Author Archives: Christy

Sam Savitt

Posted in Illustrators by

Equine artist and illustrator Sam Savitt (1917-2000)

Image from Equestrian Living: Remembering Artist Sam Savitt
https://eqliving.com/remembering-artist-sam-savitt/

[Sam Savitt] “started his career doing magazine illustrations, and became well known for his illustrations for Dell comic book covers, for whom he did Western illustrations. He wrote, or co-wrote, 17 books on horses, as well as private commissions and the Sam Savitt series of charts, which were used in the Smithsonian.”
https://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/illustrators/savitt-sam/

The Lone Ranger’s Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver, No3, 1952 / Dell Comics

Lad: A Dog Anniversary Edition, 1968 / E. P. Dutton, NY

Sea Horse from Sam Savitt’s Book of Horse Nonsense, 1975 / Black Horse Press, NY

Woman with a horse and foal, ND / Oil on canvas / Private collection

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Wikipedia~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Savitt
Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists~
https://www.pulpartists.com/Savitt.html
Horse Book Illustrators, Part Three: Sam Savitt~
http://estatesalechronicles.blogspot.com/2014/06/horse-book-illustrators-part-three-sam.html

Robert Brough by Francis Derwent Wood

Posted in Artists Portraying Artists by

[Robert] Brough’s life was cut short during a steep upward career trajectory; he was very much a rising art star, working alongside Sargent and having recently been made an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy.
There are 3 known full size versions [of this work]; National Gallery of Scotland, Aberdeen Art Gallery, and the third is believed to be in a private collection in the US.
~FROM Lyon & Turnbull | Online Auction Specialists

Bust of Robert Brough by Francis Derwent Wood, c.1905 / Bronze / Image from National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK

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Designer Zuzana Licko

Posted in Designing Women, Women Artists by

Zuzana Licko (born 1961) is an American type designer and visual artist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuzana_Licko

Image from No Web Without Women~
https://nowebwithoutwomen.com/

In 1984, the Apple Macintosh computer was introduced, ushering in a new era of digital type design.

That same year, Rudy VanderLans and Zuzana Licko founded Emigre Graphics in San Francisco. Soon, this typeface foundry and its magazine, Emigre, became the late 20th century’s wellspring of experimental digital typography and graphic design.

Quote from the web site Poster House
https://posterhouse.org/exhibition/the-revolution-will-be-digitized-typefaces-from-emigre-fuse/

Emigre digital font catalogue, 1986 / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA

Emigre 4, The Magazine That Ignores Boundaries, 1986 / Museum of Modern Art, NYC

Mrs Eaves typeface, designed by Zuzana Licko / Emigre digital type foundry, Berkeley, CA

Zuzana Licko’s Ceramic vases / Jacquard Weavings / Terra Cotta Garden Cones Sculptures
These images from  https://www.zuzanalicko.com/vases.php
https://ksmallgallery.com/blogs/exhibits/zuzana-licko-9-jacquard-weavings
https://www.wescover.com/p/terra-cotta-garden-cones-sculpture-by-zuzana-licko–PS1NMxFZXO

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Further reading:
https://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/reputations-zuzana-licko
https://www.printmag.com/daily-heller/the-daily-heller-vanderlans-licko-return-to-their-bitmap-roots/

Nicholas Monro (Animals in Art)

Posted in Animals in Art by

Monro [was] an English sculptor, printmaker and art teacher. He was a member of the Pop Art movement which came into prominence in the 1960s. He stood out among this group for making sculpture the principal vehicle for his work, particularly using fibreglass, filling the Robert Fraser Gallery in London, for example, with forty fibreglass sheep.
~FROM https://warwick.ac.uk/services/art/artist/nicholasmonro/

1. Magician, 1964 / Painted fiberglass / Private collection

2. Animals Running Through Fire, 1970 / Screenprint on paper / Various collections, incl. Victoria & Albert Museum, UK

3. King Kong, 1972 / Painted fiberglass / Private collection

4. Colony, 1972 / Screenprint on paper / Various collections, incl. Tate Britain, UK

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Nicholas Monro~
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Monro
The Contraption – A tribute to Nicholas Monro 1936 – 2022
http://walkspace.uk/2022/11/the-contraption-a-tribute-to-nicholas-monro-1936-2022/

