Vincent
Van Gogh (1853-1890) Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch post-impressionist
painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of
Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including
around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his
life With his illness exacting an increasing toll on his daily activities, the
last months of Vincent van Gogh's life were nevertheless his most productive.
Amid gradually increasing recognition for his work, he entered a period of
extreme fruitfulness during his final 60 days on earth. Vincent was
establishing an entirely fresh Post-Impressionistic style as he advanced toward
the day of his death, July 29, 1890, at the age of 37.
Max
Beckmann (1884-1950) Max Beckmann was
a German painter widely regarded as one of the major figures of the
Expressionist and New Objectivity movements. He was born on
February 12, 1884 in Leipzig, Germany. As a young man he studied the works
of Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Peter Paul Rubens. Beckmann served as a medic during
World War I, his distorted angles, cynical self-portraits, and depictions of
the grotesque aspects of humanity are often attributed to the trauma of his
war-time experience. In 1933, the Nazi government dismissed him from his
teaching position at the Stadel Art School in Frankfurt, and in 1937, he and
his wife fled to Amsterdam where they lived for the next decade. After World
War II, he was offered a position to teach at Washington University in St.
Louis, and so he and his wife moved to America. Beckmann taught in different
cities before settling in New York, where he was appointed as a faculty member
at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. The artist died on December 27, 1950 in New
York, NY.
Robert
Henri (1865-1929) Robert Henri was
an American painter known for his use of lively brushstrokes and simplified
forms. Henri’s preoccupation with Édouard Manet and his
depictions of urban life were influential to the young Ashcan School
painters John Sloan and George Bellows. Born Robert Henry Cozad on June 25, 1865
in Cincinnati, OH, the artist changed his name around 1882 in order to
dissociate himself from his father who had recently killed a man. Henri went on
to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia before
continuing his education in Paris. Returning to Philadelphia in 1891, Henri
befriended the younger painters Sloan and Bellows, who were working as
newspaper illustrators at the time. As the artist began teaching a younger
generation of painters, first in Philadelphia then at the Art Students League
in New York, he became increasingly interested in pedagogical techniques, and
later published the seminal book The
Art Spirit in 1923. During his time teaching, he had a number
of students that went on to become successful in their own right,
including Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Henri spent much of the latter
part of his career travelling and painting in New Mexico and Ireland. The
artist died on July 12, 1929 in New York, NY.
Thomas
Hart Benton (1889-1975) Thomas Hart Benton was an American artist whose
paintings, lithographs, and murals contributed to the Regionalist movement.
Along with John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood, Benton captured
rural American life during the 1920s and 1930s. His large-scale works
functioned as commentaries on societal injustices. Reflecting the values of the
working class, the artist often focused his attention on the plight of farmers
in the Industrial Age. “I have a sort of inner conviction that for all the
possible limitations of my mind,” he reflected. “I have come to something that
is in the image of America and the American people of my time.” Born on April
15, 1889 in Neosho, MO, Benton started his career as a commercial illustrator
before enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1907. Moving to Paris a
year later, where he met and fell under the influence of the Mexican
artist Diego Rivera. Returning to the
United States during World War I, by the early 1920s he had distinguished
himself as an outspoken opponent to abstraction. This change in attitude was
inspired by a reappraisal of his Midwestern roots and a desire to make work
that everyday people could appreciate. He went on to teach at the Art Students
League in New York, where one of his pupils included the young Jackson Pollock. The artist died
on January 19, 1975 in Kansas City, MO, where his former home and studio are
currently a historic site and museum honoring his legacy.
Morris
Louis (1912-1962) Morris Louis was
an American painter and founding member of the Washington Color
School movement of the 1950s. His inventive painting technique
utilizing vertical stains of color on raw canvas, was largely inspired by the
work of Helen Frankenthaler.
Born
on September 7, 1912 in Baltimore, MD, he went on to study at the Maryland
Institute College of Art from 1929 to 1933. Following graduation, Louis found
employment with the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project in New
York. Returning to Baltimore in 1943, his work became increasingly influenced
by Joan Miró’s abstract works.
In 1952, the artist moved to Washington, D.C., where, like his
contemporary Kenneth Noland, he set out to
deconstruct what constituted a painting’s formal properties. Tragically, Louis
was diagnosed with lung cancer caused by extended inhalation of paint vapors at
the age of 49. He died that same year on September 7, 1962 in Washington, D.C.
The following year, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York mounted a
memorial exhibition of his paintings.
Ellsworth
Kelly (1923-2015) was an eminent American artist known for his abstract
paintings. His use of bright colors, and simple shapes, contributed to the
discourse of 20th-century painting. Born on May 31, 1923 in Newburgh, NY, he
went on to study technical drawing and design at the Pratt Institute in
Brooklyn. In 1943, he joined the army and worked as a camouflage artist,
creating painted objects intended to misdirect enemy bombers. After the war,
Kelly returned to Europe on a scholarship from the G.I. Bill. While studying in
Paris, he befriended fellow American artist Jack
Youngerman and
saw the works of Pablo Picasso. He returned to
New York in 1952, and established himself alongside Frank Stella and Al Held in rejecting
the gestural brushstrokes of Abstract Expressionism with his pared-down
Color-Field paintings. He died on December 27, 2015 at the age of 92 in
Spencertown, NY.
Art on view at the Saint Louis Art Museum and copy largely courtessy of ARTNET with edits by Wes Morgan. Note also the link to PBS video segment on Max Beckmann collection filmed at SLAM.
Art on view at the Saint Louis Art Museum and copy largely courtessy of ARTNET with edits by Wes Morgan. Note also the link to PBS video segment on Max Beckmann collection filmed at SLAM.
