Albin Brunovsky

 

 Albin Brunovsky (1935 - 1997) was a Slovak painter, graphic artist, lithographer, illustrator and pedagogue, considered one of the greatest Slovak painters of the 20th century.
Over the course of his career, Brunovsky experimented with various graphic techniques and was highly influenced in his subject matter by poetry and literature, as well, of course, as by other artists. While at school he used the techniques of woodcuts and linocuts. Soon after, however, he began experimenting with "scraper" and chalk lithography. Etching were the characteristic mode of his graphic art work during the mid-1960s. He was, however, a painter too. Many of his illustrations were done in watercolor and he eventually began to paint major works. 

 

 

Barbara Swan

Early in her career, Barbara Swan (1922-2003) was closely associated with the Boston Expressionist school. Having studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts under Karl Zerbe, Swan adopted elements of expressionism’s themes and techniques. Eventually, she went on to formulate a very different kind of artistic vision, based on direct observation. In her portraits and still lifes, Swan utilized realism as a means to find a deeper understanding of the subject. In her portraits Swan sought intimacy with the sitter. In her still lifes (of bottles filled with water, patterned fabrics and art historical references) she addressed questions of how we perceive the world and what gives an object meaning.
Before attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Swan earned a B.A. in art history from Wellesley College. She was among the first group of women, in 1961, to receive a fellowship from the Institute for Independent Study (then called the Bunting Institute) at Radcliffe College. Swan held two residencies at the MacDowell Colony and a two-year traveling fellowship from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Her work is included in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among many others. Major exhibitions of Swan’s work have been held at the Boston Public Library, Danforth Art, the Addison Gallery of American Art, and the Museum of Art, University of New Hampshire, Durham.(alphagallery.com)

 

Albín Brunovský

Albín Brunovský (25 December 1935, Zohor, Czechoslovakia – 20 January 1997, Bratislava, Slovakia) was a Slovak painter, graphic artist, lithographer, illustrator and pedagogue, considered one of the greatest Slovak painters of the 20th century
Albín Brunovský was born in Zohor, Czechoslovakia on Christmas Day, December 25 in 1935. Brunovský started his early career in art by working on stage set and poster design. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava under Prof. Vincent Hložník from 1955 to 1961. The Hloznik School was well known for its high artistic and technical preparation in graphic arts and its humanist perspective. For the founder, as for many of his students, Goya’s great graphic cycle "The Horrors of War" served as a pattern or model.Brunovský himself lectured at that Academy from 1966 to 1990. In 1981 he was appointed a professor, creating his own engraving school several years later. Brunovský's work often mirrored that of the modern movement, citation art. Brunovský was also the designer of the last series of Czechoslovak banknotes. His illustrations were primarily for children's books.

 Over the course of his career, Brunovsky experimented with various graphic techniques and was highly influenced in his subject matter by poetry and literature, as well, of course, as by other artists. While at school he used the techniques of woodcuts and linocuts. Soon after, however, he began experimenting with "scraper" and chalk lithography. Etching were the characteristic mode of his graphic art work during the mid-1960s. He was, however, a painter too. Many of his illustrations were done in watercolor and he eventually began to paint major works.

 As his mastery of various techniques evolved over time, so too did his vision as an artist. When he was young, Brunovsky exhibited surrealistic tendencies—defined as a tendency to individualism and absurdity and the unchecked play of the subconscious. Later his work became more evaluative and critical of Man in relation to himself and society.Wikipedia