Contemporary American artist Peter Adams is esteemed for his beautiful Impressionist paintings. He uses oil paints to create vivid landscapes and figurative works that saturate the canvas with color. Adams is known for combining the Western artistic tradition with Eastern influences picked up from his extensive travels.
Adams was born and raised in California. He studied at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California; the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles; the Instituto de Bellas Artes in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and the Lukits Academy of Fine Arts in Los Angeles.
Four of Adams’s seven years at the Luktis Academy were spent as an apprentice to Theodore Lukits, a renowned Impressionist painter. He was also introduced to Chinese porcelains and sculptures, which sparked an interest in Asian art that spurred him to travel. In 1981, he traveled and painted unescorted through the People’s Republic of China, becoming the first American artist to do so. He was also the only American artist to travel with the mujahideen rebels of Afghanistan in 1987.
Adams became the president of the California Art Club in 1993, a role he has served in ever since. Established in 1909, the organization only had 80 members at the time. Under his leadership, the membership has grown to around 3,000.
In 2007, he earned the John J. Geraghty Award for advancing traditional fine art as well as the gold medal for the best painting from his fellow members at the California Art Club. In 2009, Fine Art Connoisseur presented Adams with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Adams is represented by American Legacy Fine Arts in Pasadena. His works are in the collections of the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard, California; the Haggin Museum in Stockton, California; the USC Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California; and Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of Peter Adams’s paintings.
Alberich's Vision (Rhinemaidens from Richard Wagner's The Ring)
By Peter Adams
Located in Pasadena, CA
Provenance Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist FRAMED: 82" x 58" x 2.25" UNFRAMED: 72" x 48" Oil on panel Signed "Peter Adams" on lower right Artist's Statement: Albe...
Oil, Panel
$3,776
H 15.36 in W 11.82 in
Portrait of a Girl, 1887 by Danish Realist Painter Peder Mørk Mønsted
By Peder Mørk Mønsted
Located in Stockholm, SE
This painting titled "Portrait of a Girl" by the Danish realist painter Peder Mørk Mønsted captures an enigmatic young woman whose identity remains unknown. The girl, elegantly posed...
Oil, Wood Panel
BE WATER
By DARIA DUDOCHNYKOVA
Located in Zofingen, AG
She floats where silence begins — just beneath the skin of the water. Her form is neither here nor gone, dissolving into rhythm and light. There is no past, no edge, no name — only t...
Oil, Wood Panel
$1,950
H 15.7 in W 13 in
After a successful hunt 1858 Kitchen Genre Scene Swedish Animalist J. Arsenius
Located in Stockholm, SE
Signed lower right: Johan Arsenius and dated 1858 or 1853, attributed Johan Georg Arsenius (1818 - 1903), was a Swedish military man, painter and draftsman. Up for sale is important ...
Wood, Oil, Wood Panel
Sold|$1,500
H 16 in W 12 in D 1.25 in
Teofimo, oil, ARC Salon Finalist, Portrait Society of America, Florence, Italy
By Matthew James Collins
Located in Houston, TX
Teofimo was painted over several days in the artist studio in Florence, Italy. The painting measures 16 x 12 with a handmade frame from Italy. This is oil on a linen panel which mos...
Oil, Linen, Panel
2 PM Shift Change
By Nicholas Berger
Located in Greenwich, CT
Men at work by a Brooklyn East District Terminal locomotive during an afternoon shift change. For over 100 years, the Brooklyn East District Terminal was responsible for floating fre...
Oil, Panel
$8,300
H 29.5 in W 31.5 in D 0.25 in
"Nude, Reflection" Realist Oil Painting on Wood Panel, 21st Century, unframed
By Daniela Astone
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
An oil painting by Contemporary Italian Realist painter, Daniela Astone - A nude figure sits on a sterile, white floor. A mirror presents the figure's back from another angle. She holds a towel up to her face, partially covering her chest and lap. One leg is tucked up behind her, her reflection however shows neither the hand with the towel nor the foot she sits on. Artist Bio: Daniela Astone was born in Pisa, Italy, in 1980 and raised in Porto Santo Stefano...
Oil, Panel, Wood Panel
Souvenir de la Malmaison
By Amanda Besl
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original contemporary oil painting by Amanda Besl created in 2014.
Oil, Wood Panel
The House Always Wins - Black & White Figurative Oil Painting
By David Lyle
Located in East Quogue, NY
Black & white figurative painting. Oil on panel. 36 x 32 inches. In "House Always Wins," David Lyle delivers a cinematic, black-and-white oil painting that is at once nostalgic, pro...
Oil, Wood Panel
Roadeater
By Bob Stuth-Wade
Located in Dallas, TX
Eleanor Jones Harvey, Chief Curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, writes about Bob Stuth-Wade: “Over the course of his career, Bob Stuth-Wade has examined his responses to...
Oil, Panel
Fluorescent and Starry
By Amanda Besl
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original contemporary oil painting by Amanda Besl from her most recent body of work created in 2017. Throughout her career, Amanda Besl has focused primarily on the inner worlds ...
Oil, Wood Panel
dusk is dawn is day
By Amanda Besl
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original contemporary oil painting by Amanda Besl from her most recent body of work created in 2017. Throughout her career, Amanda Besl has focused primarily on the inner worlds ...
Oil, Wood Panel
"Velvet lilac"
By Svetlana Lazareva
Located in Edinburgh, GB
The painting depicts a young woman in a delicate semi-transparent nightgown against a backdrop of vintage wallpaper. The girl's name is Lolita. She is wearing a long semi-transparent...
Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
Sold
H 30.5 in W 24.5 in D 1.25 in
St. Theresa in the Serra Chapel, Mission San Juan Capistrano
By Peter Adams
Located in Pasadena, CA
Description Using colored lights Peter Adams illuminated then painted this wooden statue of Saint Teresa of Avila, one of the Doctors of the Chur...
Oil, Panel
Cleopatra
By Peter Adams
Located in Pasadena, CA
Provenance Acquired by American Legacy Fine Arts directly from the artist Description Peter Adams takes a contemporary approach to a classical subject with Cleopatra. In this compos...
Oil, Panel