Famous Visual Artists
Guide to Famous Painters, Sculptors, Printmakers & Contemporary Artists in the History of Western Art From 19th Century Onwards.
Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art - HOMEPAGE - List of Famous Artists - List of Famous Sculptors

The Death of Sardanapalus (1827)
(detail) By Eugene Delacroix.

GREATEST ARTISTS
For a list of the Top 10 and Top 20
of the finest painters & sculptors:
Best Artists of All Time: Top 10.

Famous Modern Artists

Contents

• The Renaissance Model
• Artist Fashion Dictates Fame
• Famous Visual Artists
• English School
• 19th Century
- Romantics
- Realists
- Impressionists
- Post-Impressionists (inc. Art Nouveau, Fauvists, Primitive/Fantasy Art)
• 20th Century
- Expressionists; Cubists; 20th Century Realists; Surrealists;
- Geometric Abstraction; Abstract Expressionists; Pop Artists; Contemporary
• Famous Modern Sculptors
• Famous Contemporary Artists

Cubist Portrait of Ambroise Vollard
(1909) by Pablo Picasso.

WORLDS TOP ARTISTS
For the greatest view painters, see:
Best Landcape Artists.
For the greatest still life art, see:
Best Still Life Painters.
For the greatest portraitists
see: Best Portrait Artists.
For the greatest genre-painting, see:
Best Genre Painters.
For the top allegorical painting,
see: Best History Painters.

The Renaissance Model

The traditional model for visual art remains the Renaissance: the amazing rebirth of European culture which emerged in Florence, Rome and Venice, during the fifteenth century. Painting, sculpture and, to a lesser extent printmaking, were the principal art forms revered by critics, historians and collectors, with narrative history painting being placed at the top of the hierarchy of genres. The finest painters were those who demonstrated their mastery of representational art, usually in the form of oil painting, while the best sculptors were judged on their ability to capture emotion, movement and nobility in their bronze or stone sculpture.

Subsequent European periods/movements in the history of art, like Baroque, Neo-Classicism, Romanticism, Realism, the Pre-Raphaelites, as well as modern art movements such as Impressionism, and Expressionism, while emphasizing different subject matter, styles of art, and painting genres, nevertheless maintained the traditional respect for creative excellence, as demonstrated by the finished artwork. This view of aesthetics was duly propagated through the official European art academies, where for centuries fine art painting was modelled on Renaissance traditions.

Even Cubism, the seminal 1900s modern art movement, which promoted a non-representational type of pictorial art and opened the door to a number of modern schools of abstract art, demanded a high quality painting technique.

Cafe Terrace at Night (1888) by
Post Impressionist Van Gogh.

Since the 1960s, however, postmodernism trends have downgraded the notion of artistic technique in favour of the 'creative message'. New types of contemporary art, such as Conceptualism, Assemblage, Installation and Performance art, are redefining the artist as an organizer of messages and images, rather than as a creative craftsman. Famous artists of the future are therefore likely to include a greater number of organizers of video and computer art, with more global appeal.

How will this type of 21st century contemporary art affect the reputations of Old Masters like Jan Van Eyck, Rubens or Velazquez? How will it affect the artistic status of 19th century moderns like JMW Turner, Monet, and Van Gogh, or 20th century artists like Picasso and Rothko? Will postmodernism, with its Turner Prize and avant-garde notions - popularized by British artists like Tracey Emin (b.1963) and Damien Hirst (b.1965) reshape and redefine the meaning of art?

Seated Nude (1916) by the
Expressionist Amedeo Modigliani.

WORLD'S GREATEST ART
For a list of masterpieces
of painting & sculpture,
by famous artists, see below:
Greatest Paintings Ever
Oils, watercolours, acrylics,
by the best painters.
Greatest Sculptures Ever
Top 3-D art in marble, stone,
bronze, wood, steel and
other media.
For a list of the top 100 3-D
artists (500 BCE - 2009),
see: Greatest Sculptors.

Artistic Fashion Dictates Fame

Let's not forget, whether or not a painter or sculptor achieves fame, depends entirely upon issues of fashion and taste. Jan Vermeer (1632-75), now regarded as the finest Dutch genre-painter of all time, went unrecognized during his lifetime. Not until the late 19th century was his greatness 'recognized'. Similarly, the Dutch Post-Impressionist genius Vincent Van Gogh (1853-90) produced 900 paintings during his short 10-year career but sold nothing. Now his paintings (eg. Portrait of Dr Gachet) sell for $75 million each. Indeed, the history of art is littered with great but unrecognized artists who died in poverty. If the Italian Renaissance ever falls out of fashion, artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo - now considered the three geniuses of Western Art - will fade into obscurity.

