Bazille, Frederic (1841 - 1870)
Initially studied medicine. Turned to painting in the early 1860s. His close relationship with Monet, Renoir and Sisley later influenced him to work directly from nature.

Bellows, George (1882 - 1925)
Translated the vigor and exuberance of sport into art.

Boticelli, Sandro (Renaissance/Classical Mythology)
CHARACTERISTICS: Decorative linear style. Drew undulating lines and figures with long necks, sloping shoulders, and pale soft bodies.

Boudin, Eugene (1824 - 1898)
Born on the Channel Coast and known to have literally taught himself painting. CHARACTERISTICS: Boudin's dominant interest in open-air effects, especially in extremely rapid changes of light, is evidenced in this painting.

Braque, Georges (20th Century) - Cubism
Braque and Picasso invented a new art form, called collage. CHARACTERISTICS: Stenciled lettering and paper scraps incorporated into their painting.

Cezanne, Paul (1839 - 1906) - Post-impressionism)
Initial paintings reflect an attempt to synthesize the romantic and realistic elements represented by the older masters. SUBJECT: Still lifes with fruits, landscape of Mont Ste-Victoire, L'Estaque. CHARACTERISTICS: Emphasized geometric structure, analytical, stable, balanced design, flat, square patches of color in graduated tones, simple geometric shapes.

Chagall, Marc (1887 - 1985) - Modern Art - 20th Century Surrealism
Inspired by two sources of imagery: the Jewish life and folklore of his Russian childhood and the Bible. CHARACTERISTICS: Imaginative fantasies, painted actual memories.

Da Vinci, Leonardo (1452 - 1519) - High Renaissance
At the beginning of his campaign, Da Vinci was considered a mental craftsman. By constantly stressing the intellectual aspect of art and creativity, Da Vinci transformed the artist's public status into, as he puts it a "Lord and God."CHARACTERISTICS: Interest and expertise encompassed anatomy, engineering, astronomy, mathematics, natural history, music, sculpture, architecture and painting.

Dali, Salvador (1904 - 1989) - Modern Art - 20th Century - Surrealism
Considered an inventive self-promoter. CHARACTERISTICS: Used technique of realism for a surreal effect by distorting familiar objects and placing them in a hallucinatory context. Based his technique, which he called "critical paranoia" on exploiting his own neuroses.

Degas, Edgar (1834 - 1917) - (Impressionism)
By birth, considered an aristocrat. Differed from the other impressionists who came from the modest social and economic backgrounds both in temperament and artistic inclination. CHARACTERISTICS: Had no interest in landscape painting and no concern for the effects of changing atmosphere and light. Subjects encompassed: racetracks, circuses, opera, café scenes, women at work, nudes bathing, and ballerinas. Emphasized linear drawing and composition, as well as the three-dimensional depth and firm contours of his pictures, which set him apart from the other Impressionists, as did his preference for artificial light. Subject, Style,& Color: Pastel portraits of human figure in stop-action pose, ballerinas, circus, late work, nudes, bathing, gaudy hues side by side for vibrancy. Early: soft pastel. Late: broad smears of acid-colored pastels. Offbeat angles style with figures cropped at edge of canvas, asymmetrical composition with void at center. "Even when working from nature, one has to compose," Degas

Demuth, Charles (1883 - 1935) Precisionism: Modernism in America
Concerned with new subject matter with new attitudes towards form. CHARACTERISTICS: Simplified forms to an extreme of spare geometry, using clean-edge rectangles to indicate soaring skyscrapers and factories.

Dufy, Raou (1877 - 1953) - (Modern Art - 20th Century) - Fauvism
CHARACTERISTICS: Intense, bright, clashing colors, distorted forms and perspectives, vigorous brushstrokes, flat, linear patterns, bare canvass as part of overall design. Used intense colors that have nothing to do with an object's appearance but everything to do with his own outlook.

Gauguin, Paul (1848 - 1903) - Post-impressionism
Stresses emotion, but more cunning and planned than counterpart artists. Considered to be synonymous with the greatest intelligence, and the vehicle of the most delicate, the most invisible emotions of the brain. Gauguin left France in search of a more simple existence in the distant South Pacific to achieve his artistic goals. CHARACTERISTICS: Subject encompassTahiti natives, peasants in Britany. Exotic primitivism, symbolic, mysterious. Style focuses on simplified forms in unnatural colors and strong outlines in rhythmic patterns.

