Ivan Albright, one of most interesting artists you probably never heard of, was born today in 1897. Albright developed a detailed, almost hallucinatory realist style evident in arguably his best-known work, a portrait of the title character featured in 1945 Hollywood film The Picture of Dorian Gray - ThreadSky

mlobelart.bsky.social • 2 days ago

Ivan Albright, one of most interesting artists you probably never heard of, was born today in 1897. Albright developed a detailed, almost hallucinatory realist style evident in arguably his best-known work, a portrait of the title character featured in 1945 Hollywood film The Picture of Dorian Gray

Comments

democat66.bsky.social•2 days ago

Great movie!

ceileensikes.bsky.social•2 days ago

One of my favorite movies. Glad to know the artist for the painting.

csquidlette.bsky.social•2 days ago

Oh so that’s what the early AI images were going for.

elmyrajones.bsky.social•2 days ago

That was a great movie and a lot of the impact is in the final reveal of this piece. Just absolutely stunning work.

ifht.bsky.social•2 days ago

I watched the movie about a week ago. While watching, I wondered how many people would recognize how ugly they are on the inside.

chrisweihert32292.bsky.social•2 days ago

I can name so many people who would fit that description...

harpharpsichord.bsky.social•2 days ago

One of my favorites.

karidotpeters.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is one of my favorite paintings at the Chicago Art Institute. Also love “Into the World There Came a Soul Called Ida” https://www.artic.edu/artworks/93811/into-the-world-there-came-a-soul-called-ida

bertmenninga.bsky.social•1 day ago

I couldn’t look away from Ida as a kid going to the art institute in the early 70s - scared me, fascinated me. That whole room was a creepy. Also my absolute favorite!

mlobelart.bsky.social•2 days ago

Albright developed a painstaking, intensely detailed approach to painterly realism in which the surfeit of details becomes overwhelming (if not almost nauseating), as seen in this picture of a window into a room on which he worked, on & off, for some two decades https://www.artic.edu/artworks/93812/poor-room-there-is-no-time-no-end-no-today-no-yesterday-no-tomorrow-only-the-forever-and-forever-and-forever-without-end

mlobelart.bsky.social•2 days ago

To me, one of the most captivating aspects of Ivan Albright's career is the series of self-portraits he created late in life, at the invitation of the Uffizi gallery in Florence, which present an unsparing view of human aging and mortality https://www.artic.edu/artworks/104276/self-portrait-no-18

muslibarch.bsky.social•2 days ago

It helped to grow up in Chicago and always see the respectful wall space they gave Albright, and occasionally that self portrait series. A touchstone of the Art Institute for me.

with-you.bsky.social•1 day ago

OK now I’m seeing a relation to Ghiberti’s door panels in Florence, Italy. Great relief sculpture

jonsansom.bsky.social•2 days ago

Saw this painting on a visit to Chicago a few years back - provoked quite a visceral response in me. Pretty imposing up close.

lorihartbeninger.bsky.social•2 days ago

That picture scared the h@$l out of me as a child. I had to cover my eyes every time it came on the screen!

jg-edward-photo.bsky.social•2 days ago

❤️ 📌

philcal.bsky.social•2 days ago

Father Crilly?

retractus.bsky.social•2 days ago

Personal speculation here, but I'd be willing to guess that psychedelics of some form were not unknown to Mr. Albright.
Amazing piece of artwork.

harveydanger.bsky.social•1 day ago

Seeing this painting something like 20 years ago is what spurred me to actually watch the 1945 Picture of Dorian Gray. Was really cool how the movie is black and white except when we see the painting. Also, nobody played Dorian Gray better than Hurd Hatfield.

creativemaus.bsky.social•2 days ago

Oh sure, six weeks spent on cubism in Fine Arts but they couldn't have told me this guy existed.

mlobelart.bsky.social•2 days ago

Hey look, if Cubism led us in part to works like this, I think it was totally worth it (Jacob Lawrence, The Music Lesson, 1943)

creativemaus.bsky.social•2 days ago

I'm not shitting on Cubism, I'm just annoyed that we spent six weeks on it, to the exclusion of some pretty amazing other periods and artists.

4got10one.bsky.social•1 day ago

my grandmother grew up with the Albrights; i have a painting of the boys painted by their father

reese-artist.bsky.social•1 day ago

One of my favorite artists. Thanks for the post.

mrmixter.bsky.social•2 days ago

Such an acid-like vision
🤩

sudome.bsky.social•2 days ago

I saw this in person and the sheer detail covering this canvas doesn't seem like it was painted.

with-you.bsky.social•1 day ago

Is this a painting? It looks like repousse on metal with different acids for coloring. Very trippy.

I’ve never seen this artist before. Thanks for this.

candylan.org•2 days ago

yikes

candidfloss.bsky.social•2 days ago

In the film, the picture gets steadily more grotesque. I wonder if there were several pictures or the artist just kept adding to the original 🤔 It is quite amazing!

sadielemoyne.bsky.social•2 days ago

One of my favorites to visit at the Art Institute! I also love this one, which always reminds me of Miss Havisham
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/83905/that-which-i-should-have-done-i-did-not-do-the-door

theuglinessman.bsky.social•2 days ago

Part of the collection at https://artic.edu (https://www.artic.edu/exhibitions/2771/flesh-ivan-albright-at-the-art-institute-of-chicago)! I remember being astonished by how meticulously he rendered things, almost as if he couldn’t bear to leave a detail unrepresented. And yet painted MASSIVE canvases.

jeannie307.bsky.social•2 days ago

That looks like my visualisation of Foul Ol’ Ron from Terry Pratchett!

graywyvern.bsky.social•2 days ago

bucket list artist. also, i remember reading sometimes he painted using only a single bristle at a time.

tress333.bsky.social•1 day ago

I immediately knew it was Dorian Gray. It’s brilliant.

curiouslyclever.bsky.social•2 days ago

I always wonder about the artists who create portraits for older movies. I don't think they were often (ever been?) acknowledged in the credits.

cococurie2.bsky.social•2 days ago

You know Ivan Albright if you lived anywhere near Chicago in the 1980s and you loved art. But thank you for reminding us of this amazing artist.

mlobelart.bsky.social•2 days ago

I recognize this- I imagine you might recognize that, in speaking to a broad group of people, most would not know of Albright and his work

cococurie2.bsky.social•2 days ago

Absolutely. Thanks again for sharing.

art-mirrors-art.bsky.social•2 days ago

I study mirrors in art, and Albright's Picture of Dorian Gray is surely on the genius side of the world. The Soul Called Ida, too. I was lucky to see them irl in Chicago. Yet, I also understand why some viewers might find the painting repulsive https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/15137991748_d70f05e935_b.jpg

megamegame27.bsky.social•2 days ago

Watercolor. Zoom in 😃

alicehalfabubble.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is part of Chicago's Art Institute's permanent collection.

expatpoet.bsky.social•2 days ago

Oscar Wilde wrote an amazing "horror" story here.

mmolarsky.bsky.social•2 days ago

It's no wonder many people are put off by Albright's work. He offers a repulsive view of humanity. Not surprising that he is of German lineage--his work is reminiscent of the work of Otto Dix, particularly "The War," the series of engravings made in the 1920s just after WW1.

bertmenninga.bsky.social•2 days ago

As a kid in the early 70s, his Into the World There Came a Soul Called Ida always freaked me out at the Art Institute (along with the George Tooker Subway and Paul Delvaux Mermaid village)

ohsopleasant.bsky.social•2 days ago

This painting is stunning in person! I can stare at it for hours and see something new every time I visit it. I literally gasped the first time I saw it.