Paul Wonner
Paul Wonner was born in Tucson, Arizona on the
24th of April, 1920. He is a famous American artist, who is best known for his abstract expressionist still life paintings. He had a great passion on focusing most of his work on small, delicate objects such as jars, vases, fruits, flowers or furniture. Paul expressed early interest in visual arts since his childhood years. Therefore, his parents hired him a private tutor that assists him to develop his artistic drawings and senses during high school. After his early art education,
Wonner resided to California at seventeen. He settled in Oakland where he attended the
California College of Arts and Crafts. During his years in college, his basic drawing and painting skills were more advanced. After his graduation from college, he was drafted into the United
States Army. He was located and stationed in San Antonia, Texas during his service. During the army experience, he still continued his pursuit of art. In 1946, after Paul was discharged from the army, he immediately headed for New York City to continue with his artistic career.
Wonner worked as a commercial artist in NYC during the abstract expressionist movement. To pursuit art at a greater level, he studied at the arts students league and occasionally attended lectures at Robert Motherwell studio where he had the opportunity to socialize with other artists, critics and writers. In 1950, Paul returned to California to attend the University of
California, Berkeley. Wonner graduated with a B.A, M.A and an M.L.S degree respectively. At
UC Berkeley, he was greatly influenced by the elements of Cubism. In 1957, Wonner collaborated with a group of eleven artists for an exhibition called Contemporary Bay Area
Figurative Painting at the Oakland Museum. In the 1960s, he founded a studio in San
Francisco where he mainly focused on developing figurative style. His paintings were arranged in a setting with individual objects laid out. In 1968, he became a teacher who went on to teach in various locations in the Los Angeles area. In his fifties, he settled in San Francisco as an
Abstract Realist. Paul Wonner died on the 23th of April in 2008 on the eve of his 88th birthday in San Francisco.

Paul Wonner’s famous artworks:

To Flora (Second Version) (1985)
Dutch Still Life with Stacked Objects and
Telephone (1983)

Two Tables with Fruit and Cheese (1992)

Still Life with Art Books and Field Guide to
Western Birds (1982)

Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City on the 27th of October, 1923. He is a famous pop art painter, who is best known for his unique styles derived from comic strips and the american culture. Roy inputs colors and techniques from the printing industry into his paintings or sculptures. Lichtenstein grew up under no artistic influence, however he discovered his own way to develop and build his interest in arts. Therefore, at the age of fourteen, he attended weekly painting classes at Parson’s School of Design. From
1940 to 1943, Roy enrolled at the Art Students’ League in New york. Like many artists such as Paul Wonner, he was drafted to the US army and served in Europe during World War
Two. Back from the army, he returned to Ohio State University to obtain a M.A degree. After
Roy had graduated from Ohio State, he worked in the commercial graphic business, spending most of his time in making designs and decorating shop windows. In 1951, he decided to teach at different universities such as New York State College of Education at Oswego, and Douglass
College in New Jersey. Through Lichtenstein’s 1950s, he mainly used the basic techniques of abstract expressionism, incorporating his own styles and decorum into his compositions. His well-known use of comic-strip and cartoon figures in his paintings are influenced by the work of his colleague while at Douglass College. Onwards in his late fifties, he held exhibitions at art museums in California, Amsterdam, London, Bern and Hannover. During this