Hopper, Edward (1882 - 1967)
"American art, said Edward Hopper, "should be weaned from its French mother

Kandinsky, Wassily (Modern Art, 20th Century - Expressionism)
Inventor of Abstract Art. Kandinsky, Russian painter. Kandinsky's insight that color could convey emotion irrespective of content instigated Kandinsky to take the bold step of discarding realism all together. CHARACTERISTICS: Composition painting - consciously arranged geometric shapes. Improvisation painting - exerted no conscious control over the paint he applied spontaneously. Used rainbow bright colors and loose brushwork. Created nonobjective paintings.

Klee, Paul (Modern Art, 20th Century - Expressionism)
Klee's work like Matisse's is deceptively simple, and for both this was the desired effect. Klee consciously imitated the dreamlike magic of children's art by reducing his forms to direct shapes full of ambiguity. CHARACTERISTICS: Respect for inner vision, emphasized archaic signs such as hex symbols, hieroglyphics, and cave markings, which he felt held some power to evoke nonverbal meanings.

Klimt, Gustave (1862 - 1918)
In Germany, a group know as Expressionists insisted art should express the artist's feelings rather than images of the real world. From 1905-30 Expressionism, the use of distorted ,exaggerated forms and colors for emotional impact dominated German art. This subjective trend began with van Gogh, Gauguin, and Munch in the late nineteenth century and continued with Belgian painter James Ensor (1860-1949) and Austrian painters Gustave Klimt (1886-1980) and others.

Kruger, Barbara. (Post-Modern Art (20th Century & Beyond)
Photography-Derived Art. CHARACTERISTICS: Splices photo images with text in feminist art.

Lichtenstein, Edmund, B (b. 1923) (Pop art)
CHARACTERISTICS: Comic derived paintings. Based work on images from neon signs, mass media and advertising.

Manet, Edouard (1832 - 1883) - Impressionism
Manet, Born to an eminent Parisian family, stimulated the imagination of the finest writers of his and subsequent generations. His work continues to delight art enthusiasts and others with their combination of provocative "quotations" from the art of the past. Exemplifies a totally fresh approach to the technique of painting. CHARACTERISTICS: Updated Old Masters themes, painted contemporary scenes with hard edge. Used dark color patches against light, used black as accent. Early: somber. Late: colorful. His style encompassed: Simplified forms with minimal modeling, flat color patches outlined in black.

Matisse, Henri (1869-1954) - 20th Century
Matisse believed, painting should not only be beautiful but should bring pleasure to the viewer. CHARACTERISTICS: Believed in balance, purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter.

Michelangelo, Buonarroti (1475-1564) - High Renaissance
An architect, sculptor, painter, poet and engineer. Believing that that creativity was divinely inspired, he broke all rules. Lived until 90, carving until he died. Did more than anyone to elevate the status of the artist. Admirers addressed him as "divine Michelangelo," but the price for his gift was solitude. CHARACTERISTICS: Acknowledged no limitations.

Miro, Joan (1893-1983) - Surrealist
Invented unique biomorphic signs for natural objects like the sun and moon, and animals. Over the years these forms were progressively simplified into shorthand pictograms of geometric shapes and amoeba-like blobs and a mixture of facts and fantasy.

Monet, Claude (1840 - 1926) - Impressionism
Is said to have virtually redefined the concept of a painting. CHARACTERISTICS: Landscape, waterfront, scenes, series on field of poppies, cliffs, haystacks, poplars, Rouen Cathedral. Late work: near-abstract water lilies. Color choices: Sunny hues, pure primary colors, dabbed side by side (shadows were complementary colors dabbed side by side), Common Styles: Dissolved form of subject into light and atmosphere, soft edges, classic impressionist look. "Try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever. Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you," Claude Monet

Morisot, Berthe (1841 - 1895)
Berthe Morisot art is said to have kept step with her personal development, and her models were drawn primarily from close family and friends.

