Sotheby's New York Major 19th Century Sale

1 April, 2013

The Signal by John William Godward

Sotheby’s New York is about to have its bi-annual major 19th century painting sale on May 9th. The sale will include five William Bouguereau paintings, two by Jehan George Vibert, two by Eugen van Blass, three by Jean-Leon Gérôme, two by Frederick Arthur Bridgman, two Rudolf Ernst, and other major works by James-Jacques-Joseph Tissot, Jean Béraud, John William Godward, and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. The pre-sale viewing is open to the public starting Friday May 3rd, and will be open until 1pm the day before the sale. Auction pre-sales are an important way the public gets to view paintings that go from one private collection to another. To view the full auction catalogue, click here.

ARC Salon Unveiling in 4 Days

5 April, 2013

New ARC Associate Living Master™

5 April, 2013

Jason Patrick Jenkins was born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada, and discovered drawing in a time before he can remember. About his work he has said the following:

"I want to contribute to a revival of traditional art-making and a reinvestment of value and interest from a currently disenfranchised and alienated public. I want to use art to awaken compassion and sensitivity in a generation that has been dulled by nihilism and desensitization. Great art can provide transcendence, clarity of vision, and a sense of purpose. In the age in which we live, we as a society have an unfulfilled holistic need, and I believe traditional humanist art can help fill that need. I believe in the power and importance of humanism in art-making and its ability to benefit society. I believe it is the vocation and even the responsibility of artists to create and promote values in society, and to work toward fulfilling the needs of it and its individuals. That is the very important contribution I want to make to society and to my generation, and it is the legacy I want to leave to future generations." To view his new gallery on ARC, click here.

Christie's New York Major 19th Century Sale

3 April, 2013

Reverie Sur le Seuil by William Bouguereau

Christie's New York is about to have its bi-annual major 19th century painting sale on April 29th. Two William Bougureau paintings, one of which, Reverie Sur le Seuil, has not been seen by the public for decades. The sale also includes important works by Fantin-Latour, Sir Alfred Munnings, and Leon L'hermitte. The pre-sale viewing is open to the public starting this Friday and will be open until the morning of the sale on April 29th. Auction pre-sales are an important way the public gets to view paintings that go from one private collection to another. To view the full auction catalogue, click here.

Ani Academies Exhibition in Epoch Times

2 April, 2013

The Ani Academies exhibition at Rehs Contemporary Galleries in New York attracted the attention of the Epoch Times after it appeared in ARC announcements. The article titled Ani Art Academies Offer Free, but Rigorous, Art Instruction highlights the amazing techniques of the Ani Academy Instructors and students. The program to our knowledge is the only privately owned and run realist art institution at which all accepted students get to attend for free. Only 10 exceptionally dedicated students get accepted each year. To read the full article about this ARC Approved Atelier, click here.

“Boney Brawler” by instructor Timothy Jahn.

ARC Salon Unveiling Only 11 Days Away

5 April, 2013

Han Wu Shen Brings $78,000 at Auction

4 April, 2013

We wanted to follow up with our readers that the four paintings by ARC Living Master™ Han-Wu Shen which recently appeared in the Sotheby’s Hong Kong 20th Century Chinese Art April 6th auction all sold.

Strange Forrest reached the top of its estimate at approximatly $30,000 and On the Way went four times over estimate and achieved a price of $78,000. It is the highest price one of his paintings as brought to date. Sotheby's included a large write up on the artist, his relationship to ARC Chairman Frederick Ross and the Art Renewal Center in their auction catalogue. Shen has had a full and successful career in China before coming to the United States, and his work bears strong resemblance to the famous work of Chinese artist Wang Yidong in subject, color pallet, composition and technical execution. Yidong, who is five years younger then Shen, regularly has his paintings bring over $1,000,000 US dollars for a single work at auction. We believe Shen's prices at auction will continue to climb until they achieve a comparable price level.

On the Way by Han-Wu Shen

The California Art Club's 102nd Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition

3 April, 2013

Last Train Home by Tony Pro

The California Art Club will present the 102nd Annual Gold Medal Juried Exhibition at the USC Fisher Museum of Art on the campus of the University of Southern California from June 2 to 23, 2013.

While this annual display of contemporary-realist art, ranging from landscape paintings to figurative works and sculpture, is being staged at this venue for the very first time, the event returns to Exposition Park where 26 of the first 35 Gold Medal Exhibitions were displayed. The last exhibition presented at this historical park was the 35th installment, on view in the fall of 1944 at the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art, which is now the Natural History Museum. The upcoming Gold Medal Exhibition will feature nearly 200 never-before-seen works of art, created using time-honored fine art techniques, but modern in their messages. Addressing wide-ranging issues from cultural diversity to environmental preservation and urbanization, the exhibition is unthemed to encourage artists to take risks and raise the bar with their art. For more information on this and other exhibitions, click here.

Congratulations to John Pototschnik

2 April, 2013

ARC Associate Living Master ™ John Pototschnik recently won "Best of Show" in the Plein Air Southwest Salon. About the award, Pototschnik said the following:
"What can I say? While attending the opening reception of the Outdoor Painters Society Plein Air Southwest Salon 2013, held at Southwest Gallery in Dallas, I learned one of my paintings was selected "Best of Show".
"Left Behind" actually began as a larger painting but was cut down to improve the composition. Painted in one six-hour session, on-site, few refinements were needed back in the studio. Originally titled "Beside a Fallen Giant", the new title popped into my mind while laying in bed two nights before the show...better expressing the story I felt while creating the piece." The French term en plein air means "in the open air," but it's come to represent the art of painting outdoors on location. To read more about the show and the award, click here.

The MET's New Museum Guide

1 April, 2013

We thought our ARC fans would be happy to know that realist art and the art of the 19th century are continuing to make a strong come back to popularity.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who for a long time had been against the 19th century artists such as William Bouguereau and Jean Leon Gerome, have recently decided to publish their new museum guide featuring Gerome's Black Bashi-Bazouk on the cover. This could well be a defining moment in the re-appreciation of these artists. In addition, Bouguereau's Nymphs and Satyr is currently on loan to the MET and is prominently hung between his student Pierre Auguste Cot's two most famous paintings, The Storm and Springtime.

Only 18 Days Left

5 April, 2013

In Admiration at The Frick Museum

4 April, 2013

The Epoch Times has recently published an article for the old but not as talked about Frick Museum. Although it is much smaller then the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it is home to many important old mater paintings that may be easily missed in the hubbub of the active city. "If you’ve just landed in the Big Apple and want to see some of the greats of the art world, it’s a must-see. After all, how often do you get to walk into someone’s living room and see a painting by Giovanni Bellini on one side flanked by two portraits by Titian, while opposite you have an El Greco flanked by two portraits painted by Hans Holbein?" To read the full article, click here.

Mistress and Maid by Vermeer

New ARC Letter

3 April, 2013

Le Gouter by William Bouguereau

I just read your article on William Bouguereau - written many years ago, but perfectly relevant today. It affected me enough to write this email. WB played a major role in my artistic career. Like you, I heard nothing but disdain for him from art history professors during my BFA 1964-1968 programme at Concordia University in Montreal (in my time called SGWU). Although WB did not appear in the text book History of Art by H. W. Janson he did in Mainstreams of Modern Art by J. Canaday, but only as a noted artist who appealed to the bourgeoisie. To read the full letter, click here.

BACAA Intensive Summer Program

2 April, 2013

BACAA will be teaching a special three month summer program June - August, 2013, with advanced instruction from six different instructors including ARC Living Master™ Juliette Aristides, ARC Living Master™ Dan Thompson, and 2010/2011 ARC Salon award recipient for Most Ambitious Work, Stephen Perkins. Classes will be held every day, 10:45 a.m.-5:00 p.m. The course will include Long Pose Drawing, Painting, Structure, Anatomy and Ecorche. In addition students will have the opportunity to work from museum master copies and sculptures. This program is intended for adults to advance in their skills and build an impressive portfolio. For students who cannot commit to the three month program, single month programs or ten day workshops are available.

Vitae by Stephen Perkins 2010-2011 ARC Salon Most Ambitious Work

For more information and to register, please click here.

Into the Light featuring Orley Ypon

1 April, 2013

ARC Living Master™ Orley Ypon will be featured with ten works in a two man show with Romulo Galicano. Both artists hail from Cebu, in the Philippines. The works showcase their talents not only in the technically demanding craft of painting, but also in the execution of conceptually challenging compositions. Orley's work tends to be highly symbolic and many pieces use large groups of human forms poetically posed to depict themes, social issues, and the human condition.
Prayer by Orley Ypon	Most recently he won first place figurative category in the 2011/2012 International ARC Salon. April 11 - May 10, 2013 Opening reception with the artists April 11th, 2013 6pm – 9pm. Altro Mondo - Arte Contemporanea - 3/F Greenbelt 5, Ayala Center, Makati City, Philippines
For more info on this and other exhibitions, click here.

