“SNAPPERS AT SCHOOL”
ROBERT HARTSHORN
Hartshorn Studios
Hartshorn’s gorgeous “Snappers at School” is whimsically inspired by years of gazing into his father’s mesmerizing aquarium. This captivating painting envelops the underwater world in luminous hues of blue and green, creating a shimmering, ethereal light that dances across the scene. The golden snappers, with their delicate stripes, appear to glow against the textured aquatic backdrop, their movement imbued with a whimsical elegance.
Hartshorn masterfully captures light’s playful interaction with water, making this piece feel alive with depth and fluidity. A stunning interplay of color and composition, this work celebrates the artist’s gift for illuminating the natural world with a dreamlike radiance. As an artist, Hartshorn wants viewers to admire his art as a simple expression of beauty without the need for further interpretation.
We are so fortunate to admire several of his pieces in our gallery. Hartshorn is an award-winning artist and is known for his portraits, paintings and photographs, including many portraits of prominent members of the Cleveland community, elected government officials and business executives. Museums, galleries and studios display his art from Cleveland to Los Angeles to New York to London and Beijing, among other places.
His gallery at 78th Street Studios is exquisite and is a treat to tour. His gallery walls are filled with his magnificent landscapes, colorful abstracts and elegant portraits. It is a cozy space which reflects how galleries and museums once displayed art - stacking portraits and landscapes from the floor to the ceiling - filling every inch of wall space. 78th Street Studios, located downtown Cleveland, has open houses every third Friday of the month.
Robert Hartshorn
Hartshorn Studios
Email: rob@hartshornstudios.com
Website: https://hartshornstudios.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HartshornStudios
Gallery: Hartshorn Gallery, 78th Studios
78th Studios: https://78thstreetstudios.com/
Article from Artsper:
Hartshorn was born in 1953, raised in Philadelphia and is now based in the Tremont Arts District of Cleveland, Ohio. He is a fourth generation artist whose creative journey has followed the inspiration of his maternal grandfather, architect and artist Walter Antrim; “The act of painting is its own reward" was his first lesson, and the sale of an early “masterpiece" for $25 in 1960 made his grandmother his first patron.
Early in his career, Rob wandered from medium to medium and subject to subject until he found a home in his late twenties in Classical Realism, an artistic movement that places a high value upon skill and beauty, combining elements of 19th-century neoclassicism and realism. His arts education was to research and experience firsthand the writings, works and techniques of great masters of the past; Vermeer for delicate colors, Bouguereau for luminous flesh, Raeburn for subtle expression. This adventure of discovery found him in museums, studios and private collections from New York to London to Beijing.
In practice, there have been many contemporary mentors, masters and ateliers that have influenced Rob and shared their love of traditional technique with him. And now after five decades of painting, he has found his own path; six years ago he opened Hartshorn Studios, an art collaborative, devoted to portraiture and figure painting. He has found success in simply painting and continuing to share the techniques that others have shared with him.
Manner
Always a lover of chiaroscuro, Rob explores the evocative beauty of light playing over the human figure. His poses are academic in tradition, but with a minimalist, modernist twist. He hopes that people viewing his work see the immediate beauty that he sees without further interpretation.
Oil on fine linen is his medium. Extensive glazing is his method. His palette is extremely sparse but complete. Like so many before him in the academic tradition, Rob is inspired by the endless nuances of poses in working with live models. He looks for subtle expression in the body; an inner emotion expressed in an outer form or contour. Sketching, painting and digital media is employed to capture movement and gesture.