Description
The original Storm was created by French painter Pierre Auguste Cot of the Academic Classicism school. He was born in Bédarieux, and initially studied at l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse before going to Paris. He studied under Leon Cogniet, Alexandre Cabanel and William-Adolphe Bouguereau. From the 1870s, his popularity grew quickly. In 1874 he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He created several works of lasting popularity, including Le Printemps, featuring two young lovers sitting upon a swing, and The Storm. Both these paintings are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Cot also was renowned for his portraits, which made up the majority of his work. The more enduring figurative work, such as The Storm, is comparatively rare.
Galina Evangelista was born and raised in Russia. She studied art through her school years and graduated from Art Academy in the Estonia Republic of Soviet Russia. In 1977, she left St. Petersburg and immigrated to the United States. In New York, she attended Parsons School of Design and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her art career. In Los Angeles, she worked as an art director for more than 17 years, at which time she opened her own art school in Hermosa Beach. She taught children and adults for more than seven years until she moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. With a passion for portrait art, she specialized in oil painting but is also accomplished in pastels, acrylics, and watercolors. Her latest focus is on her murals and mosaic. Her style is realistic and evidenced in her academic renaissance approach. She favors 16th to 19th-century fine art, which includes styles from artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Botticelli, Rembrandt, David, Leighton, and Bouguereau. She has belonged to art societies and has many awards to her credit. Galina has expanded into the realm of literature and has authored four books.
