Featured Artists' Biographies (O)

View a larger image and more information for Odalisque Cycle # 2 by George O'Connell.

George O'Connell: (Madison, Wisconsin, Born, 1926): A contemporary American printmaker and painter, George O'Connell received degrees for his studies at the University of Wisconsin in 1950 and 1951. He then continued his art education at Ohio State University in 1952 and 1953. O'Connell was the recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Award which enabled him to conclude his studies at the Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten, in Amsterdam (1959-1960). The artist currently resides and works in Oswego, New York.

George O'Connell have been included in major exhibitions both in the United States and abroad. Public collections that today house examples of O'Connell's art include the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Collection of fine Arts, Washington, DC, the New York Public Library, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the California Legion of Honor, San Francisco, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art, the Gemeente Museum Van Schone Kunsten, The Hague, Holland, the Pushkin Museum, Moscow and the British Museum, London.

View a larger image and more information for El Maguey de Topilejo by Pablo O'Higgins.

Pablo O'Higgins: (San Francisco, 1905 - Mexico City, 1987): A great twentieth century Mexican/American painter and printmaker, Pablo O'Higgins studied a the school of Fine Arts in San Diego, California. He began his permanent residence in Mexico city in 1927, although he constantly traveled and exhibited in New York and Los Angeles throughout his career. As well, in 1933, O'Higgins spent a year in Russia on a Soviet Scholarship.

O'Higgins first gained a close knowledge of modern Mexican art when he was appointed the primary assistant to the great master, Diego Rivera, for both his Chapingo and Ministry of Education projects. A full member of the taller de Grafica Popular, O'Higgins was most strongly regarded for his original lithographs and for his large mural paintings which may be seen throughout Mexico City.

View a larger image and more information for Chicks by Motoi Oi.

Motoi Oi: (Japan, 1910 - New, York): A twentieth century painter and printmaker, Motoi Oi was trained in both Western and Eastern art techniques. He began his career in Japan primarily as a painter and was commissioned there to execute a number of murals. After the Second World War, Oi's art was exhibited in Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and elsewhere in Japan.

Motoi Oi moved to the United States in the latter 1950's. He began teaching art at Queen's College, New York City, in 1960, and at the Brooklyn Institute of Art & Science, in 1967. In 1963 Oi founded the Sumi-e Society of America, whose mandate is to foster and encourage an appreciation of Oriental brush painting. Since then the Society has grown to include many branch chapters in both America and Canada. Motoi Oi's prints and paintings are now listed in numerous important collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

View a larger image and more information for Flowering Tree by Sue Pospeschil.

Sue Pospeschil Olson: (Janesville, Wisconsin, born, 1941): A well Known modern American painter and printmaker, Sue Pospeschil Olson studied art under Robert Raushenberger at the University of Wisconsin (1961 - 1962), She also studied under Maryalice Wells and Robert Nelson at the University of Nebraska.

Known equally well for her paintings and etchings, Olson has exhibited at many university and museum shows throughout the United States. Besides her fine botanical studies, she is highly regarded for her portraits, architectural renderings and her book illustrations and magazine covers. Currently living in Bellevue, Nebraska, she is a member of the University of Nebraska Fine Arts Advisory Committee (beginning in 1975) and a full member of the National Watercolour Club.

View a larger image and more information for Figure of Diogenes in the School of Athens by William Young Ottley.

William Young Ottley: (Thatcham, 1771 - London, 1836): William Young Ottley will forever be remembered both as an artist and as an art scholar. Having studied art under Cuitt and then in the Schools of the Royal Academy, London, Ottley went to Italy in 1791 where he resided for ten years, researching and collecting works of Renaissance art. During his life Ottley became the greatest authority on the art of the Italian Renaissance and, upon returning to London, published a number of portfolios and books upon this subject. Apart from the biographical and scholarly information Ottley unearthed, the most valuable product of his researches was the meticulously detailed and artistic etchings and engravings he published. Either in their large folio size or in the smaller miniatures, these outstanding masterpieces of original printmaking have been admired for almost two centuries. Later in his life (1833), Ottley was appointed to the prestigious post of Keeper of the Prints for the British Museum.

Of all Ottley's works of art, The Italian School of Design stands as his paramount achievement. Concentrating upon the drawings in his own collection by such masters of the High Renaissance as Raphaele, Correggio, the Carraccis, Salvator Rosa and other early Italian artists. William Ottley began work on his major opus as early as 1808, publishing etchings and engravings in monthly parts and concluding the work in 1823.