history." | ||
Jeremy Lipking Interviewed by <i>Epoch Times</i>
December 23, 2013
| To read the full interview, click here. | |
| "Taking inspiration from 19th and 20th century artists such as Anders Zorn, John Singer Sargent, and William Bouguereau, Lipking paints his subjects in natural settings, imbuing the images with life using loose, textured brushwork, well placed touches of contrasting color, and leaving some canvas peeking through. Lipking is recognized by the Art Renewal Center as a Living Master, which the organization defines as one who has the 'rare talent, experience and expertise to create great humanistic works of art that are seemingly executed with effortless perfection.' The exhibition runs through Dec. 31 at Arcadia Contemporary." |  Sofie by Jeremy Lipking |
Girl with a Pearl Earring in New York
December 20, 2013
 Girl with a pearl earring | Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Hals: Masterpieces of Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis Open through January 19, 2014 The famous Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer and The Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius are on view at the Frick Collection, neither of which have been seen by audiences in the United States in ten years. 1 East 70th Street, New York NY 10021 To view more on this and other exhibitions, click here. |
ASTA Juried Exhibition & Sale
December 18, 2013
| The American Society of Traditional Artists, an ARC Allied Organization™, has recently announced their Annual Juried Exhibition & Sale hosted by the Arizona Art Alliance in Scottsdale, Arizona. The American Society of Traditional Artists' ultimate aim is to encourage and heighten public understanding and appreciation of traditional realism art. | |
| The 2014 ASTA Annual Show will be held at Arizona Art Alliance, 9011 E. Indian Bend, Scottsdale, AZ 85250. Phone: 602-870-7610. The show is a six week event held from January 4th, 2014 thru February 16th, 2014. Featured events include Lectures from our Sponsors and Artists on January 18th, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Meet and greet the Artists from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. To learn more about our Allied Organizations, click here. To learn more about this and other events, click here. |  Memories by Ed Copley 38x30 inches Oil on Linen |
James Van Fossan Solo Show
December 17, 2013
| ARC Associate Living Master™ James Van Fossan will be having a solo exhibition of his work, December 28th, 5 – 8pm. About his work Van Fossan said the following: | ||
 Rosibel by James Van Fossan | "What my work to-date represents is my study of the language and craft of oil painting. Words, like paintings, are used to express our hearts to others. However, a painting can say so much more, and is understood as though it were a universal language. I paint in a realistic manner simply because I feel my primary goal is to represent truth, reality, and to tell the story. I desire to paint and to speak clearly so that the more important matter of what I am trying to say comes through. Like any great craft, the time and detail fostered into a work of realism commands attention and invites the viewer to understand, or at least to consider, the painting. To share my philosophies and thoughts with others in such a beautiful and historical art form is a privilege I am determined to honor as I continue to work with all of my heart and mind on this life-long mission." | |
| Alpen Art & Antiks – 242 East Meadow Drive, Vail Village, Vale CO 81657 (970) 476 3570 To view more information on this and other events, please click here. | ||
Judges Announced
December 13, 2013
| We are pleased to announce the Judges for the 2013/2014 International ARC Salon. They are as follows: Fred Ross - Founder and Chairman of the Art Renewal Center, Ross is the leading authority on William Bouguereau and co author of the recently published Catalogue Raisonné William Bouguereau: His Life and Works. Ross received his MA in art education from Columbia University. His speeches and essays are read by over 300,000 art professionals, educators, students and fans each year; and have become required reading in countless classrooms. Ross is also a well known collector of 19th century European painting and of Contemporary Realism as well. Dr. Vern Swanson - Swanson has his Phd from the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, England and is the Director of the Springville Museum of Art, Utah, where he has served since 1980. He is a lecturer/scholar/writer and expert on 19th Century European Art and Russian Art through the 20th Century. Swanson is the leading authority on Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and John William Godward and author of the Catalogue Raisonnés for both artists. In total, the number of books Swanson has published is well into the teens. Julie Bell - is an ARC Living Master ™ Her knowledge of anatomy has allowed her to imbue her figures of humans and animals with grace and strength. Julie's work in the fantasy and science fiction field has appeared on hundreds of book covers, comic books, trading cards, and various collectibles. Her work can be seen worldwide in major advertising campaigns, album covers, posters, and collectibles of all kinds. More recently, Julie has turned her attention to painting wildlife, winning first place in the Animal Category in the International ARC Salon two years in a row. Julie Bell should also be singled out as winning the most awards in any one competition ARC has ever held, in the 2012/2013 Salon winning six awards and, two additional honorable mentions, and has emerged as one of the top artists of her generation. James Hastie - is a Senior Director of Christie’s with over 24 years’ experience in the 19thCentury European Paintings and Drawings department. Appointed a Director of Christie’s London and Head of Christie’s South Kensington’s British and 19th Century European Paintings department in 2000, he was instrumental in the redevelopment and success of that sale site. In 2006, James joined the New York team as a Senior Specialist supporting all areas of the team’s business-getting activities and appointed Head of 19th Century European Art in 2009. James has also been a Christie’s sale and charity auctioneer for over 15 years. To review the prospectus, click here. |
Jeremy Lipking Solo Exhibition
December 12, 2013
