The Artist Archive

Einar Petersen: The Forgotten Muralist of 1920s Los Angeles
Einar Cortsen Petersen (1885 to 1986) was a Copenhagen-trained muralist who painted the walls of some twenty Los Angeles buildings, from the 1915 Rosslyn Hotel to Clifton's redwood forest. His life, his murals and what became of them, and how to read his signature. Read more...
Leandro Sirvent: A Jijona Painter in the Paris Still-Life Trade
Leandro Sirvent, born in Jijona, Spain, exhibited at the 1867 Paris Salon and painted fruit and shellfish still lifes for the Paris picture trade. This reference covers his documented career, his signatures, his recorded sales and the open archival questions. Read more...
Erik Holland: Four Decades Painting Nevada en Plein Air
Erik Holland is a Reno plein air painter whose Great Basin landscapes and portraits of buildings in Austin, Ely and Eureka make up one of the longest painted records of Nevada. His training, newspaper and cartooning years, murals, exhibitions and signature. Read more...
Alice Cardelli Swett: The Comstock Painter of Dayton's Main Street
Alice Cardelli Swett painted the canyons and sagebrush country around Dayton and Silver City, Nevada, from 1958 into the 1970s, and ran an antique shop and studio at 47 Main Street. A researched biography covering her family, exhibitions, museum holdings and how to date her work by its signature. Read more...
Nasser Assar: From Calligraphic Sign to Provencal Landscape
The life, work and signature of Nasser Assar (1928 to 2011), the Tehran-born Paris painter and friend of Yves Bonnefoy who moved from calligraphic signs to landscapes of Provence. A verified biography with exhibitions, museum holdings, auction results and a guide to his signature. Read more...
Wayne Zavosky: The Realist Behind the Signature
The documented life of Wayne Zavosky, the California realist painter and illustrator active in Palo Alto and Culver City from 1968 to 1983, drawn from period newspapers and film credits. Includes how to read his signature, corrections to earlier errors and a dated timeline. Read more...
Ransome Gillet Holdredge: Panoramas, Grez and the Price of a California Career
The documented life of Ransome Gillet Holdredge (c. 1844 to 1899), the California landscape painter behind the state's first panorama, who painted at Grez-sur-Loing and died penniless in Alameda. Includes his signature, museum holdings, a dated timeline and corrections to common myths. Read more...
Joseph Capecchi: The Florentine Sculptor Who Shaped the Cathedral of Saint Paul
Joseph Angelo Capecchi left Florence for St. Paul in 1906 and spent seven decades shaping the Cathedral of Saint Paul, from its bronze Stations of the Cross to its dome. His full biography, how to read the Capecchi signature, and the story behind his private oil landscapes. Read more...