Posts Tagged ‘rackstraw downes’

Artist of the moment……Woody Gwyn

 

Woody Gwyn is an American painter renown for his panoramic landscape works. Woody Gwyn was born in San Antonio, Texas in the year 1944. Gwyn attended college at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts located in Philadelphia.

From the Denver Art Museum, Woody Gwyn talks about what he hopes viewers achieve when looking at his artwork:

From the fantastic Public Television of New Mexico we view the artist at work on some landscape paintings. This clip is only 3 years old so it gives an up to date look at his style of painting:

Price range information: Sorry none available.

Below a link to the website of Woody Gwyn:

http://www.woodygwyn.com/Site/home.html

The artist has a wonderful sense of design for depicting the vastness of space found in his art. In a museum a person is generally attracted to realism piece when its recognizable from across the room. Gwyn’s panoramic paintings of highways and the ocean make the viewer feel as if they are on the location themselves.

Having seen the work of this artist in person two other artists who show a great talent for depicting vastness of space are Rackstraw Downes and Keith Jacobshagen.

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Artist of the moment……Photographer Manuel Bravo

Manuel Bravo was a photographer renown for his work with the people of Mexico and their everyday life. Manuel Bravo was born in Mexico City in the year 1902. For his artistic education Bravo attended the National School of Fine Arts located in Mexico City. Bravo enjoyed shooting the life of the peasant and middle income lifestyle. Even the working class heroes like fireman, were a great subject for Bravo. Bravo is considered by many critics to be the first photographer to put Mexico on the map for fine art photography.

The artist lived during the time of the Mexican Revolution and the rise of mural painters like Manuel Bravo. As a child it was not uncommon for him to come across dead bodies.

In this clip a brief montage of works from Bravo:

In the 1940s Bravo developed a technique using an extra wide lens to shoot the landscapes of Mexico. Bravo was shooting for a panoramic view, similar to the painter Rackstraw Downes. Below an example of Rackstraw Downes painting style. The artist makes several sketches from various horizon points and makes his own image converging these sketches.

RackstrawDownes-2

He started work as a freelance photographer in the 1930s working for national magazines. For these works he would include photographs of murals by artists like Diego Rivera.

A collection of photographs by Manuel Bravo:

price range information: Works range from $2,000 to $50,000.

In the later years of his life his poor health forbade him from traveling, he then concentrating on photographing the nude.

Manuel Bravo passed away in 2002 at the age of 100.

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