Munch, Edvard (1863-1944) Early Expressionism
Norwegian painter. CHARACTERISTICS: Produced paintings, etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts that expressed modern anguish with unequal power. Specialized in portraying extreme emotions like jealousy, sexual desire, and loneliness. "I want to paint pictures that will make people take off their hats in awe, the way they do in churches," Edvard Munch

O'keeffe, Georgia (1887 - 1986) - Precisionism
Best known for her hugh blowups of single flowers like irises and lilies. CHARACTERISTICS: Evokes nature without explicitly describing it. "I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say in any other way - things that I had no words for", Georgia O'keeffe, 1923

Picasso, Pablo (1881-1973) - 20th Century
Picasso, born in Spain and considered King of Modern Art. For half a century, Picasso apparently led the forces of artistic innovation, shocking the world by introducing a new style. History indicates that his most significant contribution - aided by Braque was inventing Cubism, the major revolution of 20th Century art. It is estimated that Picasso produced some 50,000 works of art. CHARACTERISTICS: Maintained a number of distinctive styles. His art is primarily autobiographical. "The paintings are the pages of my diary," Picasso

Raphael (1483-1520) - High Renaissance
Raphael was rated an independent master by the age of 17. Of the three major figures of the High Renaissance school (Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael), Raphael would be voted most popular. While the other two were revered and their work admired, Raphael reportedly was the most adored. The Pope called him to Rome to decorate the Vatican rooms! CHARACTERISTICS: Raphael's art most completely expressed all the qualities of the high renaissance.

Renoir, Auguste (1841-1919) - Impressionism
Renoir's paintings, prints and sculptures encompass depictions of women -tender mothers, wealthy matrons, hearty peasants and captivating seductresses. CHARACTERISTICS: Voluptuous, peach-skinned female nudes, society, children, flowers. Popular Colors: Rich reds, primary colors, detested black, used blue instead. Common Styles: Early: quick brushstrokes, blurred figures blended into hazy background. Late: more classical style, solidly formed nudes. "Paint With joy, With the Same Joy that You would make Love to a Woman," Renoir

Rivera, Diego (20th Century Tribal Art)
Influenced by Native American art

Schiele, Egon (1890-1918) - Expressionism
Expressionists insisted art should express the artist's feelings rather than images of the real world. From 1905-1930 Expressionism, the use of distorted, exaggerated forms and colors for emotional impact, dominated German art. This subjective trend is the foundation of much of 20th century art and began with Van Gogh, Gaugin, and Munch in the late 19th century and continued with Austrian painters Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), Egon Schiele (1890-1918) and others.

Tanner, Henry, O. (1859 - 1937)
Became the first important black painter and the most successful black American artist before Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden.

Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri (Post-impressionism)
Produced the first art posters which was used for publicity. CHARACTERISTICS: Cabaret nightlife. Pictorial Mood: Decadent, hectic. Dominant Styles: Sketchy drawing, empty center, and cutoff figures at edges, indoor lighting and off-key colors, caricatures, mask-like features.

van Gogh, Vincent (1853-1890) - Post-impressionism
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Born in Holland, van Gogh was obsessed with religion and social service. At age 27 he asked himself, "There is something inside me that could be useful, but what is it?" vanGogh was determined to fulfill his mission to humanity through art. "Van Gogh had only two aims: humanity and art" said Dr. Gachet at van Gogh's funeral. His work underwent a total metamorphosis after he discovered impressionism in Paris. CHARACTERISTICS: Self-portraits, flowers, landscapes, still lifes. Signature: Agitated, swirling brush-strokes. Mood: Passionate, vibrant. Hallmark: Thick impasto in choppy strokes or wavy ribbons, simple forms in pure, bright colors, curling rhythms suggesting movement.. "I would rather die of passion than boredom," van Gogh

Dutch painter and draughtsman, with Cezanne and Gauguin the greatest of Post-Impressionist artists. Van Gogh trained for the ministry but after eventually becoming a lay preacher among impoverished miners in Belgium he was dismissed for giving away his belongings to the poor. Finally discovering that art was his true vocation, Van Gogh's output during the last ten years of his life, despite poverty and undernourishment, was prodigious. In 1888 he settled in Aries, where he painted over 200 canvases in 15 months. During this time he sold no pictures and suffered recurrent hallucinations and depression. He decided to fund an artist cooperative with Gaugin but, as a result of a quarrel between them, he cut off a piece of his left ear, (View Portrait) an event commemorated in one of his self-portraits. During the last 70 days of his life he painted as many canvases. Finally, his spiritual anguish and depression became more acute and on the July 29th, 1890 he died from the result of a self-inflicted bullet wound. Van Gogh occupies a position of the first importance in the movement from the optical realism of the impressionists to the abstract use of color and form for symbolic and expressive values.