Ivan Albright has won over my heart time after time. He was born close to Chicago, Illinois in a town called Harvey. His father was a landscape painter, which is where he gained most of his knowledge. Ivan and his twin brother, Malvin, both attended the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, where he majored in painting and his brother in sculpting. Ivan Albright is considered a “magic realist” in the world of painting.
Albright strayed away from his father’s way of painting the world. Instead, he focused on themes such as death, life, the materialistic nature of human, and the effects of time. For example, in his piece titled, Into the World Came a Soul Called Ida (above), this work is about a once beautiful model that is now facing the reality of what time does to your body. This also shows the materialistic side of women, because she still looks in the mirror praying to look like the beautiful women she once was. The vanity, makeup and mirror all play along in his idea that beauty is the only thing that matters when it comes to people. In this painting, he includes amazing detail in the way that he forms the body and face, such as adding in mass amounts of cellulite, wrinkles, and gothic colors.
Some of Albright’s influences are his father, Rembrandt, and El Greco. Also when times were tough during WWI, he took up a job as a medical drawer for a hospital in France, which some historians believe was also a big influence on his morbid body of work. He was also very anal about detail. He would spend hours setting up a scene for a painting, meticulously creating as much detail work as possible. For some of his wood work and facial work, he would use a brush constructed of one hair. He even went as far as painting his whole studio black and wearing only black while painting, in order to keep out as much glare as possible.
Ivan Albright would spend up to 10 years on some of his work, such as The Door. Such works are found at the Art Institute of Chicago, so check him out soon!!!!
TESSSSSS 4EVRR 
Interesting coincident, because I was just reading Oscar Wilde’s “The Painting of Dorian Gray” and I saw Ivan Albright’s painting while I’m googling the story. They made the story into a movie in 1945 by director Albert Lewin. Albright’s painting was in the movie. Well, the painting was actually made specifically for the film.
Picture!
and the movie’s ending
I actually read the book after the movie, and I absolutely loved it! And thank you for the clip, I’ve never actually saw the movie, now I’m really interested in seeing it (: