Some of My Favorite Artists

People always want to know who is your favorite artist, or which artist inspires you the most. I have always said there are way too many to list. Well, here is a list of some of my favorite artists, mostly famous ones.  This is by no means an exclusive list. It does not even touch on fiber artists, but I will say the first fiber artist to inspire me was Hollis Chapman. I learned about pen and ink from books by Claudia Nice and about 3-D drawling from Mark Kistler. Okay admit it, how many of you watched his Secret City series growing up. 

I just love art.  You can always find beauty, inspiration or truth in most works. You may not like a piece but can admire the colors, the texture, the brush strokes, the movement etc.  

Anyway here is my partial list

Claude Monet - French Impressionist Painter, 1840-1926
Vincent van Gogh - Dutch Post-Impressionist Painter, 1853-1890
Yaacov Agam.- A pioneer of kinetic art in the 50s,
 Salvador Dali - Spanish Surrealist Painter, 1904-1989
            Growing up we had his painting of the last supper in our kitchen
Georgia O'Keeffe -American Painter, 1887-1986
Edgar Degas -French Realist/Impressionist Painter and Sculptor, 1834-1917
Pierre-Auguste Renoir -French Impressionist Painter, 1841-1919
Janet Fish -American Contemporary Realist Painter, born in 1938
            (especially Raspberries and Gold Fish)
Paul Cézanne - French Post-Impressionist Painter, 1839-1906
Ansel Adams – American Photographer , 1982-1984
Patssi Valdez – Hispanic California Artist born in 1951
Henri Matisse -The French painter and sculptor 1869-1954
Edward Hopper -American Scene Painter, 1882-1967
                Love the simplicity of his lines yet how realistic they are.
Wassily Kandinsky -  Russian-born French Expressionist Painter, 1866-1944
Childe Hassam - American painter, 1859-1935
Mary Cassatt -American Impressionist Painter, 1844-1926
Paul Gauguin - French Post-Impressionist Painter, 1848-1903
Yves Tanguy  -  French American painter, 1900-1955
Jeff Fiorvanti  -American Painter, 1958
       Girl with a Watering Can – my earliest memory of a painting  - still love it.
Andrew Wyeth - American Contemporary Realist Painter, 1917-2009
Andy Goldsworthy  - British Environmental Artist, born in 1956
Red Grooms -American Pop Artist, born in 1937
Jacob Lawrence - African-American Harlem Renaissance Painter, 1917-2000
Joan Miró  - Spanish Surrealist Painter and Sculptor, 1893-1983
Pablo Picasso -Spanish Cubist Painter and Sculptor, 1881-1973
Paul Klee - Swiss Expressionist Painter, 1879-1940
Ito Jakuchu -Japanese Painter, 1715-1800
James Amos Porter - African American painter, 1905-1970
Préfète Duffaut -  Haitian painter,  born in 1923

            I love the light captured in the work of the Hudson River School artists
Robert W. Weir -American Hudson River School Painter, 1803-1889
Albert Bierstadt - German-born American Hudson River School Painter, 1830-1902
Paul Weber - German-born American Hudson River School Painter, 1823-1916
Thomas Cole - English-born American Hudson River School Painter, 1801-1848