Famous Mosaic Artists
From the floors of places to the walls of churches, mosaics have been a feature of beauty and prestige for thousands of years. This craft was changing a lot throughout time to become beloved by DIYers, creating beautiful mosaic art from all kinds of materials.
Mosaics have been a pleasing art form for centuries. The timeless craft took different shapes and patterns as an expression of each culture and tradition all over the world.
The earliest examples of mosaic art pieces were made of ivory, seashells, and stones, dated all the way back to the 3rd millennium BCE, discovered in a Mesopotamian temple. The art laid the groundwork for other mosaic art made thousands of years later. As a result, we can see beautiful ancient famous mosaic artwork all over the world in our current times created by different famous mosaic artists.
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Famous Mosaic Artists in History
Some of the mosaic artists contributed a lot to the development of mosaic and the dispersion of this art in our everyday life. Thanks to some famous mosaic artists, we can see beautiful patterns in big institutions or random parks all around the world. Here are a few famous classical mosaic artists that made history.
Pietro Cavallini (1259 – c. 1330)
Pietro is one of the most famous artists in history. He is an Italian from Rome, a painter and mosaic artist who lived during the late Middle Ages. His mosaic works are compact in a powerful and grand expression, showcasing the religious life and stories from the religious scripts (New and Old Testament 1277-1285).
Cavallini began decorating the exteriors of the Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura with a series of Byzantine-style mosaics, which makes it one of his most famous works.
His “Last Judgement” in the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere in Rome, is considered one of Cavallini's masterworks, demonstrating an art style known as Roman naturalism. The influence of classical Roman style combined with the Byzantine art heritage of the region was Cavallini’s main style of work.
Lluis Bru i Salelles (1868-1952)
Born in Ondara, Valencia. Bru comes from a family of painters, both his father and grandfather were known painters and Lluis walked on the same path with more development. Bru moved to Barcelona at a very young age, in this city he began putting workshops making mosaic art, then he made the city the center location of his artwork.
One of his most well-known artistic undertakings was his work in the ceramic factory in Esplugues de Llobregat, in which he created various designs that were well-recognized later on, he was creating very outstanding frequent motifs that were designed in the corners and on the facades and eaves of modernist houses in Spain.
Many of his elegant tile designs, were utilized frequently during the height of the Art Nouveau era, his work can be seen in the factory’s catalogues as well as in the buildings such as the Hospital de Sant Pau, Palau de la Música Catalana, the Institut Pere Mata, and others.
Brú’s achievements and recognition of such demonstrative buildings, give some idea of the artistic prestige obtained in his time.
Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926)
Another famous Spanish mosaic artist, he was passionate about Catalan architecture and was the best-known practitioner of Catalan Modernism. He integrated a lot of details into his architecture and handicrafts such as ceramics, marble, mosaic, glass, and proficient ironwork.
Between the late 1900s and early 2000s, seven of Gaudi’s masterpieces were added to the extensive UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. These sites are Parque Güell; Casa Mila; Palacio Güell; Casa Vicens; the Nativity façade; Casa Batlló; and Colonia Güell.
The world heritage sites testify to Gaudí’s exceptional creative contribution not only to the development of architecture but also to mosaic artwork and construction technology throughout late 19th and early 20th centuries, his work made him one of the top famous mosaic artists in history.
Famous Contemporary Mosaic Artists
Contemporary mosaic art is a new expression of mosaic making that takes different forms using different materials. This modern form of mosaic went beyond the classical patterns of the it that were known throughout the years; instead, it took more of an experimental approach to creating a mosaic out of everything to deliver any message.
There’s a wave of new artists who were raised within this contemporary form of art that made their art speak for themselves and got well-known and recognized for that. We will share with you a few famous contemporary mosaic artists that you must know.
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Isidora Paz Lopez
A good example of a female mosaic contemporary artist, Lopez is a Chilean ceramist, mosaicist, and muralist. She is the third generation of an artist family; her grandfather is a great painter and much of her art touch took from her artistic background.
In the past 5 years, she was focusing a lot on making public art and creating community projects. Lopez tries to make art out of everything: trash, broken tiles, or any unexpected materials that are recyclable is a base material for her artwork. Her work is an expression of her emotion and the experiences she’s been through as she claimed in one interview: ‘’art as a philosophy of life helped me to survive those difficult moments and turn them into something better.
Bad experiences, pain, suffering, loneliness, fears, confusion, depression, and all kinds of bad feelings can be released through artistic experience. In my life, art has been a great therapy that saved me in several moments, allowing me to recycle emotions, helping me to find my center, and in a concrete way led me to realize not to waste my life, instead be useful.’’
In 2011, Lopez began making mosaic murals in the streets, and fell in love with the techniques and the process, then, she started doing big public mosaic art projects featuring other artists. In 2012 she was commissioned to lead a very large mosaic project, covering 83 pillars and 4 stations at the metro train that crosses Puente Alto.
Lilian Broca
Lilian Broca is a Canadian mosaic artist and art educator based in Vancouver. She has completed two monumental mosaic series on the biblical figures of Esther and Judith and there is another on the way.
The prestigious international academic magazine called Journal of Mosaic Research, out of Izmir, Turkey published her work since it showcases ethnic mosaics and ancient characters from history.
Lilian Broca uses mosaics as a medium and monumental genre of art that documents stories of ancient heroes. She also inserts the stories of women recounted in Biblical texts to bring recognition to women and bring back the value in the religious context while spotlighting the actual role and reality of women that was centered on servicing the husbands and fathers.
Broca utilizes mosaic art in a postmodern way to supersede the boundaries of linear time and stiff social norms. In fact, what makes Broca’s work special is her gender approach and integration of women in a realistic way. Through her mosaic work, she tries to send messages and hopes to see a different reality of openness from female submissiveness to female authority.
Broca was the theme of the documentary ‘’Return to Byzantium: The Art and Life of Lilian Broca’’, which premiered at The National Library and Archives in Ottawa, Canada in 2012.
Jason Dussault
Based in New York, Jason is an artist who focuses on combining traditional forms of mosaic with pop-culture characters from his childhood. The artist combines mosaic tiles, paint, grout, porcelain, and other material to create his masterpieces by adding a unique modern signature to each piece.
Dussault is a famous artist in the underground scene of mosaic art. The mixture of creativity and ethos has granted Jason his rightful place in the Hoerle-Guggenheim Gallery, where his works are currently being displayed alongside historical legendaries and innovators such as Picasso, Dali, Warhol…
You can reach our previous article from https://www.artmasterclass.com.au/blogs/news/mosaic-art-cities-you-should-visit