Category Archives: INTRO

8 Famous Artists who Gained Appreciation After Death


Before you dive into ‘dead’ artists, this bunch of artists below is well and truly alive and is using their art to raise awareness for environmental issues such as deforestation, plastic pollution or global warming.

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When you buy art from them, they give away at least 2 pounds to their JUST ONE TREE fund so trees get planted across the world.

 


Who would you say are the most influential artists of all time? Vincent Van Gogh? Cézanne? Monet? It’s surprising to think that, despite these artists’ worldwide fame and appreciation, they weren’t really recognised as masters until after they had died.

Here are eight famous artists who gained appreciation after death:

Vincent Van Gogh

Van Gogh is renowned the world over. There can’t be many people who haven’t, at some point, seen a representation of his sunflowers paintings or his own self portrait. Van Gogh was a prolific painter – he produced more than 900 paintings during his lifetime – but they were often criticised for being too dark and lacking in energy. It was Van Gogh’s sister-in-law who, after his suicide in 1890, preserved his works to be appreciated at a later date.

'Self portrait', Van Gogh | Art-Pie
‘Self portrait’, Van Gogh | Art-Pie

Paul Cézanne

Cézanne is widely touted as the essential bridge between the Impressionist art of the 19 th century and the Cubism of the 20 th century. Many young artists revered Cézanne during his lifetime – Picasso and Matisse referred to him as “the father of us all” – but his work was consistently rejected by the official Salon in Paris and made fun of by art critics. Just a year after his death in 1906, Cézanne’s artworks were given the exposure they deserved in a retrospective at the Salon d’Automne.

 

Pyramid of Skulls - Wikipedia
‘Pyramid of skulls’ from Paul Cezanne

Claude Monet

Monet’s waterlily paintings are surely amongst the most famous in the world. Yet during his lifetime, his unique form of painting – choosing nature and landscapes as subjects and using short brushstrokes to create a sense of movement – were rejected by the art world of the time.

By Claude Monet | Art-Pie
“Soleil levant” By Claude Monet | Art-Pie

Paul Gauguin

Another artist who pushed at the preconceived limits of his craft and went largely unappreciated during his lifetime was Paul Gauguin. His deeply colourful Post-Impressionist paintings influenced many famous 20 th century artists, including Picasso and Matisse, and now sell for millions of dollars.

Gauguin Autoportrait à l'idole

Henri Toulouse Lautrec

Maybe it was Toulouse Lautrec’s unusual painting style or his less than respectable subject matter that saw his work underappreciated in his lifetime. He painted the gaudy world of brothels, prostitutes and can-can dancers in 19 th century Paris. It was only after his death in 1901, that Toulouse Lautrec’s mother began to promote his art and it began to receive acclaim.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec 059

‘Selfportrait’,Henri Toulouse Lautrec

Domenikos Theotokopoulos “El Greco”

El Greco was born in 1541 and spent much of his life in Spain. The painter, sculptor and architect only became properly appreciated four centuries later. During his own lifetime he was described as a “mad painter”, one who didn’t work within any of the recognised artistic schools and was criticised for his antinaturalistic style.

Georges-Pierre Seurat

Seurat, a French Post-Impressionist, is perhaps most famous for his painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte . The painter is also responsible for bringing pointillism to the world. The term pointillism was actually invented by art critics of the time who used it to mock Seurat’s work.

Johannes Vermeer

Dutch painter, Vermeer, painted domestic scenes and portraits. Paintings like Girl With a Pearl Earring demonstrate a masterful use of light. However, Vermeer painted few works during his ​lifetime and left his family in debt when he died. It’s only with the passage of time that Vermeer has been recognised as one of the most influential Dutch painters of all time.

It’s incredible to think that these artists were ridiculed for their artworks and didn’t sell much at all during their lifetimes. Experimenting with new techniques and unorthodox subjects, they were ahead of their times. They inspired generations of artists to come and rightly deserve the posthumous appreciation they have all now gained.

Wildlife photographers joined forces and talent to present Remembering Rhinos

Incredible images by some of the world’s best wildlife photographers will be brought together in this much-anticipated new book, with exclusive launch event and exhibition in London this month.

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Remembering Rhinos | Art-PiePowerful images of rhino taken by some of the world’s top wildlife photographers will be unveiled at a free London exhibition and an evening of talks by leading conservationists, as the much-anticipated Remembering Rhinos book is launched this month.

The beautiful photographic book is a follow-up to the hugely successful Remembering Elephants project, which last year raised over £135k for international wildlife charity Born Free’s elephant conservation work.