Social norms can also dictate the recognition and prosperity accorded an artist. In late 19th century Philadelphia, Thomas Eakins' masterpiece of figurative realism, The Gross Clinic (1875) - painted for Centennial Exhibition of 1876 - was rejected on the grounds of its potential adverse effect on viewers with weak nerves. It was finally purchased by Jefferson Medical College for the paltry sum of $200. Then in 2006, the owners agreed to sell it for $68 million. No problem with weak nerves now.

And there is nothing like death to increase the value of an artist's works. The surrealist-expressionist canvases of Francis Bacon, for instance, have multiplied in value since his death in 1992.

CONTEMPORARY IRISH PAINTERS
For a personal view about the
top 10 or so painters in Ireland
see: Best Irish Artists.

FAMOUS ARTISTS IN CHINA
For biographies of famous
Chinese artists, see:
Chinese Painters (220-present)

HIGHEST ART PRICES
For details of the most highly
priced works of art, and
record auction prices, see:
Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings
Top 20 Most Expensive Paintings.

QUESTIONS ABOUT FINE ARTS
For answers to all your queries
about painting and sculpture:
Questions About the History of Art.
Questions About Famous Artists.
Questions About Irish Art.

Famous Visual Artists

Art museums, critics and auctioneers tend to classify painters into three categories: Old Masters (c.1300-1800); English School; 19th Century Artists; and 20th Century Artists. Here is a short list of great painters, exemplifying modern and contemporary art since the early 19th century.

English School (1700-1900)

William Hogarth (1697-1764)
English painter, engraver, founder of English School of figurative painting.
Richard Wilson (1714-82)
Founder of modern English School of landscape painting.
Joshua Reynolds (1723-92)
Eminent portraitist, President of London Royal Academy.
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88)
Portrait artist, landscapes.
Henry Fuseli (1741-1825)
Romantic expressionist artist, symbolist painter.
William Blake (1757-1827)
The outstanding English engraver, etcher, watercolourist and illustrator.
Thomas Girtin (1775-1802)
England's first major watercolourist.
JMW Turner (1775-1851)
The greatest English watercolourist and landscape painter.
John Constable (1776-1837)
England's greatest naturalist landscape artist. Noted for "The Hay Wain."
Alfred Stevens (1817-75)
Outstanding Victorian painter and sculptor.
George Frederick Watts (1817-1904)
The most revered English artist (portraitist, sculptor) of the late 19th century.
John Everett Millais (1829-96)
Pre-Raphaelite, noted for his fashionable academic-style portraiture.
William Morris (1834-96)
Painter, designer, decorative artist; leader of Arts & Crafts Movement.
Aubrey Beardsley (1872-98)
Art Nouveau illustrator, known for illustrations of Salome and Morte d'Arthur.

19th Century Painters

Romantics
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)
German symbolist landscape painter.
Theodore Gericault (1791-1824)
Known for his masterpiece "The Raft of the Medusa."
Eugene Delacroix (1798-63)
Leader of French Romantic art movement and 19th century Romantic Artists.
Thomas Cole (1801-48)
Founder of Hudson River school of American wilderness landscape painting.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82)
One of the leaders (with Hunt and Millais) of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Realists
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875)
Romantic/Realist French landscape painter.
Honore Daumier (1808-79)
Renowned French Caricaturist, graphic artist and realist painter.
Jean-Francois Millet (1814-75)
Realist painter, founder of French Barbizon School of landscape painting.
Gustave Courbet (1819-77)
Founder of French Realism art movement, leader of Realist Artists.
Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
American pioneer-style seascapes, Civil War paintings, landscapes.
Thomas Eakins (1844-1916)
Greatest American exponent of figurative realism. Noted for The Gross Clinic.
Ilya Repin (1844-1930)
The finest Russian/Ukrainian realist genre-painter and portraitist.

Impressionists
Claude Monet (1840-1926); see also Impressionist Claude Monet.
Founder of Impressionist plein-air painting.
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Outstanding cityscape and landscape painter.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)
Finest exponent of 'dappled light' in Impressionist movement.
Alfred Sisley (1839-1899)
Like Monet, a pure Impressionist specializing in landscapes.
Edgar Degas (1834-1917)
The greatest figure painter of French Impressionism.
Edouard Manet (1832-83); see also Impressionist Edouard Manet.
Father of modern painting in France.
Berthe Morisot (1841-95)
Leading female Impressionist; sister-in-law of Manet.
John Singer Sargent (1856-1925)
Portrait artist in the grand manner, noted for society portraits.

