Per Johnny Kristiansen (b. 1965)

Is There a Place for Me?, 39"x31", oil on canvas


Per Johnny Kristiansen was born in Norway in 1965. He took part time classes in drawing and painting in his hometown and was enrolled in the T. Ramberg studio in Steinkjer, Norway, from 1999 - 2001. Per Johnny began his studies at The Florence Academy of Art in January 2002. He completed his three-year painting certificate and fourth year of specialization in painting in December 2005. He participated in a juried exhibition in Tromsø, Norway in November 2005, in the Second Annual Alumni Exhibit in Florence in 2006 and in a group exhibit at the W.H. Patterson Gallery in London in 2006. He lives and works in his hometown of Tromsø in Northern Norway, a town that is called the gateway to the arctic in the land of the midnight sun.

“Living in the north, and being a passionate outdoor person, where there are enormous contrasts in nature and light and dark, my passion was born. The last years I have been working with portraits and figure paintings, and I am very grateful to Daniel Graves and The Florence Academy of Art for making it possible for me to do so. In figure paintings I want to describe people of today in a classical realistic way - Contemporary Realism. And what is important to me is the sense of light, atmosphere, emotions and integrity.”

Jura Bedic (b.1980)

Moire II, 31"x37", oil on canvas

Jura Bedic was born in Croatia in 1980. He completed his studies at The Florence Academy of Art in 2002, and became a principle instructor first in the Intensive Drawing Program, then in the Painting Program. He has participated in group exhibitions in numerous galleries in the United States, as well as alumni exhibitions organized by the Academy in Germany and Florence, including “Realism Revisited” at the Panorama Museum, Bad Frankenhausen.

Jura is a winner of the 2001 Art Renewal Center International Scholarship Competition, and his work is featured in an article in American Artist’s “Drawing” Magazine in 2003, ”Classical Approaches to the Teaching of Drawing.” In 2007 he won "The best in Show" award in the F.A.A.'s 3rd Annual Alumni Exhibition. He continues to paint and teach in Florence, Italy.

"The success of a realistic painting does not depend merely on copying a subject. I believe it needs to offer the textures, colors, and tones to one's eye and become something more than just an illusion. Through an evolutionary process, painting again becomes a part of nature itself."

Alicia Nicole Ponzio, ( b.1974)

The Letting Go, Bronze, 61"x32"x17"

Alicia Nicole Ponzio (b.1974) is a figurative sculptress working primarily in bronze. Originally from the United States, she is currently living and working in Florence, Italy.
Since her graduation from the Florence Academy of Art Sculpture Program in 2008, Alicia has been working in her studio and teaching Artistic Anatomy, Ecorchè Sculpture, and figure drawing at the same school. In 2009, she was awarded “Best in Show” at the Fourth Alumni Exhibition of the FAA and exhibited in a group show at the Guildhall Art Gallery in London where she was a finalist for the Founders’ Prize. In 2010, she was awarded a “Certificate of Excellence” by the Portrait Society of America and taught a course in Gothenburg, Sweden. Her work can be found in private collections in Europe, the United States, and Canada.
Alicia feels fortunate to be following her dreams and living them daily. Her goal is to bring to her work movement of forms, empathy toward other human beings and sincerity of expression.
In July of 2012, Alicia plans to open a studio in San Francisco, California, where she’ll continue to develop her work and teach private lessons in sculpture.

Vitaliy Shtanko (b. 1979)

Le Variazioni, oil on canvas, 50"x60"

Vitaliy Shtanko was born on December 25, 1979, in Drogobych Ukraine in a family of artists. He had a passion for an art from a very young age as watched his father spend hours working at the easel and looked through many mysterious and fascinating art books from his family’s home library.

At age of 10, Vitaliy enrolled into The Art College for Children. For the next four years, he studied various art techniques and methods experimenting with different media such as watercolor, gouache, oil, ink and clay. Learning to draw and paint from life was the goal of the college.

In 1997 Vitaliy enrolled at the L’viv National Academy of Arts in Ukraine where he practiced classical academic approaches to drawing and painting. In 2000 Vitaliy moved to Florence with his family to attend the school of book illustration and where he eventually met Daniel Graves. The high standards of discipline and love for traditional realism of the Florence Academy of Art attracted Vitaliy to the school. Meeting the European school style was both challenging and exciting.

