The French artist Henri de Toulouse Lautrec was small in stature but was a giant of an artist. He was born in Albi, in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France, on 24 November 1864. He was the firstborn child of Count Alphonse and Countess Adele de Toulouse-Lautrec. They were an aristocratic family – descendants of the […]
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Grant Wood – American Gothic Grant Wood’s painting ‘American Gothic’ is a relatively small painting measuring 78 x 65.3 cm. It is an oil painting, painted on Beaver board; a type of fibreboard formed by compressing wood fibre into sheets. Completed in 1930 the painting was inspired by a visit to Eldon in Iowa, USA. […]
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A Sunday Afternoon on the Grande Jatte Georges Seurat painted A Sunday on the Grande Jatte in 1884. It was painted in Paris and laboured over it extensively with his own painstaking method of applying paint in small dots and dashes. This method of painting, is known as divisionism, or more simply as Pointillism. It […]
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L. S. Lowry’s Early Life Laurence Stephen Lowry was born on the 1st November 1887. He was a big boy, far from the delicate daughter his mother wanted. She showed him little affection. L. S .Lowry was a very shy boy. He once wrote, ‘I have no really happy memories of childhood.’ Lowry was an […]
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Early Life Paul Cézanne, the great Post Impressionist artist was a stubborn man who refused to compromise or make any form of concession to society, or to art for that matter. This often made him appear a strange and eccentric figure. He lived for his painting, it was his only passion in life, friends and family took […]
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Marc Chagall Early Life Marc Chagall, an orthodox Jew, was born in Vitebsk, Russia on the 7th of July 1887 as Moshe Segal. He was the eldest of 9 children. His father worked for a fish merchant; his mother ran a grocery shop. As a boy he attended the Jewish Primary School and the Municipal […]
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Early Life of Indian Artist – M F Husain Indian artist Maqboul Fida Hussain was born on the 17th of September 1915, although some records suggest it was 1913 in Pandharpur in Maharashtra in India. M. F. Husain lost his mother when he was a young boy. Subsequently his paternal grandmother looked after him. Later, […]
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Early Life Ferdinand Holder was born in Bern in Switzerland in 1853, the eldest of 6 children. Tuberculosis killed his father and his 2 younger brothers by the time he was 8 years old. As a result, his mother later remarried, marrying Gottlieb Schüpach, a decorative painter who had 5 children from a previous marriage. […]
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Outline Biography This video discusses the life and times of the Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch. Death, love and angst are prominent throughout his life and work therefore, the video may not be suitable for younger children. Edvard Munch was born in Loten in Norway, but lost his mother and sister at a young age. […]
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This art history video about the Dutch abstract artist, Piet Mondrian, covering his life in 10 fascinating snippets. Piet Mondrian was one of the pioneers of abstract art. Born in 1872 in The Netherlands, he was the son of an art teacher. Trees fascinated him and he produced many paintings of them. He loved the […]
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