About Art History...........

I am a historical artist because of

the devotion and delicacy of Fra Angelico,

the metaphysics of Grunewald, 

the lyricism of Tiepolo,

the clarity of light in Tintoretto,

the vitality of brushwork in Ruebens,

The palette of Potormo,

the brushwork of Fragonard,

 the vistas of  Watteau,

the movement and color of Delacroix,

the light in Carot,

the space and light of Turner,

The Asian aesthetics of Whistler,

The ornate layering of Moreau,

the light of Innes,

The passion of van Gough, 

the color and composition of Derain,

Beardsley who is technically an illustrator but through the flow of his line qualifies as a painter,

Hokusai and the vitality of his line,

the spiritual autonomy of  Kandinsky, 

 the dance of Pollock, 

the presence of Kline,

the color of Frankenthaler, 

the gestural brilliance of  Von Bruenchenhein,

the balance of Soulages,

the poetry of Bruce Connor, 

the originality of Rauschenberg, 

the independence of Bluhm,

the flow of Jenkins,

the richness of Olitski's late work,

the philosophy of Pat Steir, 

the palettes and feminism of Joan Snyder,

and many other contemporary peers and masters now working

& perhaps most importantly the promises of freedom encoded in modernism which are yet to be fulfilled.

I am not alone among artists of note in finding the aberrations of postmodernist theory tedious.

I do not claim the mastery of these artists in the ways listed; only the integration of these elements and inspirations into my own singular practice. 

Disparate as these influences seem, these are the artists that have impacted me most deeply. It is in these painters that I recognize life congruent with what I can see and feel as a reason to paint and art and life itself.

4281  30x32"  acrylic on canvas  ©virginia bryant 2017