Pop Art and Animals~
https://www.artmajeur.com/en/magazine/5-art-history/pop-art-and-animals/331567
11 artists express themselves through animal pop art~
https://talkcarpet.com/super-original-artist-impressions-on-our-zeitgeist-at-mima-brussels/

Autoportrait Day 361~ Maria Lassnig

Posted in Self Portraits, Women Artists by

A random survey of self-portraits created by women through the centuries

Austrian painter Maria Lassnig (1919-2014)

1. Self-Portrait, 1942 (detail) / Oil on canvas / Friedrich Petzel, New York

2. Expressive Self-Portrait, 1945 / Oil, charcoal on fiberboard / Maria Lassnig Foundation

3. Self-Portrait/Abstract Head, 1956 / Oil on Canvas / Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria

4. Self-Portrait as Animal, 1963 / Oil on canvas / Maria Lassnig Foundation

5. Self-Portrait with Stick, 1971/ Oil, charcoal on canvas / Maria Lassnig Foundation

6. Transparent Self-Portrait, 1987 / Oil on canvas / Museum of Modern Art, NYC

7. Scientific Self-Portrait, 1994 / Graphite pencil on wove paper / Morgan Library & Museum, NYC

8. Self-Portrait with Rabbit, 2003 / Oil on Canvas / Hauser & Wirth, NYC

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Ruth Sigrid Grafstrom

Posted in Illustrators by

American illustrator Ruth Sigrid Grafstrom (1905-1986)

Image from Stay on the Ride blog post about Ruth Grafstrom
http://stayontheride.blogspot.com/2013/06/ruth-grafstrom.html

“After formal training in Chicago and Paris, Grafstrom entered the field. She worked primarily in fashion illustration…She also took magazine fiction projects, and worked with the Delineator, Cosmopolitan and other women’s mags. Graftstrom secured significant advertising clients, among them Saks, Matson Line, Coty, and Pepsodent.”
https://www.dbdowd.com/illustration-history/2015/11/13/ruth-sigrid-grafstrom

Two Fashionable Young Women, 1931 / Illustration for Vogue magazine

Statues in Satin, 1938 / Illustration for Vogue magazine

Man and dog, 1939 / Illustration for Esquire magazine

Saint, to be loved and adored, 1946 / Magazine ad for Adrian Perfume

Palm Beach Portrait with Sun Hat, 1947 / Original watercolor with colored pen

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Wikipedia~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Sigrid_Grafstrom
American Art Archives~ https://www.americanartarchives.com/grafstrom.htm
Matson Navigation Company Archives~
https://matsonvintageart.com/collections/ruth-sigrid-grafstrom

Hubert Robert by Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun, 1788

Posted in Artists Portraying Artists, Women Artists by

[Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun’s] virtuoso portrait of Robert in romantic mode, casually dressed, hair unkempt, palette and brushes in hand, gazing intently into the distance. It was painted in 1788, the year before the French Revolution, when Robert was in his mid-50s. By then he was one of France’s most celebrated and best-paid artists and had a clientèle that included Catherine the Great and the Russian aristocracy.
~FROM https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/arts/international/hubert-robert-and-the-beautiful-ravages-of-time.html

Portrait of Hubert Robert by Élisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun, 1788 / Oil on wood / Louvre Museum, Department of Paintings, Paris, FR

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Autoportrait Day 360~ Claudette Johnson

Posted in Self Portraits, Women Artists by

A random survey of self-portraits created by women through the centuries

British figurative artist Claudette Johnson MBE (born 1959)

1. Untitled, 2015 / Pastel on paper / RISD Museum, Providence, RI

2. Standing Figure with African Masks, 2018 / Pastel and gouache on paper / Tate, London, UK

3. Doing Lines 1 (Lockdown) Line Journeys, 2020 / Oil pastel on paper / Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK

4. Self-Study, 2022 / Ortuzar Projects, Tribeca, NYC

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