Jordan Sokol, (b. 1979)

The Studio, oil on canvas, 16"x20", 2011

Jordan Sokol was born in 1979 in Queens, New York. He began his artistic training at age fourteen when he was accepted into the Palm Beach County High School for the Arts. After graduating he enrolled at the Kansas City Art Institute and in 2003 began classical training at the Florence Academy of Art, where he is currently a principal painting instructor.

Jordan’s drawings and paintings have been exhibited internationally and are in private collections throughout Europe and the U.S. In the January 2011 issue of American Artist Magazine he is named as one of eleven artists to watch in 2011.

“His interiors and still lifes are bathed in unified light that, when combined with the detailed and personal subject matter, gives them a deeply lived-in feeling. His portraits are also quiet, unified works, often tinged with a touch of melancholy. Sokol’s paintings are the work of an artist comfortable with his craft who is trying to reveal a little of the beauty and mystery of the world around him.”

-Austin R. Williams, an associate editor of American Artist.

Toby Wright, (b.1976)

Dogma, 40"x30", Oil on Canvas


Toby Wright was born 1976. He began his art studies at university in England with four years studying illustration, earning a B.A. (Hons) degree in 1988. Unfulfilled with much of the instruction he received, he enrolled at the Florence Academy of Art in 1999. While studying, he was invited to assist teaching and later became the director of the drawing program for the sculpture department before moving on to being a principal instructor in the advanced painting program.

Since 2010, Toby has set up his own studio in the South of France, where he works on various projects and commissions. Some of Toby’s figurative work explores a psychological narrative, occasionally with elements of symbolism, inviting the viewer to explore a scenario that they may identify with, or to which they may simply be an onlooker. He strives to unite the visual experience with the living experience of interacting with the subject, to create a dialogue between artist, subject and viewer.

Inspired by various old masters of painting and sculpture from the 17th and 19th Century, Toby Wright believes in the method of working form life to capture the full depth of his subjects, with particular interest in the language of the human form through figurative compositions, such as the portrait or full figure. Always working from a model in the studio, orchestrating light for a still life, and spending many hours outdoors for his landscapes to give the full visual story.

Eran Weber (b.1980)

Disturbed Pan, Bronze, 31"x21"x17"

Eran Webber is a figurative artist born in Israel in 1980. The grandchild of a realist painter, Eran grew up in an artistic environment on a Kibbutz along the Carmel Coast. His artistic training began in high school as well as evening courses in Tel Aviv. In 2007, after several years of military service and traveling abroad, Eran moved to Italy to study the fundamentals of classical figurative art and began sculpting at the prestigious Accademia di Belle Arte. Later that year Eran was accepted to the Florence Academy of Art, where he could focus his interests more intensely on figurative sculpture.

At the end of his second year of study at the FAA, Eran was invited to join the teaching staff, and since his graduation, in 2011, has remained as a principal sculpting instructor. Eran’s work is indelibly linked with his upbringing. He finds sculpting a sincere way to reconcile the nostalgic fragments of the past with his continuing search as an artist

“The deeper I become involved in art, the stronger my addiction to it, and the urge to create becomes an endless need. The ideas and abilities intensify, releasing a growing hunger for the next formation. When a person stands in front of me, I choose to see him through my filters and my interpretation, making the result uniquely my own. Sometimes I strive to dig into deeper layers, seeking to find out how the surface really looks. I appreciate the opportunity to share my work.”

Per Olvav Olsen (b.1980)

Still life with garlic, oil on canvas, 12"x16"

Born 1980, in Trondheim, Norway, Per Olav spent 4 years studying drawing and painting at The Florence Academy of Art, where he earned a certificate in Painting in 2005. Afterwards, he returned to his hometown of Verdal in Norway, where he now works in his own studio. In addition to concentrating on his own projects, he also devotes some of his time and studio space to teaching drawing and painting. He participated in the exhibition "Realism Revisited" at the Panorama Museum in Germany in 2003, "Scandinavian Realism" in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2008, and the Annual Alumni Exhibition at the Florence Academy of Art in 2006, 2007, 2009 & 2010.