Post-Impressionists
Georges Seurat (1859-1891)
Founder of the colour theory of Pointillism (form of Divisionism)
Paul Cezanne (1839-1906)
Leading figure in Post-Impressionism and precursor of Cubism.
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
Founder of modern Expressionism.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)
Genre painter, printmaker, draftsman and illustrator.
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Outstanding colourist, influenced Synthetism, Cloisonism and Primitivism.
Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940)
Co-founder of Intimism: noted for genre-paintings of intimate interiors.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903)
Member of the Aesthetic Movement: noted for his "Nocturnes" and etchings.

Primitive/Fantasy Art
Paul Klee (1879–1940)
Expressionist, surrealist painter/graphic artist noted for his dreamlike imagery.
Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) (Le Douanier)
Naive painter, noted for The Sleeping Gypsy and exotic landscapes.
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Prolific, versatile Jewish-Russian painter, lithographer, stained glass artist.

Art Nouveau
Gustav Klimt (1862-1918)
Leader of Viennese Secessionist movement, noted for his art nouveau style, and paintings using mosaic & gold, like The Kiss, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

Fauvists
Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Founder of Fauvism and leading colourist in modern art. He remained obsessed with colour in painting all his life.

20th Century Painters

Expressionists
Wassily Kandinsky (1844-1944)
Russian painter and art theorist, founder of Der Blaue Reiter art movement.
Edvard Munch (1863-1944)
Norwegian Expressionist painter, famous for The Scream.
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938)
Member of the Die-Brucke art group, a precursor of German Expressionism
Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920)
Most powerful exponent of 20th century Expressionism in Paris.
Max Beckmann (1884-1950)
Member of New Objectivity group (Neue Sachlichkeit). Powerful self-portraits.
Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980)
Austrian expressionist, portrait artist, landscape painter.
Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948)
German Dada artist noted for his "Merz" collage art, multi-media "Merzbau".
Egon Schiele (1890-1918)
Short-lived but outrageously talented figure-painter.
Otto Dix (1891-1969)
Powerful anti-war painter, portraitist. Member of New Objectivity group.

Cubists
Georges Braque (1882-1963)
Co-founder of Analytical and Synthetic Cubism.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
Co-founder of Cubism, leading expressionist-style artist of 20th century.
Juan Gris (1887-1927)
Leading theorist of Cubism. Third member of Cubist movement.
Fernand Leger (1881-1955)
Fourth Cubist, socialist painter, muralist, stained glass and textile artist.
Robert Delaunay (1885-1941)
Abstract painter, founder of Orphism (Orphic Cubism) or Simultanism.
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
Also a pioneer of Dada and Object Art, from which Conceptual Art emerged.

20th Century Realism
Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
American realist painter, noted for his narrative urban genre-paintings.
Lucian Freud (b.1922)
British realist noted for his understated masterpieces of figurative art.

Surrealists
Giorgio De Chirico (1888-1978)
Italian painter, key pioneer of Surrealism style.
Salvador Dali (1904-89)
Spanish artist and the most famous exponent of Surrealism.
Joan Miro (1893-1983)
Spanish surrealist painter: ceramicist, printmaker and stained glass artist.
Rene Magritte (1898-1967)
Belgian classical painter, member of Magic Realism and Surrealism movements.

Geometric Abstraction
Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935)
Rayonist and Cubist, founder of Suprematism.
Piet Mondrian (1872-1944)
Member of De Stijl movement, noted for geometric abstract paintings.
Josef Albers (1888-1976)
Bauhaus teacher, painter noted for Homage to the Square paintings.
Bridget Riley (b.1931)
Leader of British Op-Art movement, a form of geometric abstract art.
Sean Scully (b.1945)
Renowned for large-scale elemental shapes.

Abstract Expressionists
Jackson Pollock (1912-56)
Founder of 'action-painting', variant of Abstract Expressionism in USA.
Willem De Kooning (1904-97)
One of the most influential figures in American Abstract Expressionism.
Mark Rothko (1903-70)
Latvian-American abstract painter, co-founder of Colour Field painting.
Clyfford Still (1904-1980)
American artist, co-founder with Rothko/Newman of Colour Field painting.

Pop Artists
Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97)
Creator of comic-strip style, benday dot paintings, like "Wham!"
Andy Warhol (1928-87)
Founder of Pop-Art movement, noted for screenprints & popular imagery.
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)
Noted for his "Combines", collages, assemblages and conceptualism.
David Hockney (b.1937)
English Pop artist, noted for portraits, etchings and photo-collages.

