Vanitas is a genre of art which uses symbolism to show the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, and thus the vanity of ambition and all worldy desires. The paintings involved still life imagery of transitory items. The genre began in the 16th century and continued into the 17th century. Vanitas art is a type of allegorical art representing a higher ideal. It was a sub-genre of painting heavily employed by Dutch painters during the Baroque period (c.1585–1730). Spanish painters working at the end of the Spanish Golden Age also created vanitas paintings.
Frieze Art Fair is an annual contemporary art fair first held in 2003 in London's Regent's Park. Developed by the founders of the contemporary art magazine Frieze, the fair has since expanded to include editions in four cities, in addition to acquiring several other art fairs. Following the original Frieze Art Fair, the fair added Frieze Masters (2012), also in London, dedicated to art made before the year 2000; Frieze New York (2012); Frieze Los Angeles (2019); and Frieze Seoul (2022). In 2023, Frieze acquired The Armory Show in New York, and EXPO Chicago.
Nicolaes van Verendael or Nicolaes van Veerendael was a Flemish painter active in Antwerp who is mainly known for his flower paintings and vanitas still lifes. He was a frequent collaborator of other Antwerp artists to whose compositions he added the still life elements. He also painted a number of singeries, i.e., scenes with monkeys dressed and acting as humans.
Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts or Gysbrechts was a Flemish painter who was active in the Spanish Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden in the second half of the seventeenth century. He was a court painter to the Danish royal family. He specialised in trompe-l'œil still lifes, an artistic genre which uses visual tricks to give viewers the illusion that they are not looking at a painting but rather at real three-dimensional objects. He also created many vanitas still lifes.
Hendrick Andriessen, known as Mancken Heyn was a Flemish still-life painter. He is known for his vanitas still lifes, which are made up of objects referencing the precariousness of life, and 'smoker' still lifes, which depict smoking utensils. The artist worked in Antwerp and likely also in the Dutch Republic.
Pronkstilleven is a style of ornate still life painting, which was developed in the 1640s in Antwerp from where it spread quickly to the Dutch Republic.
Sweet Toof is the pseudonymous name of a well-known United Kingdom graffiti and street artist. Sweet Toof works as both a solo artist and in collaboration with others, including in the "Burning Candy" crew.
Wolfe von Lenkiewicz is a British artist known for his artistic reconfigurations of well-known imageries from art history and visual culture to create ambiguous compositions that question art historical discourses. He lives and works in London.
Franciscus Gijsbrechts, was a Flemish painter of still lifes specialised in vanitas still lifes and trompe-l'œil paintings. He worked in the second half of the seventeenth century in the Spanish Netherlands, Denmark and the Dutch Republic. Like his father, he painted trompe-l'œil still lifes, a still life genre that uses illusionistic means to create the appearance that the painted, two-dimensional composition is actually a three-dimensional, real object.
Frank Bernarducci is a New York City art dealer and curator. He is currently the owner of Bernarducci Gallery, located at 525 West 25th Street in New York, NY. Bernarducci began exhibiting Graffiti art in the 1980s in the East Village while being the director of Frank Bernarducci Gallery. Bernarducci continues to curate exhibitions featuring emerging and seasoned artists. His gallery is known for exhibiting realist and Photorealist art.
Catarina Ykens or Catarina Ykens (I) (née Floquet) (1608/1618 – after 1666) was a Flemish still life painter. She is known for flower and fruit garland paintings and vanitas paintings.
Guillaume Gallozzi was a French art dealer associated with graffiti art. He lived and worked in New York and rose to prominence in the 1980s and '90s through his promotion of graffiti pioneers and, later, of British art. He had a reputation for being quixotic, brilliant and stylish, and played a role in the careers of significant artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Stan Peskett and Steven Sykes. In 1980, he opened Braathen-Gallozzi Fine Art with Barbara Braathen at 76 Duane Street in New York City and presented the first significant solo exhibition of Stan Peskett's installation art in 1981. In 1983, Gallozzi and partner Joe La Placa opened the Gallozzi-La Placa Gallery in TriBeCa. Gallozzi continued to represent Peskett’s work as his dealer well into the 1990s.
Joe La Placa is an American art dealer in London and Senior Director, Partner of Cardi Gallery, London.
Catarina or Catharina Ykens or Catarina Ykens (II) (1659 - 1737 or later) was a Flemish painter. The few surviving paintings attributed to her are still lifes but she is also believed to have painted history paintings with biblical themes.
Peter Willebeeck or Petrus Willebeeck was a Flemish still life painter who was active in Antwerp in the second quarter of the 17th century. He is known for his fruit still lifes, vanitas still lifes, pronkstillevens and banquet pieces executed in a very delicate manner.
Joannes de Cordua or Johann de Cordua was a Flemish painter who was mainly active in Vienna and Prague. He is known for his still lifes, peasant scenes, portraits, and biblical themes.
Laurie Hogin is an American artist, known for allegorical paintings of mutant animals and plants that rework the tropes and exacting styles of Neoclassical art in order to critique, parody or call attention to contemporary and historical mythologies, systems of power, and human experience and variety. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, International Print Center New York, and Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati. Her work belongs to the art collections of the New York Public Library, MacArthur Foundation, Addison Gallery of American Art, and Illinois State Museum, among others. Critic Donald Kuspit described her work as both painted with "a deceptive, crafty beauty" and "sardonically aggressive" in its use of animal stand-ins to critique humanity; Ann Wiens characterized her "roiling compositions of barely controlled flora and fauna" as "shrewdly employing art historical concepts of beauty for their subversive potential." Hogin is Professor and Chair of the Studio Art Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
Godfriedt van Bochoutt (fl 1659–1666 was a Flemish still painter who was active in his native Bruges and Rotterdam. The limited body of work attributed to him ranges from fruit still lifes, hunting still lifes, vanitas still lifes and trompe l'oeil paintings.
Pseudo-Roestraten or Pseudo-Roestraeten is the notname given to an artist or artists to whom or which are attributed a number of vanitas still lifes likely created in the period between 1675 and 1725. The notname was given as the artist's works show some resemblance to that of the Dutch painter Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten. Recurring elements of the paintings are arrangements of books, documents and precious objects with a vanitas meaning displayed on oriental carpets. The artist(s) may have been of German or Scandinavian origin. Many works of the anonymous artist are or were held in English collections, which makes it likely that the artist worked for some time in England.
Christian von Thum or Christian von Thum (I) (Kalmar, c. 1625 – Stockholm, 12 August 1686) was a Swedish innkeeper, still life painter, decorative painter, set painter, copyist and art agent. His known works include vanitas still lifes and still lifes with foodstuffs, paintings of hermits and religious paintings.
