ARCHITECTS AND DESIGNERS Lanning Gallery Ted CoConisTed CoConis was awarded a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago during his grade school years, but instead of working toward academic success, he abandoned his formal education, added a few years to his age and trained as a pilot with the US Air Force near the end of World War II. He was honorably discharged a year later when they found out he was underage, so he joined the Merchant Marines and ended up in Russian-occupied Romania.
By the time he got back, Chicago seemed too tame, so he headed off to Las Vegas and then Los Angeles, finally ending up in San Francisco, where he landed his first free-lance commission as an illustrator. It wasn’t long before a major art studio in New York recognized his talent; CoConis was able to quickly establish himself as one of this country’s preeminent illustrators of books, magazines and movie posters.
CoConis’s paintings have appeared in every major magazine from Cosmopolitan and Playboy to Ladies’ Home Journal and Good Housekeeping. He was commissioned to create paintings for movie posters such as “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Man of La Mancha,” among many others. His art has graced the covers of countless books, including those of Vladimir Nabokov and Jerzy Kosinski, each of whom acquired a painting for his personal collection. James Michener chose CoConis to illustrate his novels for Readers’ Digest Condensed Books and Betsy Byars selected CoConis’s art for her Newberry Award-winning children’s book “Summer of the Swans.”
Over 30 years ago, while living in Paris and the Greek Islands, CoConis decided to begin concentrating on his own work. The figurative paintings born of this effort have been widely exhibited at galleries, museums and other institutions of Fine Art. His paintings as well as his portrait and illustrative commissions have received numerous awards from major art organizations and associations of art directors and designers.
Quite a few prestigious organizations and interesting people own CoConis’s paintings: The Bishop Museum, The Boca Raton Museum of Art, Jim Henson Associates, Lockheed Martin, Piper Aircraft, Readers’ Digest Association, Erich Segal, United Artists, The US Air Force, The US Army, Universal Studios, the late Jerzy Kosinski and Vladimir Nabokov, among others.
CoConis's paintings are getting more and more involved therefore taking longer to produce; while this adds to their value it also means that fewer originals are available each year. With this in mind, Lanning Gallery is now offering giclées of a limited selection of CoConis originals. These giclées are of the highest quality and produced only in small editions (of originals which are no longer available), bringing a unique opportunity to existing CoConis collectors as well as to those who may not be able to afford an original at this time.
Les Trois Graces Dans le Musee du Louvre (The Three Graces) - Painting - available at Lanning GalleryReunion Au Jardin Du Luxembourg (Get Together in Luxembourg Garden - Painting - available at Lanning Gallery |
Artist's Spotlight River Autumn by Susan D. Gutting Fine Art Painting 8x6"
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