Maureen Hyde

Autumn, oil on canvas, 49"x27"


Maureen Hyde received an MFA in painting from the University of California at Los Angeles. She worked from 1984 to 1994, illustrating books for young adults, historical novels and classics, and also numerous picture books for children. In 1996, she began a course of study at The Florence Academy of Art, and received a Diploma in Painting in 1999.

Maureen began her teaching career at the University of California, and resumed as one of the principle instructors at the FAA in the Intensive Drawing Program. She also teaches summer workshops in portraiture and landscaping with The Florence Academy of Art and the Notre Dame School of Architecture. She has participated in numerous alumni exhibitions, and is being represented with many galleries throughout the United States and in London. Her work is also found in private collections throughout Europe and America.

“In living and working in Florence, Italy, my creative spirit feels at home. The light and natural beauty of the Italian landscape and architecture is providing limitless inspiration. I am engaged in an endless dance, chasing and choreographing light as it illuminates the natural world with glimpses of beauty.”

Justin Hess (b. 1981)

A Second Glance, oil on canvas, 35"x39"

Justin Hess was born in Ventura California in 1981. At the age of 19 he began his formal art training at Ventura College and later at the San Francisco Academy of Art University. In further pursuit of his studies, he was introduced to the Florence Academy of Art by a colleague, and left the SFAAU to move to Italy.

Justin entered the Florence Academy of Art in the fall of 2005 and was awarded “Best Drawing of the Year” at the end of his first year. He participated in Alumni exhibitions while still a student, and upon receiving his Certificate of Completion in 2008 was awarded “Most Improved in Figure Painting” during the graduation ceremony.

Justin has taught painting classes and lectured on Pigment and Canvas preparation, at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, and Atelier Østrup in Norway. His paintings have been published in “The Artist’s Magazine” and “International Artist Magazine”, where the latter will have a featured article & painting demonstration in print this coming year. In January of 2011, Justin was juried into the Oil Painters of America as an Associate Member, followed by his painting being accepted into the OPA 20th National Juried Competition as one of the 158 participants out of 2,100 applicants.

At the age of 30, Justin has already exhibited in Italy, London, Monaco, Norway and the United States. Now, after having completed an intensive 6 years of study and work in Florence Italy, Justin will be returning to San Francisco in the summer of 2011 and opening a small Atelier offering workshops and private instruction in the classical realist tradition. Justin’s paintings can be found in private collections in Australia, Europe, Scandinavia and the United States of America.

Cornelia Maria Hernes (b. 1979)

Tooth Fairy, oil on canvas, 17"x13"

Cornelia was born in Norway in 1979. She graduated from The Florence Academy of Art, in 2007, and from University of Victoria, British Colombia in Canada in 2003, where she achieved a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree. In University she became acquainted with the paradigms of conceptual art, and became even more determined to pursue classical realism.

She began to paint with oil in her late teens. She is particularly interested in depicting human emotion and expression as a way to convey a mood, story or insight. Her interests have expanded over time to include the serenity of still lives and the intimacy of interiors. She currently lives and works in Florence, and teaches drawing and painting at The Florence Academy of Art as a principal instructor.

Louise Camille Fenne (b. 1972)

Portrait of Lena, 25"x17", oil on canvas

Louise Camille Fenne was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1972. Louise studied drawing in Aix-en Provence, France and at The Glyptothek, Copenhagen, before enrolling at The Florence Academy of Art in 1995, being intrigued by the possibility of studying traditional painting and drawing techniques. There she studied cast and figure drawing until moving to Amsterdam in 1997 and later Lucca, Italy, with the American painter Charles Weed, from whom she learnt the basic painting techniques necessary for exploring this medium further on her own.

Since 1990 she has shared a studio with Weed in Svendborg, Denmark, where they live with their two children. Louise has participated in numerous group exhibitions both in Europe and in the United States.

“I paint mainly portraits, still lifes and interiors. My inclination to paint is driven primarily by the desire to make a visual statement rather than an intellectual one. Therefore my subjects tend only to be the means to a greater aesthetic end. The paintings are observations made over time, in layers, that I hope finally result in a harmony, giving the painting its own life and allowing it to speak for itself.”

