2024
Joseph McGurl is one of today's most celebrated American realist painters. The Art Renewal Center has designated him as a living master, and it's not hard to see why. With their strikingly reflective water surfaces and blue skies streaked with warm oranges and yellow-reds, McGurl's figurative paintings and landscape paintings resemble photographs of serene places captured in the best possible natural light.
McGurl's first and most influential teacher was his father, James McGurl, who worked as a muralist. As a young man, Joseph attended the Massachusetts College of Art and earned a dual degree in painting and education. He then spent time studying at Fenway Studios and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, in addition to studying in Italy and England. A stint on a yacht also inspired a love for painting the natural world.
For its interplay of light and color, McGurl's distinctive, hyperreal style is often likened to the American luminists, a 19th-century movement linked to the Hudson River School. McGurl is a plein air painter — he works exclusively in the great outdoors as opposed to working from photographs within the confines of a studio. His atmospheric landscapes are mainly of areas in New England and the eastern United States.
McGurl is a member of the Plein Air Painters of America and the Guild of Boston Artists. His work is held in the Forbes Collection, the Mellon Collection, the Cape Cod Museum of Art, the New Britain Museum of American Art and the Cahoon Museum of American Art. He has also earned numerous awards, including the Art Renewal Center’s International Salon First Place in Landscape and the Guild of Boston Artists Gold Medallion. In 2020, Cavalier Galleries in New York City was home to an exhibition called "Joseph McGurl — Contemporary American Luminism: Journey through Time and Space."
On 1stDibs, find original Joseph McGurl paintings.
"Far Away, " Oil Painting
By Joseph McGurl
Located in Denver, CO
Joseph McGurl's "Far Away" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a vast landscape of valleys and mountains in the distance under the orange and yellow glow of sunrise or...
Oil, Panel
"Into the Light, " Limited Edition Print - 24 x 36
By Daniel Pollera
Located in Westport, CT
This Limited Edition print titled, "Into the Light," by Daniel Pollera. It is printed on canvas and ships rolled with natural edges. It can be stretched upon arrival - please see ima...
Digital
Long Road Home
By Joseph Orr
Located in Missouri, MO
Joseph Orr (20th C.) "The Long Road Home" Acrylic on Canvas 16 x 20 inches 20 x 24 inches framed Joseph Orr, from Missouri, has been painting professionall...
Canvas, Acrylic
Light and Dark
By Karen Woods
Located in Fairfield, CT
“I do think the big problem in a way…is how you deal with ordinary life—that is not extraordinary, that does not involve heroism, that does not involve crises, really. But the way in...
Linen, Oil
Beyond, Original Acrylic Painting
By Brian Sostrom
Located in Denver, CO
"Beyond" by Brian Sostrom (United States) is a handmade landscape painting that is framed and ready to hang.
Acrylic
A Moment in Time, Oil Painting
By Jo Galang
Located in San Francisco, CA
Artist Comments
Every summer, Jo goes down to the Coquitlam River near her home in British Columbia to enjoy the beautiful green surroundings glowing in the summer heat. "I couldn't resist how inviting this scenery was," she says. "Where I live, summer only lasts about three months, so I put this scene on canvas to enjoy it the whole year through."
About the Artist
Words that describe this painting: nature, water, trees, rocks, river, sunlight, woods, summer, forest, stream, riverbank, nature, realism, representational, oil painting, green
Oil
The Sun Also Rises
By Brooks Anderson
Located in Burlingame, CA
'The Sun Also Rises' - oil on canvas is 31 x 50 inches, meticulously painted by American Realist Brooks Anderson. Canvas edges are painted dark in artist's signature style. Lovely to...
Canvas, Oil
Morning Light
By Jeffrey Vaughn
Located in Fairfield, CT
Jeffrey Vaughn, from Alton, Illinois, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1978 from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and his Master of Arts degree in 1981, and Master of Fine Arts degree in 1983 from the University of Dallas. Vaughn has focused his energies as an artist working in landscapes for over thirty years. Vaughn approaches his work with a quiet contemplativeness that reflects the serene aspects of the natural world and reveals the underlying spiritual nature that can be found in the environments he portrays. His paintings have been published in New American Paintings and reviewed in the American Arts Quarterly and the St. Louis Post...
Canvas, Oil, Acrylic
First Light
By Trevor Young
Located in Fairfield, CT
Trevor Young is a quintessentially American painter. He makes no bones about his affection for the trappings of car culture, life on the road, and 1960s West Coast art. His main subj...
Oil, Panel
Sunset
By James Fairman
Located in Missouri, MO
James Fairman "Sunset" c. 1880 Oil on Canvas Signed Lower Left Site: 32.5 x 29.5 inches Framed: 46 x 42 inches James Fairman worked as a landscape painter, critic, lecturer, musicia...
Canvas, Oil
Running Home
By David Bareford
Located in Greenwich, CT
Unframed dimensions: 30 x 40 inches Framed dimensions: 37 3/4 x 47 3/4 inches Born in January of 1947, David Bareford began his study of art in high school in Warren, New Jersey und...
Oil, Panel
In the Distance
By Shirley Cean Youngs
Located in Greenwich, CT
American b. 1939 Renowned Impressionist painter Shirley Cean Youngs is a native New Yorker who now lives on a family compound in Connecticut surrounded by nature and those she loves...
Canvas, Oil
View from Coatue, Lifting Fog, Afternoon Sun
By Joseph McGurl
Located in Greenwich, CT
Signed lower right American, b. 1958 Designated a living master by the Art Renewal Center and widely regarded as a leader of the American landscape school, Joseph McGurl is one of ...
Linen, Oil
In the Black
Located in Greenwich, CT
American, b. 1972 Dylan Stark is a traditional landscape and seascape painter. He is heavily influenced by the luminist style of painting popular among late 19th century American la...
Oil, Panel
Rounding the Mark
By David Bareford
Located in Greenwich, CT
Born in January of 1947, David Bareford began his study of art in high school in Warren, New Jersey under the instruction of Lawrence Von Beidel. By graduation in his senior year, D...
Canvas, Oil
Off Peak
By Nicholas Berger
Located in Greenwich, CT
Unframed Dimensions: 36 x 48 inches Framed Dimensions: 41 1/4 x 53 1/4 inches Nicholas Berger Biography American, b. 1949 In his more than three decades as an artist, Nicholas Berg...
Oil, Panel
