Mark Tennant, an American artist based in New York, has mastered the art of photorealism. His oil-based paintings deceive the viewer for a brief moment by appearing like photographs. A perfectionist in his craft, Mark Tennant has not only dedicated his time to painting artistic scenes but also passed on his knowledge to his students. He highlights the importance of the tradition of museum copying, which dates back to the period after the French Revolution. The practice of artists copying masterpieces allows them to learn from the greats. His fascinating paintings, be they of dancing groups in an intimate embrace or of girls covering their eyes from what appears to be flashlight, allow viewers to develop their own interpretations. Despite the unintentional deception, the intricacies and mastery of his works remain in focus, and one wonders whether they might one day be imitated by copyists themselves.
Mark Tennant is a contemporary artist born in Baltimore in 1950. The New York-based artist studied at the art academy in Baltimore and New York, where he completed his bachelor’s degree and also his Master of Fine Arts.
From 2008 he was director of Graduate Fine Art Painting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, where he had also been a lecturer since 1998.
Among other things, his pictures have been exhibited in the Salon d’Automne in Paris, in the Museo Pablo Serrano in Zaragoza and in the Museu Europeu d’Art Modern (MEAM) in Barcelona. For the portrait “Raoul Middleman” he received the 1st prize “ModPortrait 2016” and is still part of the collection of the “MEAM” museum.
His work is represented in numerous collections in Europe and America.
Today he gives workshops in Spain, Italy, the UK and the USA and he teaches museum copying at the Louvre in Paris, at the Metropolitan in New York and at the Fine Art Museum “Legion of Honor” in San Francisco. Important exhibitions are planned in Germany, Luxembourg and Spain from 2020 and Mark Tennant was presented at Art Karlsruhe for the first time at a German art fair.
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