Featured Artists' Biographies (I)

View more information, images and other original works of art by Jozef Israels

Jozef Israels(Groningen, 1824 - The Hague, 1911): One of the premier late nineteenth century artists of Holland, Jozef Israels first studied under Kruseman in Amsterdam. Israels left Holland for Paris in 1845, living there for three years and frequenting the salons of Vernet and Delaroche. Initially influenced by Romanticism, Israels first established his reputation as a historical painter. Later, he turned his talents to landscape painting but it wasn't until the Paris Exposition of 1878 that the true genius of Jozef Israels became apparent. Here, for the first time, were those powerful studies of peasant life on which his fame now rests.

Probably the most important member of the Hague School, Israels shaped the course of Dutch art during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He created but thirty etchings (the earliest dating from 1870) but here, as in other aspects of his art, he is considered a master. The Hearth stands as one of Israel's largest and most impressive etchings. With a strong network of rapidly drawn lines and heavily shaded areas he creates a telling work of art from a humble scene.

View larger image and more information for this original woodcut entitled, 'Four Cats Sleeping' by Tomoo Inagak

Tomoo Inagaki (Tokyo, 1902 - 1980): Tomoo Inagaki: A distinguished Sosaku Hanga printmaker, Tomoo Inagaki began his career as a worker in a steel company. Influenced by contemporary poetry and art, he enrolled in printmaking classes conducted by Koshiro Onchi and Un-ichi Hiratsuka. He began exhibiting his original woodcuts in 1924 and shortly thereafter left his position at the steel company and established a commercial design studio.

Tomoo Inagaki was forced to close his commercial art studio during the Second World War. Up to that point his reputation mainly rested on his woodcut and screenprint still life images. After the end of World War II, however, he devoted himself almost exclusively to the imagery which made him artist of international repute -- cats. During the 1950's Inagaki was invited to exhibit his woodcuts of cats at major print exhibitions in Paris, Tokyo and Lugano, Switzerland. Today the woodcuts and screenprints of Tomoo Inagaki are included in many major public collections in Europe, Japan and America.

Albert Babb Insley: (Orange-Now Bloomfield, New Jersey, 1842 - Nanuet, New York, 1937): Today, Albert Babb Insley has taken his place as one of America's greatest landscape painters of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His somewhat shy and retiring nature led him to reject self-promotion. Twice (in 1869 and 1875) fellow artists put his name forward for nomination into the prestigious National Academy of Design, but on both occasions, he withdrew his name without comment. In 1870, Insley became a charter member of New York's influential Salmagundi Club, but resigned a year later. Yet his art was too fine to ignore and, from 1862, his paintings were frequently exhibited with both the New York Art Association and with the National Academy of Design, Washington.

Throughout his long life, Albert Insley's art was constantly changing. From 1905 to 1915, he was producing istic works of much accomplishment. Even in his later years, he was always a master of poetic feeling in landscape. His genius was in his ability to make all his landscapes both intensely evocative and personal.

View more information and a larger image for the original woodcut entitled, Print 188 - 11 by Kiyoshi Iwata

Kiyoshi Iwata (Japan, Born 1940): A Japanese woodcut and stencil artist, Kiyoshi Iwata produced his first published prints around 1965. Known for both his abstract and geometric compositions, Iwata exhibited his art in national and international expositions. In the late 1960's and early 1970's the artist experimented with fluorescent inks. Such is the case with Print 188-11, where fluorescent colors are strikingly layered together to create complex new tones and values. Kiyoshi Iwata is a full member of the Japanese arts association, 'Kokuga-kai'.