Michael klein painter biography

His first teacher was Richard Whitney.
Hewing faithfully to the Renaissance and French academic traditions, Michael Klein is among the vanguard of contemporary painters working to rekindle classical.
Klein grew up in a small town in North Dakota before seeking out an informal education in classical art in Minneapolis.

•

Michael Klein Gallery

Michael Klein “Hewing faithfully to the Renaissance and French academic traditions, Michael Klein is among the vanguard of contemporary painters working to rekindle classical art. The North Dakota native attended a string of ateliers and workshops in the Midwest before finishing his studies at the Water Street Atelier in New York City in 2005, training his eye on painting still lifes and the figure from life. Although he devotes most of his attention to floral still lifes these days, Klein is equally proficient at painting portraits. Last year, in fact, he snapped up the grand prize in the Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Competition for NYC Entrepreneur, in which he captures a friend’s business-driven resolve.

Today Klein lives in Raleigh, NC, where he paints, teaches workshops, and enjoys the robust art community, mild clime, and abundant local flora for inspiration. He also travels with his wife to her hometown in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he maintains a second studio surrounded by similarly lush environs. Both locations suit Kle

•

Michael Klein

Michael Klein Biography

Michael Klein is part of a group of American artists leading the revival of representational painting hearkening back to the Renaissance and French Academic traditions. Klein had two major solo exhibitions in New York City in 2008 and 2010. He also participated in the American Chinese Oil Painting Artist League (ACOPAL) a prestigious exhibition that traveled through China hitting five major cities including Beijing's World Art Museum. He and his wife started American Painting Video Magazine in 2010, an online video production which has been viewed in over 130 countries throughout the world. His work has been published in numerous magazines such as Fine Art Connoisseur, American Artist Magazine and American Arts Quarterly.

Born in 1980, Michael Klein was nineteen when he began his serious training in classical ateliers and workshops. His first teacher was Richard Whitney. One of New Hampshire's most prominent portrait painters, and a pupil to the teaching of R.H. Ives Gammell of the Boston School Tradition. A

•

Michael Klein was nineteen when he began his serious training in classical ateliers and workshops. His first teacher was Richard Whitney, one of New Hampshire’s most prominent portrait painters and a pupil to the teaching of R.H. Ives Gammell of the Boston School Tradition. After two years of workshop classes under Whitney’s guidance, Klein continued studying in Minneapolis at the former atelier Lack which was founded by Richard Lack, a classical painter whose efforts were largely responsible for the revival of traditional painting in the United States. Seeking to broaden his education, Klein then left his home in the Midwest to move east, where he began studies at the Art Students League of New York, most notably under the tutelage of portraitist Nelson Shanks. In 2002, Klein entered what would become his final school, the Water Street Atelier (now Grand Central Atelier), where he apprenticed under founder Jacob Collins until 2005.

Learn About New Arrivals

Subscribe to gallery emails.