Allan R Banks
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An artist working in the Naturalist Ideal
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'The Communicant, Homage to Bastien Lepage'
Oil on canvas 40 x 30 inches signed
Allan R Banks
THE NATURALIST TRADITION reaches back to the earliest of recorded efforts by artists to render Nature. The Renaissance produced the first fruits with DaVinci, Titian, Lotto, and Moroni. Following later with Velásquez, Vermeer, Van Dyck and the seventeenth century English portrait painters including Sir Joshua Reynolds of the Royal Academy.
Working within a tradition I have found that the rudiments of Art are set firmly in the atelier-studio system. Stemming from a careful study of nature and the close working relationship of practicing artists and a handful of gifted students.
Ultimately creating a personal style and vision honed by hard work and persistence.
Ultimately creating a personal style and vision honed by hard work and persistence.
On Plein air painting:
Venturing out doors, experimenting to find the right balance of technique and "seeing" the painter finds great reward and acclaim for the right combination of both.
The Naturalist ideal began to define itself with it's champion Jules Bastien Lepage (1848-1884). Allan R Banks