Howard J. Morgan

Howard J Morgan is often called a portrait painter, being a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, and having completed commissions of numerous noteworthy figures.  However, his work is a great deal more varied than the title might suggest, and even his portrait work has the appearence of the artist painting a person that interests him, rather than creating a happy likeness on demand.

A certain adeptness in the way he controls thick juicy wiggles of paint to create clear lively forms makes one think of something between Hals, Sargent and De Laszlo but with such a contemporary spirit.  Images of parties, hippies, beaches and strange semi-magical scenes make up much of his work

Unfortunately his website is woefully inadequate if one wants to look at images of his work bigger than a credit card, so one has to search around the web.  Really though, seeing his work ‘in the flesh’ so to speak, is the only decent way to see his work. Smallish exhibitions happen occasionally, and his work crops up in group exhibitions every now and then.

Website

Frank Mason

*Appologies for not having posted in so long.  Summer travels have distracted me (very nicely!)

Frank Mason is something of a creative powerhouse.  Now aged 87, he has had a remarkable career, putting his brush to almost any subject.  From portraits of the great and the good, through still lives and landscapes, to vast neo-baroque religious compositions.  A number of great commissions have given him the opportunity to really stretch his abilities.  A commission in Venice resulted in him being rewarded with the Cross of Merit from the Order of Malta.  All this work has been done with virtuosity.

He is known to many primarily as a teacher at the Art Students League of New York, where he has taught countless painters.

His work is very much in the baroque sensibility, with flare, dynamism and vibrancy.  This big dramatic style can be a little overbearing, so it is his drawings that I personally find most interesting, though I encourage you to survey his great sprawling oeuvre.

Website