Malcolm T. Liepke is a well known and widely respected contemporary painter who works primarily in figurative and informal portrait subjects. (By “informal portraits”, I mean that his subjects are models posing for the benefit of the artist as opposed to the subject of commissioned portraits.)
Liepke has been tremendously influential on a number of other contemporary gallery artists, and quite a few illustrators. Liepke himself had a very successful career as an illustrator, eventually transitioning into gallery painting.
His subjects are most often women, sometimes pensive, sometimes subtly emotional or sensual or flirtatious. They inhabit a world that may be of a different era, or may be just a preference for another time expressed in contemporary surroundings. Some of his work is overtly sexual (NSFW).
Liepke draws his own inspiration from the portrait masters of the late 19th century, but imbues his work with a contemporary verve. His canvasses are richly textural with bravura brushwork and a beautiful mix of intense and subdued colors.
As far as I can determine, Liepke doesn’t maintain a web presence of his own, relying instead on the galleries in which he is represented. Foremost of these is Arcadia Fine Arts in New York, which showcases an extensive selection of the artist’s work. (For best viewing use the “Full Screen Toggle” at upper right.)
Arcadia is offering a large volume of the artist’s work, Malcolm T. Liepke – A Retrospective (see the link at the bottom of the gallery’s page on Liepke.)
His work is interesting: as you said, it’s a mix between classic painting and some modern colors.
I used to eat his work up in the earlier Society of Illustrator annuals. In my young mind I thought it was such an interesting mix of incredible painting skills and contemporary composition and colors. Last year I saw his work for the first time at Arcadia and my respect grew. Just a wonderful painter.
Surely not every model has lips like bolster cushions. Is it that he can only afford one model or does he only knows how to paint one woman and just repeats her?
Incredible work. Luscious.
Andrew, how much of his work have you seen?