Rebecca Hayward's art works

Rebecca Hayward was born in Chicago, Ill. in 1955. She spent her early childhood in Puerto Rico, and then, from the age of eight onwards, in Paris, France, where she studied at the French lycée. In 1977 she graduated cum laude with a BA in Art History at the American University of Paris. She started her formal art training with the South African painter and illustrator, Pat Fogarty, learning basic drawing and illustration techniques; then, at the age of 16, she began working with the Belgian painter and engraver, Paul Franck with whom she specialized in composition, etching, and oil painting. Since 1979, she has been living in Italy (Florence), where she has been painting independently, participating in personal and collective exhibits. In 1987 she won a nation-wide competition in the United States; as a result she was commissioned to paint 15 large paintings depicting architectural landmarks of old Chicago. This collection is on permanent display at the Marriott Conference Hotel in Chicago. In 1988 she joined the Studio Cecil-Graves in Florence in order to perfect techniques in oil painting, specializing in portraits and still-lifes. In 1997 she gave a major show, the "Bestiary", for the city of Lübeck, and it has traveled on to Rome where it was shown in the gallery of the Banca d'Italia.

The artist resides in Florence with her musician husband and their two daughters.
 
 
 
 

All pigments used by the artist are natural and home-ground using the techniques and recipes of ancient masters in oils. Wood supports are treated in the old method (Gypsum plaster and rabbit glue, layer upon layer) and the artist uses linen canvases and 100% acid-free rag paper.

1974 - La Jeune gravure contemporaine, Museum of Modern Art, Paris (group show)
1974 - Galerie Santiago, Puerto Rico, USA (group show)
1975 - La Jeune gravure contemporaine, Museum of Modern Art, Paris (group show)
1975 - International Engraving Biennale Internationale of Ibiza
1975 - Salon de Mai, Museum of Modern Art, Paris (group show)
1976 - Établissements Monthulé, Sens, France (group show)
1976 - Galerie Carlton, Cannes (group show)
1977 - Le Cabinet des Dessins, Institut Audiovisuel, Paris (group show)
1978 - Conservatory of Dramatic Art, Paris (one-man show)
1984 - Wallon Museum of Art, Liège, Belgium (group show)
1987 - Won a nation-wide competition in the United States, resulting in the commision of 15 paintings for the Marriott Conference Hotel in Chicago, USA (permanent collection).
1988 - Palazzo della Torre, Greve in Chianti, Italy (one-man show)
1988 - Cultural Center "A per A", Florence, Italy (one-man show)
1991 - Gallery Teorema, Florence (three-man show)
1991 - Talla Graphics, Talla, Italy (group show)
1992 - Gallery Garage, Lübeck, Germany (group show)
1992 - Talla Graphics, Talla, Italy (group show)
1995 - Fabbrica Europa "Progetto al muro", ("On the Wall"), Florence, Italy (group show)
1995 - Villa Demidoff, Theater and Dance Laboratory, Florence, Italy (one-man show)
1996 - Deconsecrated Church of the Barnabiti, "Art and the city", municipal project, Florence, Italy
1996 - Biennal of Quarrata, Italy
1996-1997 - Center for Contemporary Art "Luigi Pecci", Museum of Contemporary Art: a one year Project with Pistoletto "Habitus/Abito/Abitare" (group show)
1997 - "Arte in Pentola", ("Art in a Pot"), installation sponsored by Paci Partners, Kitchen design, for the Design Fair of Milano, Italy (group show)
1997 - "Officina dell'Arte", Florence, Italy (group show)
1997 - First showing of the "Bestiary", Rotunde Building, Timmendorfer Strand, Sponsored by the city of Lübeck, Germany
1997 - "Bestiary", Banca d'Italia, Rome, Italy
1997 - "Altre Luci", San Giustino Val d'Arno, Italy (group show)
1998 - "Altre Luci", San Giustino Val d'Arno, Italy (group show)
1998 - "MicroArte", Galleria "La Corte", Florence, Italy small sculpture exhibit (group show)
1998 - Le Foyer des Artistes, Florence Italy (group show)
1999 - La Casa dell'Arte, "Unknown portraits", Forlì, Italy (one-man show)
1999 - Kraft Hotel gallery, Florence Italy (group show)
1999 - Salon des Arts français en Mediterranée, France (group show)
1999 - Galleria Minimum, Florence Italy (one-man show)
2000 - Studio Art Center International, Florence Italy (group show)
2000 - Le Foyer des Artistes, Salone ex-Leopoldine, Florence Italy (group show)
2001 -Foyer des Artistes gallery, Florence Italy (duo show)
2001 -ÒO Bio MioÓ, Casa dell'Arte, Rosignano Marittimo, Italy (sextet show)
2002 -Castello di Murlo (SI), Murlo, Italy (collective show)
2003/2004 ÒTime FramesÓ Castello di Murlo (SI), Murlo, Italy (one-man show)
2004 Installation ÒCicli d'ArtistaÓ Galleria ArtNest, Florence, Italy (group show)
2004 Inauguration ÒCentro MagmaÓ Florence, Italy (group show)
 

In the last four years, I've been working on a "Bestiary" (animals and people in all shapes, forms and contexts). It is a theme that has existed since the beginning of time, finding its fullest expression in the West in the art of the Middle Ages. It has proven itself to be risky and difficult -- "competing" with all of the great masters that have so successfully treated the matter has been a very humbling job.

Notwithstanding, I chose to continue, as the Bestiary is a theme which I have found intriguing since childhood -- calling forth images from inside myself over the years that begged for realization into paintings. Bestiaries offer infinite variety, and represent an artistic haven for the artist who wishes to experiment with form, texture and content. They served in the past, as they still do today, to depict the obvious and obscure sides of human nature by using metaphor and allegory, laced with playfulness and irony. I certainly do not pretend to have invented anything: indeed the challenge lies in taking an age-worn theme and finding something new in it. Perhaps it is the best road for an artist to take today, not to worry so much about the originality of the theme as opposed to one's approach to it.

Since every conceivable variation in the visual arts has been experimented on in the last part of this century, an artist has the toughest job: to be consistent with oneself and to better the society he lives in by presenting quality and thoughtful work to his public, hoping to make it think and feel in return. The Bestiary has to do, of course, with animals, human beings and animals, animal-beings and human-animals -- and (last but not least), humans with humans - whichever way they can be switched! More important, however, in the formal sense, is the search involved in composition and space, how colors effect these, and the use of chiaro-scuro (how light plays on form) to create volume in contrast to flat planes. The combination of all of these aspects serves to create an atmosphere and helps to accentuate the link between the elements in the paintings -- people, animals and space. The end result is like "zooming in" on fragments of emotionality with which the viewer can not only identify, but actively participate in as they may mirror something familiar within.

The "story-line" in the paintings is open to any interpretation; they are not "illustrations" and neither do they represent any specific "events," but I have attempted instead to describe states of mind with line, color and space (not to speak of the physical poise of the characters) so as to strike a similar chord in the heart of each spectator. This can be disturbing, since most of us eschew the truth of certain feelings which we harbor; but art has always been a means for getting to the core of things, skillfully seducing the viewer into inevitable involvement by clothing raw (and sometimes painful!) material in a mantle of esthetics.