Philip Pearlstein

Pearlstein's work is mostly of nudes, but he does an incredible job rendering them.  I find it interesting because they aren't really sexual in nature but more relaxed depictions of the human body.  Almost all of them are Caucasian and in a few paintings the heads are cut off by borders.  This leads me to believe he is very focused on illustration the bends and curves of the body rather than put effort into the face.  Overall his work is definitely interesting, and I'd like to see them in person sometime to get a better view of them.

Mark Tansey

Mark Tansey has a very cool style.  His pain tings are done in a monochromatic palette.  He uses shades of blue, red, black, purple, and green.  The paintings are realist but there is always something a little bit off in them.  They are almost comical.  The figures are perfectly rendered though looking like a photo.  I really like the subjects of the paintings with my favorite being one of a rooster looking in the mirror.  They are not paintings that you can take once glance at and move on.  The monochromatic aspect of them is really interesting.  It reminds me a lot of taking an image in photoshop and adjusting the hue to one color set.

Jerome Witkin

Jerome Witkin is an American figure artist and his paintings usually deal with culture and politics.  His works seem to have a narrative which I like because he deals with serious issues such as AIDS, the holocaust, nuclear weapons, and more. His style is somewhat "sketchy" and this gives it a free handed look.  I like how much motion he conveys with his strokes.  I believe one of his paintings is in the Palmer Museum as well.

Margherita Manzelli

This artist is definitely interesting.  She is a contemporary artist with a distinct style.  When I first googled her artwork, I was a little creeped out.  Most of the images I saw were of one subject staring straight at the viewer.  The faces are so eery and I cannot pinpoint why.  She portrays this woman (who looks much like her but she claims them not to be self portraits) as emaciated in empty spaces.  They are portrayed in a vulnerable and awkward fashion but yet stare straight at you with confidence.  Its very disturbing.  The drained colors add to this effect.

Thomas Eakins

I chose to evaluate Eakins' figure paintings because after first googling him, I saw all the emotion in his work.  It really drew me in right away, and I really appreciate when an artist has that power.  Thomas Eakins was an American realist painter, photographer, and sculptor of the modern era.  He like me, was from Philadelphia area.  Eakins uses a lot of darker earthy tones in his paintings.  His lighting is dramatic usually cast from one angle.  I believe this definitely adds to the emotion that it conveys.  His figures are so realistic and proportional.  They seem as if they are just frozen in time.  One of my favorites of his is a painting of a child playing with blocks.  The baby's face is so round that it makes me want to squeeze his/her cheeks!  After reading about him, this baby was probably his own or a friends because his subjects were usually people he knew.