| ARC Living Master™ Jeremy Lipking has a solo show of his work opening tonight at Arcadia Contemporary, 51 Greene Street, New York, NY 10013. The show will run from December 12 – December 31. The last solo show of his work at Arcadia was four years ago. Lipking and show were also recently featured in American Art Collector Magazine with one of Lipking's paintings on the cover. "I've always wanted to do an entire show with different paintings using the same model and I've painted her a lot so it seemed like a natural fit...But the difficult part about painting your own daughter is that with other models you don't really strive to make it look exactly like the person, but with Skylar, while they are not portraits of her, I want it to look like her. She's my daughter." For more information on this and other exhibitions, click here. |  Dahlias by Jeremy Lipking |
New ARC Associate Living Master™
December 10, 2013
 Spring Covering by Sergio Roffo | Italian-born artist, Sergio Roffo, was born in 1953 and immigrated to the United States in 1961. He has been inspired by the work of such American traditional painters as George Innes and Albert Bierstadt. | |
| Roffo's paintings of coastal and rural landscapes reveal a luminous quality achieved through the technique of glazing and layering practiced by early American landscape painters. As you view his art, you discover a precise sense of value and atmospheric perspective that conveys a relaxed sense of calmness; a characteristic that defines and informs all his work. Roffo's captivating depictions of the New England landscape have been included in a variety of museum exhibitions and have earned him numerous national awards. To learn more about Sergio Roffo and to view his new gallery on ARC, click here. | ||
Please Donate to the Art Renewal Center
December 9, 2013
| Please help ARC support our approved ateliers and provide scholarships for students who study the techniques of the past, thereby acquiring the tools needed to create great contemporary works. Help us maintain our extensive library of artworks, new stories, features, articles, editorials, essays, technical information, lists of ARC approved ateliers and schools where real classical training still continues. Your donation will be used to continue this work in progress, steadily expanding with thousands of high quality images of the greatest paintings and sculpture in history. The Art Renewal Center is building an encyclopedic collection of essays, biographies and articles by top scholars in the field. |  |
| Any amount is welcome. Please click here to make your donation today! | |
Joseph McGurl Plein Air Magazine Award
December 6, 2013
| The 2012/2013 ARC Salon Plein Air Magazine Award featuring Joseph McGurl was published in their November issue. The six page article is a full artist profile and McGurl was also given the honor of being featured on the cover. | |
 | About his work McGurl said "I'm interested in human reality, and how to express in my paintings our relationship to what we experience. That is, I want to understand how people relate to the natural world, how we perceive reality, whether we have a spiritual response to nature, and how the physics and topography of the natural world influence them. To me, the way to express all that in a painting is by selecting the materials and techniques that will bring my pictures as close as possible to that human reality. That objective makes it essential that I paint directly from the landscape and study the physical aspects of light, geography, and topography. Other artists might have different goals and ways of conveying their understanding of reality, and there is no right or wrong about one's approach, only a measurement of how well an artist expresses his or her ideas." |
| The Plein Air Magazine Award is being given out again in the 2013/2014 ARC Salon which we are accepting entries for now. To read the full prospectus, click here. | |
 | In addition, John Pence Gallery, located at 750 Post Street in San Francisco near Union Square, will open an exhibition of recent oil paintings, field studies and sketches by Joseph McGurl tonight. This will be his first show in seven years on the West Coast. This large and robust show will remain on view to the public through January 18, 2014. |
Norman Rockwell Brings $46,000,000 at Auction
December 5, 2013
 | "Sotheby’s December 4th auction of American Art was an extraordinary success, achieving nearly $84 million, the third highest sale total ever in the category. Leading the sale was Norman Rockwell's 1951 masterpiece Saying Grace, shown here, which sold for $46 million, more than double the high estimate of $20 million, setting a new record for an American painting at auction. All told, the seven Rockwells offered from The Stuart Family Collection realized an exceptional $59.7 million. | |
| A number of other works also sold well beyond their pre-sale estimates including Maxfield Parrish’s 1925 painting The Knave of Hearts: The Six Little Ingredients, which soared past its $250,000-350,000 estimate to realize $1.9 million, and Indian Hunter and His Dog by Paul Manship, which realized $1.56 million from an estimate of $300,000-500,000." | ||
Last chance to see <i>David d'Angers: Making the Modern Monument </i>
December 4, 2013
| Lauded by Victor Hugo as the Michelangelo of Paris, French sculptor Pierre-Jean David d'Angers produced many of the most iconic portraits and ambitious public monuments of the Romantic era. This exhibition - the first on the artist outside of his native France - assembles forty-eight works by David on paper and in wax, terracotta, marble, bronze, and plaster, as well as rare nineteenth-century reproductions of his work in photographs and engravings. The show closes December 8, 2013 Frick Collection - 1 East 70th Street, New York NY 10021 |  |
| To view more about this and other exhibitions, please click here. | |
Christie's London Major Victorian & British Impressionist Sale
December 3, 2013
 | Thursday December 12th, Christie's will be having its Victorian & British Impressionist Art sale at their King Street Location, London. The pre-sale opens the afternoon of December 8th and will remain on public view until noon on December 12th, being taken down directly before the afternoon sale. The auction consists of 104 lots and includes important works by John Atkinson Grimshaw, Edmund Blair Leighton, Arthur John Elsley, Sir Edward John Poynter, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones and others. To view the full catalogue, click here. |
 | Viewing public auction presales is one of the best ways to see important works from a given period that are in private collections and are otherwise not on public view. Most if not all of these paintings are sold back into private collections and many are never put on public view again. |