Joakim Ericsson (b. 1972)

October Full Moon, Oil on Canvas, 29x37 inches.



Joakim Ericsson was born in Sundsvall Sweden in 1972. He began his formal study of art in 1993 at the Stockholm Art School. Disappointed by the school’s lack of emphasis on traditional technique, he left after one year to pursue independent study. Over the next four years, he was often frustrated by his artistic isolation, yet sometimes heartened by the success of the very few contemporary artists who shared in his classical ideas.

In 1998, Joakim was thrilled to discover The Florence Academy of Art. After studying there for three years, he returned to Sweden to paint and in2002 began spending summers in Norway under the tutelage of Odd Nerdrum, who had been an inspiration to the artist as a young man. After two years of work in Sweden, Joakim returned to Florence to teach at the Florence Academy of Art, and was co-Director of the Painting Program until 2006. In January 2007 he started up FAA's first branch school in Gothenburg, Sweden. He works and teaches there today.

Click here to see more of Ericsson's work: http://galeriemichael.com/artists/ericsson-joakim/

Robert Bodem (b.1971)

Let the Words be Yours, I am Done with Mine,2009, Bronze Sculpture

Robert Christian Bodem (b.1971, Minneapolis, Minnesota) graduated cum laude in Sculpture from Boston University in 1995 where he also received a Master of Arts in 1998. In that same year, Robert was a recipient of the prestigious Albert S. and Ester B. Kahn Award for his talent in figurative sculpture. During his undergraduate studies, he worked as an assistant to the sculptor Dimitri Hadzi. He later spent a year as a sculpture student at The Florence Academy of Art (1995-1996), to return in 1998 as the Academy's principal Sculpture instructor. He became Director of the Sculpture program in 2003.

His exhibitions include group and juried shows throughout Massachusetts and New York. Robert was selected to take part in the 2002 National Sculpture Society Annual Awards Exhibition in 2002. Group exhibitions include: “Realism Revisited”, Panorama Museum, Germany, 2003, "Realism Revisited", Hirschl and Adler Galleries, Inc., New York, and The Florence Academy of Art First Annual Alumni Exhibition, Florence, Italy, 2005.

“Nature is a great teacher, and working from direct observation allows me to unlock some of her mysteries. The forms that I am able to bring to the surface should clarify my interpretation of human relationships. To copy nature is an impossibility, but to seek an understanding of particular human emotions, to attempt to clarify emotional content through silent sculptural form, is within the artist's reach. I feel it is necessary to study life. Drawing on the inspiration I receive from the subject is an attempt to make poetry of the form, and ultimately, present the viewer with those essential forms that expand our knowledge of how we interrelate to one another.”

View Bodem's Art: www.galeriemichael.com/artists/bodem-robert/

Every Picture Has a Story

By Tom Teicholz

For 30 years, Michael Schwartz has owned and operated Galerie Michael, an art gallery on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, building, in his own words, “museum-quality collections, one work at a time.” Works by Picasso, Dali, Goya and Miró adorn the walls for the current exhibition on Spanish masters.

With a staff of 24, many of whom hold fine-arts degrees and are called curators, Schwartz would be happy to sell you a work of art. But he would prefer to tell you a story first because what Schwartz really wants to do is enchant you.

I’ve known a few art dealers in my time, and much the way poker players have a tell, dealers have a “sell.” Some dealers sell status and exclusivity — as if you are joining a club; others make a more mercenary pitch, appealing to one’s sense of value, investment savvy and greed; for others, the sell is more aesthetic, with a focus on the artist’s technique, or on occasion

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Van Gogh in Saintes-Maries

In 1888, Van Gogh spent some time in Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer in the South of France. Van Gogh was living in Arles at the time and on May 28, 1888 he wrote to his brother Theo saying, “I expect to make an excursion to Saintes-Maries, and see the Mediterranean at last.” By the first week of June Van Gogh was in Saintes-Maries where he marveled at the sea and its colors. He completed two paintings of the sea both shown below. In a letter to his brother Theo from June 4, 1888 he wrote,

“I am at last writing to you from Stes-Maries on the shore of the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean has the colours of mackerel, changeable I mean. You don’t always know if it is green or violet, you can’t even say it’s blue, because the next moment the changing light has taken on a tinge of pink or gray.”

