Jacob Lawrence

Happy Birthday Jacob Lawrence!! Jacob Lawrence was an American painter, from 1917, married to a painter, Gwendolyn Knight. He came from New Jersey, but moved to Harlem in his teens, where he took art classes, dropping out of school at age 16. His college education was funded by scholarship at the American Artists School. He served in the US Coast Guard during WWII, and was able to continue drawing and painting during his service. His work focused on African American history. He called his style “dynamic Cubism” and was made famous with his Migration series. He taught at various schools during his career and remained active in his painting until his death at 82. I am featuring a self portrait from 1977 today.

Horatio Greenough

Happy Birthday Horatio Greenough!! American's “first” sculptor Horatio Greenough was born in 1805. As a child, Greenough began sculpting with chalk. He studied at Harvard, where he developed a love of literature as well as antiquities. He continued to sculpt, and went to Rome to study art. One of his best known government commissions is of George Washington, a controversial piece, due obviously to his choice to sculpt America's forefather as a nude Greek god.

Caspar David Friedrich

Happy Birthday Caspar David Friedrich!! Born in Germany, this artist was a Romantic landscape painter from 1774. He was pone of 10 children in a strict Lutheran family. He began his study of art at a young age. Although he did work with printmaking in etchings and woodcuts, his primary focus was allegorical and symbolic landscape painting. Even though his work fell out of favor for a time, was unfortunately used to promote Nazi ideology, Friedrich is considered one of Germany's most important artists. The Tree of Crows (1822), included here today, is housed at the Louvre in Paris. 

Thomas U. Walter

Happy Birthday Thomas U. Walter!! Architect from Pennsylvania, Walter was born in 1804. After working for his father as a bricklayer, Walter studied architecture and was eventually appointed Architect of the Capitol. He was dean on American architecture and the fourth architect of the Capitol. He designed the Senate and House wings and the cast iron dome in place today. The inauguration of Abraham Lincoln (1861) took place beneath the unfinished dome (below)

Paul Kane

Happy Birthday Paul Kane!! This Canadian painter was born in 1810 and self-taught. He painted Native Peoples of Canada and Oregon County. Kane traveled extensively, seeking out his subject matter, making sketches to later finish into oil paintings. His work is considered part of Canada's historical record. He did take some liberties at embellishing his work and exercising his artistic license, as exhibited in the painting Flathead Woman and Child below.

Seraphine Louis

Happy Birthday Seraphine Louis !! Primitive painter, Seraphine Louis was born in France in 1864. She came from a poor background; her father was a manual laborer and her mother was from a farming family. She was orphaned by age 7 and brought up by her sister. A hard worker, Louis held various jobs including shepherdess and housekeeper. Working in secret by candlelight, she was finally discovered in 1912 by an art collector from Germany. Separated for 15 years due to the war, he became her benefactor when they reconnected and she began painting large “naive” paintings. Unfortunately she lost his patronage when the Great Depression hit and she became psychotic, was admitted to an institution and died alone.

Taddeo Zuccari

Taddeo Zuccari!! This artist was born in Italy in 1529, to a father who was also a painter, although not well known. By age 14 he moved to Rome and began apprenticeships with various painters. He did easel paintings, but was best known for his frescoes which were superior to his easel work. The fresco included here is titled Royal Entry, and depicts Emperor Charles V, Francis I and Alessandro Cardinal Farnese entering Paris