Become an ARC Living Master

5 April, 2013

We wanted to share with our viewers a letter that was sent to us in response to Sotheby’s Hong Kong featuring four paintings by ARC Living Master™ Han-Wu Shen at their 20th Century Chinese Art April 6th auction. Sotheby's included a large write up on the artist, his relationship to ARC Chairman Frederick Ross and the Art Renewal Center:
That's great news about the Shen paintings in the Sotheby's auction! I hope the bids exceed expectations and the inclusion in the auction will draw more interest to his works. I bought one of the paintings he first did after immigrating to the US. The ARC Living Master program and Shen's inclusion in it played a significant role in my final decision to buy a painting at such price levels. Cheers, Bill Freeto	Han Wu Shen Turn Back Time (Lot 549)
To read the Sotheby’s catalogue notes or to view the sale, click here. It has never been a better time to become an ARC Artist/ Living Master. Our current artists are enjoying further success in their careers from the exposure they receive from their gallery on ARC. A significant number of artists have reported receiving major commissions and invitations for prominent gallery representation as a direct result from their online exhibit at the Art Renewal Center www.artrenewal.org. ARC has become the "go-to" standard for galleries seeking the finest living artists in the world. To apply to become and ARC Artist/Living Master™, click here.

Ani Art Academies Exhibition Opens Saturday

4 April, 2013

The Last Dance by Rodney Davis 2012 Charcoal and White Pastel 36 x 26 inches

Ani Art Academies' The Big Gamble will open this Saturday, April 6th. The opening reception will be from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM. Rehs Contemporary Galleries - 5 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022 For more information on this and other exhibitions, click here.

New artist photographs added to ARC

3 April, 2013

We have recently added 50 new old master and 19th century artist photographs thanks to another image donation by Don Kurtz. Photographs have been added for the following artists:
Aublet, Albert / Batoni, Pompeo Girolamo/ Berndtson, Gunnar/ Cabral, Joaquim/ Calthrop, Claude/ Catala, Luis Alvarez / Corot, Jean_Baptiste_Camille/ Falat, Julian/ Feuerbach, Anslem Friedrich/ Flatman, Thomas/ Fragonard, Jean Honore/ Friant, Emile/ Goltzius, Hendrick/ Gude, Hans Fredrik/ Herbert, Antoine Auguste Ernest/ Holiday, Henry/ Ibbetson, Julius Caesar/ Kiprensky, Orest Adamovich/ Kruseman, Cornelis/ Latour, Henri Fantin/ Leslie, Charles Robert/ Levy, Emile/ Liotard, Jean_Etienne/ Loo, Louis Michel van/ MacMonnies, Frederick William/ Makovsky, Konstantin/ Manyoki, Adam/ Marko, Karoly/ Martin, David/ Mauve, Anton/ Miller, Alfred Jacob/ Monvoisin, Raymond Auguste Quinsac/ More, Jacob/ Mosnier, Jean Laurent/ Nicholson, Francis/ Peale, Charles Willson/ Perronneau, Jean Baptiste/ Pesne, Antoine/ Philps, Thomas/ Pickersgill, Frederick Richard/ Raffalt, Ignaz/ Rethel, Alfred/ Richardson, Jonathan/ Rotar, Pietro Antonio/ Runge, Philipp Otto/ Troger, Paul/ Wassnezow, Wiktor Michajlowitsch/Zoffany, Johann	Photograph of Emile Friant
To view the photographs please visit the artist's pages in the ARC Museum.

Second Annual Plein Air Convention and Expo

2 April, 2013

Next week several ARC Masters and a faculty of over 70 instructors and speakers will converge at the Monterey, CA Conference Center for the Plein Air Convention from PleinAir magazine. ARC Masters™ include James Gurney, Erik Koeppel, and Jeremy Lipking. According to Eric Rhoads, Chairman of Streamline publishing (Plein Air and Fine Art Connoisseur), "Everything we do is about elevating people to the next level through education. Historically most academic painters required plein air study as an important part of the process for all painting, whether landscape or figurative. It's still an important part of the Russian and Chinese curriculum and very much a part of many of today's major ateliers." The convention is primarly focused on plein air painting though there will be figurative demos from Jeremy Lipking, Tony Pro, Alexey Steele, Michelle Dunaway and Alexandria Tyng. Instructors do on stage demos with two big screens for closeups and then the entire group goes outdoors to paint on location alongside the faculty. The event is being help April 12-14 and a few seats have been held back for walk up registration.

ARC members can receive a special ARC discount by using the code ARC2013 at registration. For more information, visit the Plein Air website by clicking here. To view more on other upcoming events, click here.

American Masters 2013 Group Exhibition

1 April, 2013

As shown in the most recent Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine issue, Palm Avenue Fine Art is hosting American Masters 2013, an exhibition featuring several of the finest living American artists, including ARC Living Masters™ Duffy Sheridan, Max Ginsburg, and Joseph McGurl. The show closes April 5, 2013, so be sure to see the event before it closes this Friday. Palm Avenue Fine Art - 10 South Palm Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236 To view more on this and other exhibitions, click here.