Fumio Fujita is a master Japanese printmaker renown for his landscapes and images of trees. In his later years his focus has been mainly on trees, but in his earlier years he worked with the landscapes and also made wonderful prints of animals.
Fumio Fujita was born in Aichi prefecture, Japan in the year 1933.
The artist attended Musashino College of Fine Arts located in the western part of Tokyo, Japan.
Fujita began producing woodblock prints in 1963.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Fujita shows a remarkable sense of design always looking for patterns in items such as tree bark and leaves. Overall his work shows a great blend of realism and abstraction.
Locardia Ndandarika is an internationally renown Shona artist from Zimbabwe. Locardia Ndandarika was born in Bindura, Zimbabwe in the year 1945.
As a youngster she made her first sculptures out of clay. Her favorite subject matter was animals.
For a brief period she was married to another Shona artist, Joseph Ndandarika. Joseph helped push her art to a professional level and Locardia was able to become a full time professional artist!
Price range information: Sorry none available.
Locardia Ndandarika does a great job at finding interesting patterns to repeat in her work. Some great examples of this are her portrayals of bird feathers and also human hair styles.
Alexander Max Koester was a German painter renown for working with ducks as his main subject. Max Koester was born in what is now the city of Bergneustadt, Germany  in the year 1864.
The artist originally went to school to become a pharmacist. He dropped out in order to pursue a new goal of becoming a professional artist. Koester attended the Karlsruhe Academy where he was able to learn from contemporary German artists Carl Hoff and Claus Meyer.
As a student he was able to earn a great deal of money by painting portraits of people.
Max Koester passed away in 1932.
Price range information: The artist worked in watercolors and pastels which can be found starting at $10,000. Original works in oil can command $500,000.
What an outstanding painter of ducks! I love the strong brushwork that Koester had, it reminds me of John Singer Sargent. Very bold colorful strokes which led to him sculpting the ducks with his brush.
The artist also had a great skill at painting clouds and water and making them a great abstract part of the painting.
Jet Martinez is a popular illustrator and muralist who often works with floral and animal imagery. His work is similar to the Amate style of Mexican folk art painting. Animals and birds are painted with bright colors and mix of floral and botanical imagery.
Jet Martinez was born in Mexico. He often paints scenes that represent areas where he grew up. Martinez attended the San Francisco Academy of Art. Martinez is based out of San Francisco.
Below a look at a mural by Jet Martinez featuring flowers:
In this clip a great interview with Jet Martinez. He talks about what inspired him to become an artist:
Watch out for this question on Jeopardy! Who was the first artist in residence at Facebook? Jet Martinez is the answer. He talks about this experience in the second clip.
The first street artist who painted the Facebook headquarters was David Choe. Choe became a multi millionaire since he chose to be paid for his work in stock. Facebook has proven to be very lucrative for some artists!
The story of how Martinez came to be an artist is one that is repeated over and over. People have self doubt and often aren’t exposed to enough art at an early age. Its funny that his “a-ha” or epiphany moment came when he had a teacher whose work wasn’t very good. Martinez then thought if he can teach anyone can be an artist.
Si Scott is a contemporary British artist renown for his ink drawings of animals. Scott studied art and graphic design at Leeds College of Art and Buckingmanshire Chilterns University.
Scott has worked for many internationally known brands on advertising campaigns. He has also designed album covers.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
In this clip a brief interview with the artist:
The artist was named one of the top 200 illustrators in the world.
Si Scotti is based out of the United Kingdom.
In this brief clip we see the artist at work on many works:
His style of free flowing animals are very creative but I think his work with text and letters is just as amazing. By using only black and white in most images we are able to view the outstanding drawing skills of Si Scott.
Hama Woods is a world renown stencil artist from Norway. She is famous for her mainly black and white imagery of animals and rodents that include just a touch of color. The artist is highly interested in nature.
In this clip we view an installation of one of Woods’ signature rat images:
Woods is based out of Oslo, Norway.
Price range information: Prints are available from $150 to $500.
Theophile Steinlen was a Swiss artist renown for his paintings of cats. Theophile Steinlen was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in the year 1859. This is the French speaking part of the country.
Steinlen was also an avid printmaker.
Below a great selection of works by Steinlen. This includes not only his famous cats, but wonderful landscapes and female nudes:
The artist attended college at the University of Lausanne.
Steinlen was a successful commercial artist painting not only cats, but chickens and other animals. The artist also painted the figure. He was in demand by leading cultural magazines of the time.
Steinlen was also a sculptor with cats being his favorite subject.
Theophile Steinlen passed away in 1923.
In this clip we view a work by Steinlen that appeared on my favorite television show, the Antiques Roadshow!:
Price range information: Works range from $5,000 to $150,000.
Steinlen is included in the National Gallery of Art located in Washington D.C.
What a great subject matter! I love cats, what awesome models they make since they don’t talk and they move so very little. Steinlen does a wonderful job of capturing the emotional spirit of cats!
Roger Hilton was a English artist renown for his abstract works. The artist was born Roger Hildesheim, but the family later changed it’s surname due to anti German feelings after the First World War. Roger Hilton was born in Northwood, London, England in the year 1911.
Hilton attended the Slade School of Art located in London, England.
Hilton served in World War 2. After a failed plan of attack by the Allied Forces, Hilton spent multiple years as a prisoner of war.
Though he was best known for his abstract art, later in his career the artist worked with the figure.
In this lengthy interview the artist’s widow talks about Mr. Hilton during a show that celebrates his 1o0th birthday:
Roger Hilton passed away in 1975.
The artist won the John Moore Painting Prize.
Price range information: Works range from $20,000 to $300,000. Hilton worked in oils, watercolors, gouache, ink, pastel, and charcoal.
Hilton was a wonderful abstract using many different techniques of applying paint and mediums. Though he is associated with the Abstract Art movement after the War period, I enjoy his animals and figure works he painted later in his career the best. These works have almost perfect combinations of realism and abstraction.
Qavavau Manumie is a contemporary Inuit artist renown for his drawings of animals and people. Qavavau Manumie was born in Brandon, Manitoba in the year 1958.
The artist is now based out of Cape Dorset, Nunavut Territory, Canada.
His first solo exhibition took place in 2008. In this clip we view a show featuring Manumie that took place in 2012:
Manumie was one of the featured artist in the 2015 Cape Dorset print calendar.
Below a great interview with the artist:
Price range information: Sorry none available.
I enjoy the Pop art aspect of Manumie’s art. Though he works with traditional Inuit motifs, the artist also pays homage to modern items such as stiletto high heeled shoes. From a design aspect, his work is similar in composition to Kenjuak Ashevak.
Dzia is a wonderful street artist from Belgium. Dzia Krank is the fictional name for this artist renown for intricate line drawings and paintings of animals and insects. Dzia earned a M.F.A. from the Royal Academy of Art located in Antwerp, Belgium.
In addition to painting Dzia has also worked as a sculptor and even studied the art of taxidermy.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
In this clip a great selection of animals and insects painted by Dzia:
The artist is very creative and says his work is spontaneous. The end result might be something John Singer Sargent would have produced if he were a street artsist. I say this because Dzia’s works looks very loose and lively, but a tremendous amount of work and thought went into it.
What a fantastic draftsman!
If you enjoy street art dealing with animals and other creatures, be sure and check out the work of another Belgian street artist named ROA, already profiled here.
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