It has gained widespread support from a host of celebrities including Russell Crowe, Chris Martin, Joanna Lumley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Holden, Emilia Fox, Caity Lotz, and Katherine Jenkins, who posed with their copy of the book as part of a social media campaign on World Rhino Day.

Remembering Rhinos | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

Stunning images from the project will be on display at a VIP private view on Tuesday 31st October. The event, held at La Galleria, Pall Mall, will be attended by celebrity wildlife ambassadors as well as a number of the internationally acclaimed photographers, whose work is featured in the book.

The exhibition will remain open 10am – 5pm each day until Saturday 11th November – an unmissable opportunity to view the exquisite imagery, and purchase limited edition prints and copies of the book.

Remembering Rhinos | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

Born Free patron James Lewis will preside an auction | Art-Pie
Born Free patron James Lewis will preside an auction

Tickets are still available for a very special evening about rhino conservation and photography at the prestigious Royal Geographic Society, on Wednesday 1st November.

The event will be introduced by Will Travers OBE, President of Born Free and will include talks by Saving the Survivors founder, vet and photographer Johan Marais and former Wildlife Photographer of the Year Steve Winter.

The founder of Remembering Wildlife initiative, Margot Raggett, will compere the evening, which will culminate in an auction of some of the images from the book, presided over by TV auctioneer and Born Free patron, James Lewis.

The books themselves will also be on sale on the night with some of the photographers available to sign them if requested.

Tickets are available at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/remembering-rhinos-book-launch-tickets-34138488137 and start from £25.

Find out more about Remembering Rhinos at: www.rememberingwildlife.com/remembering-rhinos

Learn more about the work of the Born Free Foundation at: www.bornfree.org.uk

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Private View at La Galleria, Pall Mall
Red carpet arrival Tuesday 31st October, from 7pm
> Free exhibition runs from Monday 30th October to Saturday 11th November

Rhino conservation talks at the Royal Geographical Society
> Wednesday 1st November from 7pm

Graffiti artists, put your cans away, this train ain’t your usual moving canvas

It is already early evening but you just have enough time to jump on that bus and get your favourite spray cans from your local art supplies shop.

Should the shop be closed by the time you get there, Bombing Science online shop will be there to the rescue, you happily reassure yourself.

You like painting on trains, very much so. But the Genbi Shinkansen train is not or should not be one of them since artists have already been there and have made it beautiful.

The world’s fastest art appreciation

Genbi Shinkansen | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

“The world’s fastest art appreciation” is what East Japan Railways, the train operator running the service, calls it.

The high-speed Genbi Shinkansen opened last year on the Jōetsu Shinkansen railway line but we only learned about it recently.

The train carried out three round trips daily on most Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, and while speeding through Japan (up to 210km/h), it gives its commuters displays of prominent contemporary artworks throughout its carriages.

Seven of the carriages in fact are used as “rolling art spaces”. All seven show a different artist and which gives passengers a vast choice of material to enjoy.

Even better, not only the indoors are used to display art. Indeed the windowless carriages of the Genbi Shinkansen’s are wallpapered with striking photographs of Niigata’s Nagaoka Fireworks Festival by photographer Mika Ninagawa

Art on display in each carriage

You can enjoy art throughout the entire train. Lose yourself from one end to the other and enjoy modern art created by prominent artists.

Kids have not been forgotten and should find joy in the specifically designed playroom where they can interact with modern art first hand.

We have included below photographs of our favourites carriages

Car #11

Car #11 GENBI SHINKANSEN | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

The artwork on display was conceived by incorporating the unique space, light and speed of the Shinkansen, and built around the themes of bountiful harvests, festivals and light. Take a seat and experience an amazing moment of change in which you discover the immensity of the light that surrounds us in the world.

Car #13

Car 13 Genbi Shinkansen | Art-Pie
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We selected this carriage because the art is mainly about landscapes and here at Art-Pie, we appreciate very much the subject. Sip on a coffee while looking at artworks inspired from the GENBI SHINKANSEN route, a traditional thoroughfare in use for centuries around the city of  Joetsu with Mikuni Kaido being the name of an ancient highway in Japan.

Bunny suicides from Andy Riley

When we first saw Andy Riley’s Bunny Suicides illustrations, we immediately love them but also found them very funny.

In a nutshell, rather desperate bunnies try to end their lives by any means they can think of and find themselves in ingenious yet dramatic situations.

You are looking at dark humour so these might not be your taste but cute bunnies might?

We included 9 of the best illustrations of the illustrator we spotted online

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie

Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley | Art-Pie