In addition to the two seascapes, Van Gogh also painted: View of Saintes Maries, Three White Cottages in Saintes Maries, Street Scene in Saintes Maries and, probably

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The Getty: Illuminate Manuscripts

Have You Seen an Illuminated Manuscript Lately?

By Bryan Keene on August 23, 2011 under Collections, Getty Center, J. Paul Getty Museum, Manuscripts

The Getty Center is one of few places in the United States where you can see medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts year-round. With three or four exhibitions per year drawn almost exclusively from the permanent collection, in addition to major international loan exhibitions like Imagining the Past in France, 1250–1500 and Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, we in the Manuscripts Department are constantly busy envisioning new ways to present this art form to as many

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Spanish Masters Opening Images

Goya and 18th Century Painting (from Prado Museum)

More than 140 paintings by Francisco de Goya offer the visitor to the Prado the chance to analyse the artist’s development in considerable depth. Goya’s art arises from the Spanish tradition and Velázquez was his master, as he himself said. Goya was a brilliant and unique artist on a level with the other great masters of painting and far above his contemporaries in Spain. Among the most important works by the artist in the collection of the Museo del Prado are the tapestry cartoons The Parasol and The Crockery Vendor, and portraits of The Duke and Duchess of Osuna and their Children, The Countess of Chinchón, Don Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, The Family of Charles IV and The Marchioness of Santa Cruz. In addition there are the two Maja paintings, which have acquired near-iconic status. Goya as a history painter is represented by major works such as The Assault on the Mamelukes and The Executions on Príncipe Pío, better known as The Second and Third of May, respectively. Among works from the last two periods of Goya’s career are the Black Paintings, executed in Madrid, and The Milkmaid of Bordeaux, which the artist completed during his final years when he lived in that French city.

Also forming part of the 18th-century Spanish collection is a large group of still lifes by Luis Meléndez; small, cabinet paintings by Paret y Alcázar such as The Masked Ball and Charles III eating before the Court; tapestry cartoons by the Bayeu brothers; and other interesting paintings such as Antonio Carnicero’s The Ascent of a Montgolfier Balloon in Aranjuez.

Goya and More at the Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

This exhibition presents a selection of works on paper – drawings, prints and photographs – acquired by the Museo del Prado between 1997 and 2010. It offers visitors the first opportunity to admire the most important works acquired over this period and which are normally stored in the Department of Prints and Drawings due to their fragile nature. In addition, the exhibition sets out the Museum’s principal strategies with regard to the acquisition of works on paper.

The Museum’s Department of Prints and Drawings, located in the new Jerónimos Building designed by Rafael Moneo, houses the collection of drawings, prints and old photographs that has been built up since the time of the Museum’s founding. Together with the original works from the royal collection, a number of additional groups were added such as those from the Museo de la Trinidad and the Museo de Arte Moderno. Together they constituted the core of this area of the Prado’s collection, which has been expanded over the years, particularly with the addition of the Pedro Fernández Durán Bequest in 1931. It has continued to grow over the years through significant acquisitions, particularly in the period from 1997 to 2010.

In contrast to other artistic media, the material characteristics of works on paper mean that special conservation conditions are required for storing them, preventing their long-term public display. They are therefore normally kept in the Department of Prints and Drawings, where they can be studied and are made available to outside researchers. These works are only temporarily placed on display for exhibitions such as the present one.

Entitled Goya and More, the exhibition aims to emphasise the fact that while Goya’s work has always been the focus of one of the Museum’s principal acquisition strategies and perhaps the one that attracts the most media attention due to the undoubted value of his creations, a very large number of works of equal artistic importance by other artists have also entered the collection. Using this theme as its guiding thread, the exhibition is organised into various sections corresponding to the principal acquisition policies established by the Museum. It also present the main lines of research and the exhibitions to be organised by the Department of Prints and Drawings over the next few years.

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