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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Karl Buehr

German-American artist Karl Buehr is credited as one of the first Chicago artists to adopt Impressionism, bringing his colorful paintings back to the United States after a very influential twelve years in France at the height of the Impressionist movement. Buehr is known for his brilliantly colored landscape and figure paintings, particularly paintings of women surrounded by lush green backgrounds and an abundance of flowers. Buehr brought back to Chicago the beauty of Giverny, painting alongside contemporaries such as Monet and many other American expats.

Born in Germany in 1866, Buehr was one of seven children born to wealthy vineyard owners. Shortly after his birth, the Buehr family immigrated to Chicago in 1868. Karl wasted no time in pursuing a career in art and began working in the shipping department of a lithograph firm near the Art Institute of Chicago at the age of 14. Buehr began to visit the museum regularly and landed a part-time job, allowing him to enroll in night classes at the school. By 1888, Buehr was working at the Institute as a night watchman where he had a unique introduction to the masters by being able to observe and study them as he worked, most significantly Impressionist works.

Buehr completed his education at the Art Institute in 1897, graduating with honors and considered one of their most outstanding students. After school, Buehr briefly enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War, only to resume his studies in 1899 under artist Frank Duveneck. Buehr gained international recognition as a painting of his was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1900. He stayed in Paris for two years to study at Académie Julian under Raphael Collin. After winning the bronze medal at the St. Louis Universal Exposition in 1904, Buehr and his family moved to France permanently the next year thanks to a generous patron. From there, Buehr traveled to Sicily and painted his surroundings for a year, moved to England to study at the London Art School for two years, and finally returned to Paris in 1908.

Shortly after moving back to France, Buehr began to paint at Giverny, the subject of many of Monet’s most famous works. In 1912, Buehr took up permanent residence in the village. While there, Buehr developed friendships with fellow expats such as Richard Miller, Theodore Earl Butler, Lawton Parker, and formed an especially strong friendship with American Impressionist Frederick Frieseke. It is also claimed by Buerh’s son that his sister was a playmate of Monet’s granddaughter.

Giverny was the source of inspiration for Buehr’s notably colorful and lush backgrounds and landscapes, clearly reflecting his plein-air practices. Many of his paintings depict porch scenes with both groups of women and many with a single woman, though Buehr also did some interior paintings as well. His subjects were most often women sitting or standing around a table of some sort in thier feminine, floral dresses enjoying the colorful atmosphere surrounding them or soft skies above them. The women in Buerh’s works depicting a single woman were often painted with serious expressions, many times staring directly at the viewer. One of his most famous paintings, News From Home, was painted at Giverny and exhibited at the French Salon in 1913 and later at the Art Institute of Chicago. As the popularity of Impressionism declined, Buehr’s work essentially stayed within the Impressionist style but executed with wider brushstrokes. His subject matters and identifiably vibrant and expressive colors remained the same.

After a successful and influential nine years in Europe, Buehr returned to Chicago in 1914 and taught at the Art Institute until his death in 1952.







Sources:
http://www.askart.com/askart/artist.aspx?artist=25111
http://www.artnet.com/artists/karl+albert-buehr/biography-links
http://americangallery.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/karl-albert-buehr-1866-1952/

Researched and written by Alexandra Nilles.


MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc., is located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Francis Coates Jones

American artist Francis Coates Jones stands out from his fellow American artists of the late-19th to early-20th century by his response to and embrace of classical art instruction, and the influence it had on his later work. Unlike many of his contemporaries, such as Albert Krehbiel and Victor Higgins, Jones embraced his classical education at the most prestigious art schools in France and other European countries, and ultimately ignored the modern trends surrounding him. In comparison, his contemporaries were exposed to the modern works and artists of Paris and immediately rejected them, deciding America needed her own style of art.

Born in Baltimore in 1857, Jones made his name as a figure painter and was famous for his elaborate interior scenes that exuded absolute luxury. He was known for his consistent interest in costume and decorative objects and use of rich paint handling, encouraged and strengthened by his studies abroad.

Jones first became interested in art after visiting Edwin Austine Abbey with his brother H. Bolton Jones (who would become a successful landscape painter) in 1876. In 1887 the two brothers traveled to Paris where Francis studied antiques at École des Beaux-Arts under Henri Lehmann. Jones spent five years abroad, touring France, Italy, Switzerland, and England. In the winter of 1879-1880, Jones lived in London and painted panoramas of military subjects. He then returned to France to continue his formal education. His art reflected that of his teachers and classical education under well-known academicians Jules Joseph Lefebvre and William Adolphe Bouguereau. His studies were present in his work throughout his entire career, particularly his attention to precision and detail, which were especially influential in his richly furnished interiors and costumes.

Before returning home, Jones also spent time at the artist colony in Pont-Aven in Brittany alongside fellow artists Robert Wylie and Thomas Hovenden. Pont-Aven was especially famous for being a painting site of Paul Gauguin.

As previously mentioned, unlike his fellow contemporary American artists, Jones had embraced, not rejected, his formal art education. Upon his return to the United States, the artist illustrated a series of historical houses in Washington, D.C. for Scribner’s in October 1893. In 1895 Jones began teaching at the National Academy of Design. At this point in his career, the artist began mural painting and spent summers painting landscapes in Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Applying his talent for detail and rich colors, many of his landscapes and outdoor scenes almost look like photographs at first glance.

Jones took advantage of his studies at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts; he did not look upon the modern work of Paris and decide that America needed “its own style.” Instead, Jones painted what he knew and what he loved, and eventually adopted Impressionism. His fellow American artists who initially rejected Modernism returned to the U.S. only to adopt abstraction and cubism themselves. Jones died free of hypocrisy in 1932 and is now known for the decadence and detail he expressed in paintings of all subjects from the very beginning of his career.





Works cited:
www.artnet.com
www.fineoldart.com
http://americangallery.wordpress.com/category/jones-francis-coates/


Researched and written by Alexandra Nilles.


MIR Appraisal Services, Inc.
Principal Appraiser: Farhad Radfar, ISA AM
307 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 308
Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 814-8510

MIR Appraisal Services, Inc., is located just steps from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center; please do give us a ring to set up an appointment for a verbal evaluation of your most prized works of art.

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    Welcome to our blog site! MIR Appraisal Services, Inc. is a fine art and personal property appraisal company dedicated to serving clients throughout the United States and abroad since our incorporation in Chicago in 1994. We specialize in the multi-faceted field of appraising fine art, jewelry, antiques, and decorative items. We also provide professional fine art restoration and conservation treatment for various media, including but not limited to, artworks on canvas, board, masonite, and paper. We offer professional and precise appraisal services carried out by our team of accredited appraisers for the purposes of insurance coverage and claims, charitable donations, estate planning and probate, equitable distribution and fair-market value. We started our art commentary blog site as a venue for colleagues and fellow art enthusiasts to share their experiences within the art community.