Featured Artists' Biographies (A)

View larger image and more information for Norman Ackroyd's aquatint engraving, Loch.

Norman Ackroyd (Leeds, England, Born, 1938): One of Britain's most famous contemporary printmakers, Norman Ackroyd studied at Leeds College of Art (1956 to 1961) and at the Royal College of Art (1961 to 1964). Since that time his art has been widely exhibited throughout the world. Recent one man exhibits of Ackroyd's aquatints, engravings and monotypes have been held at the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (1985), the National Museum of Art, Santiago, Chile (1987), the Royal Society of Etchers and Engravers, London (1988), the Oxford Royal Art Gallery (1992) and at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (1995, 1996 & 1997). Some of the many museums which include his original prints in their permanent collections are, the British Museum, the Tate Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Albertina Museum, Vienna, and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

View more images, information and other original works of art by the American artist, George Adomeit.

George Gustav Adomeit (Memel, Germany, 1879 - Cleveland, Ohio, 1967): A major American painter and printmaker of the first half of the twentieth century, George Adomeit moved to Cleveland from Germany at the age of four. For much of his life he worked as a commercial printer and lithographer. He cofounded one of America's largest printing establishments, the Caxton Company, and for many years served as its president. Yet these duties did not prohibit him from also pursuing a career in the arts. George Adomeit first studied at the Art Club of Cleveland, with Frederick Gottwald, Max Bohm and Ora Coltman, and later at the Cleveland School of Art, from which he graduated in 1911.

Adomeit's first one man exhibition was held at the Taylor Gallery in 1912. During the following years his paintings and drawings were regularly exhibited at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1919 to 1959), the Toledo Museum of Art (1928 to 1935), the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1925 to 1941), the Corcoran Gallery of Art (1928 to1937). as well as at major public museums in Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and New York. George Adomeit was a founding member of the Cleveland Society of Artists, and a member of the Cleveland Print Club and the American Graphic Association.

View larger image and more information for Jose Ignacio Aguirre's lithograph, Mujer en la Cola del Carbon.

Jose Ignacio Aguirre (Guadalajara, 1902 - Mexico City, 1990): Like many of Mexico's greatest twentieth century artists, Ignacio Aguirre's paintings and original prints inevitably depicted aspects of the politics and social conditions of the turbulent times he lived in. As early as 1914 he was a participant in revolutionary activities in the state of Jalisco. He then worked for as a clerk in the office of the state mines. By 1920, he was again involved in the Revolution when he joined the forces of General Alvaro Obregon.

Several years later, Ignacio Aguirre accepted a post in the Office of Communications, Mexico City. He also served as a private secretary to none other than the President of Mexico. From this point on, however, artistic activities began to dominate. Aguirre first gained notice for his work as a set designer for the Mexican theatre, "Ulises". By 1930 he had established a strong international reputation for his paintings, murals and lithographs.

Ignacio Aguirre was a founding member of such influential institutions as the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (L.E.A.R.), the Taller de Grafica Popular and the Salon de la Plastica Mexicana. From 1931 to 1965 he was also a teacher of Painting and Drawing at two of Mexico City's most influential schools of art, Escuela Nacional de Artes Plasticas and La Esmeralda.

View more images, information and other original works of art by the American artist, Irving Amen.

Irving Amen (Born, New York, 1918: A fine twentieth century sculptor, painter, etcher and woodcut artist, Irving Amen studied at the Art Students League in New York and at the Academy Grande Chaumiere in Paris. Throughout his career he traveled extensively, particularly in Europe, Russia and Central America. Besides practicing his art, Amen also taught classes in sculptor and printmaking at such schools as the Pratt Institute (1961) and at Notre Dame University (1962). His art was exhibited with the Society of American Graphic Artists, the Library of Congress and the National Academy of Design. In 1949 the Smithsonian Institution also launched a one man exhibition of his work. Amen's famous art is now included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Bibliotheque Royale, Brussels, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

View larger image and more information for Frank Milton Armington's engraving, Meditation.

Frank Milton Armington (Fordwich, Ontario 1876 - New York, 1941): Frank Armington studied art in Toronto, under J. W. L. Forster, and in Paris, first at the Academie Julian, under Benjamin Constant and Chaumiere, under Lucien Simon. Frank Armington first went to Paris in 1899, but returned to Canada with his wife, Caroline Armington (Born, 1875, Died, 1939) to teach art in Winnipeg from 1901 through 1905. During this period, Robert Fulton Logan was among his students.

Returning to Paris in 1906, The Armington's established themselves as fine landscape and figure artists in both etching and painting. They were both full members of the Societe Nationale de la Gravure Originale en Noir, the Societe des Gravures Francais and the American Federation of Arts. Their original etchings and paintings were frequently included in major French and American exhibitions.

Some recent scholars have labeled Frank Armington's art as Canadian ism. Others have seen his landscape art as akin to the work of Whistler. As usual, however, there comparisons tell us very little. Frank Armington was a master of my styles, and all of them were very individual.

View more images, information and other original works of art by the American artist, John Taylor Arms.

John Taylor Arms (Washington, DC, 1887 - Fairfield, Conn., 1953): During the 1920's, 30's and 40's, the etchings and aquatints of John Taylor Arms provided the standard for other American architectural artists to follow. No artist, however, could match Arms's superb technical skills and, to this day, his incredibly precise and detailed etchings raise feelings of astonishment.

Given the quality of his work it is not surprising that John Taylor Arms trained first as an architectural draftsman before devoting himself to the art of etching. During the First World War he served as an officer in the American navy . He published his first original etchings in 1919, following the end of the war. During the following decades, Arms spent almost as much time in England, France and Italy as he did in his native country. Arms's lifelong passion was for Gothic architecture and thus Europe was the setting for much of his great art.

John Taylor Arms was a full member of the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Print Society of England, the Canadian Painter Etchers, the Associe de la Societe des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and served as the first President of the Society of American Etchers. Examples of his original etchings and aquatints are included in the collections of most major museums, including the Congressional Library, Washington, the British Museum, London, and the Bilbiotheque Nationale, Paris.

View more information and other original paintings by the Canadian artist, Stephen J. Arthurs.

Stephen J. Arthurs 'Stephen Arthurs' (Saint John, New Brunswick, born, 1951): A contemporary Canadian artist with a very distinctive point of view, Stephen Arthurs studied at the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1976. In 1981, Arthurs won the "Tony Urquhart Award" and in 1987, first prize at the "Second Annual International Exhibition of Miniature Art", in Toronto. International recognition followed in 1989 when Stephen Arthurs won the First Prize Medallion at the "Cour d'Appel de Paris" at the Luxembourg Museum in Paris, France.