Contemporary
Francis Bacon
Noted for his grotesque imagery and surrealistic-style compositions.
Fernando Botero (b.1932)
Columbian artist, leading South American painter noted for obese figures.
Damien Hirst (b.1965)
Leader of Young British Artists, noted for sculpture and installations, like: A Thousand Years (1989), The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), and For The Love of God (2007).

For details of other top 21st century painters and sculptors, see Contemporary Artists: Top 20.

Paintings by the artists listed above hang in most of the best art museums and galleries of the world, such as the Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg), the Louvre (Paris), Musee d'Orsay, Tate Collection London, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Museum of Modern Art (all New York), the Pinakothek in Munich, the Prado in Madrid and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Famous Modern Sculptors

Here are a few supreme exponents of sculpture. Many sculpted in a range of materials, including wood, bronze, marble, other types of stone and a range of contemporary materials.

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Monumental realist sculptor: works inc. Burghers of Calais, Gates of Hell.
Ernst Barlach (1870-1938)
Ceramic and wood sculptor of Weimar Republic: expressionist style.
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
According to some art critics, an even better 3-D artist than painter.
Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957)
Highly influential avant-garde artist: first truly modern sculptor.
Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916)
Cubist/Futurist sculptor noted for Unique Forms of Continuity in Space (1913).
Naum Gabo (1890-1977)
Russian-born sculptor best-known for his constructivist and kinetic works.
Ossip Zadkine (1890-1967)
Russian-born modern sculptor best-known for The Destroyed City (1953).
Henry Moore (1898-1986)
Famous for his powerful, monumental sculptures of organic forms.
Alexander Calder (1898-1976)
American sculptor noted for his mobiles and stabile works of kinetic art.
Alberto Giacometti (1901-66)
Ex-surrealist sculptor famous for his thin figurative works.
Barbara Hepworth (1903-75)
Influential British sculptress in the area of abstract art.
Louise Bourgeois (b.1911)
Acclaimed surrealist/feminist sculptress, famous for her spider sculptures.
Richard Serra (b.1939)
Minimalist American sculptor noted for his large-scale public art.

Famous Modern Visual Artists

Printmaking

Among great modern exponents of fine art printmaking (eg. woodcuts, engraving, etching, lithography and silkscreen) are the American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), the French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901), the Dutch graphic artist MC Escher (1898-1972), Willem de Kooning (1904-97) and Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), as well as silkscreen printers like Andy Warhol (1928-87), all of whom infused the artform with great vitality. For details, see: Printmaking: History, Types.

Stained Glass Art

Sadly, the creators of the stained glass masterpieces in Chartres and other Gothic cathedrals remain anonymous, however their skills were kept alive by artists like Marc Chagall (1887-1985) and Joan Miro (1893-1983), and - in Ireland - by such Irish artists as Harry Clarke (1889-1931), Sarah Purser (1848-43) and Evie Hone (1894-1955). For details, see: Stained Glass Art.

Animation

Among the great twentieth century animators are J. Stuart Blackton, George McManus, Max Fleischer, and Walt Disney. For details, see: Animation Art.

Assemblage, Installation, Conceptual and Performance Art

These contemporary art forms are difficult to assess. Leading figures include: Allan Kaprow (b.1927), and Joseph Beuys (1921-86) the former Professor of Monumental Sculpture at the Dusseldorf Academy, whose dedication earned him a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum (New York). For details of other celebrated contemporary artists involved in modern conceptual art, see: Installation and Performance.

Fine Art Photgraphy

Foremost among exponents of photographic art is the American Ansel Adams, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Guggenheim fellow and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, noted for his black-and-white photographs of the American West. The leading contemporary Irish lens-based artist is Victor Sloan (b.1945). For more, see: Photographic Art.

Video Art

The leading video artist of the twentieth century is probably Bill Viola (b.1951), known for his technical and creative mastery of the genre. For details, see: Video Art.

Ceramics

Two of the foremost ceramicists are the English artist Bernard Howell Leach (1887-1979), and the Frenchman Camille Le Tallec (1908-91). For details, see: Ceramic Art.

Land/Environmental Art

The leading artist of the earthworks movement was the tragically shortlived Robert Smithson (1938-73), noted for his earth sculpture Spiral Jetty (1970), situated by the Great Salt Lake in Utah. For details, see: Land Art.

• For biographies of painters and sculptors in Ireland, see: Famous Irish Artists.
• For information about classical and contemporary art in Ireland, see: Irish Art Encyclopedia.