Robert Florczak

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Robert Florczak--American painter.

Robert Florczak attended the prestigious Cooper Union in New York City, studied painting under Will Barnet, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, was Artist-In-Residence at Widener University, and taught painting at The Art Institute of Philadelphia. As a commercial artist, Robert has enjoyed an active career that spans three decades, with extensive work in the advertising, entertainment, and publishing fields. Florczak’s original paintings are in the private collections of Mel Gibson, the Jimmy Stewart estate, Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, among others, and in the corporate collections of AT&T, Random House and Beecham Pharmaceuticals, to mention a few.

Florczak’s art is characterized by an avid interest in historical drama and romance and an intimate understanding of the classical paintings of the Old Masters. Additionally, his work reflects a passion for the Academic and Victorian painters of the 19th Century, such as Leighton, Bouguereau, and Alma-Tadema, as well as the majestic landscapes of Bierstadt, Church and Moran. Whether working in layers of transparent oil glazes or meticulously rendered pencils and watercolors, Robert brings to his paintings a depth and attention to detail uncommon in contemporary art.

His designs and technique have been compared to the classical imagery of the Pre-Raphaelites and have been described as “Caravaggio crossed with Maxfield Parrish.” According to one reviewer, Robert’s landscapes are “reminiscent of ambitious paintings from the Hudson River School.”

Robert has produced the artwork for eight published picture books. Florczak’s premiere book, "The Rainbow Bridge", by the best-selling author Audrey Wood, was an American Bookseller Pick of the List. Following were "Rough Sketch Beginning", by renowned Jamaican poet James Berry, O.B.E. and Birdsong, also authored by Audrey Wood. All three books were published by Harcourt. For HarperCollins, Robert illustrated Shirley Climo’s "The Persian Cinderella", the fourth in her popular multi-cultural Cinderella fable series. The book was on the master list for the 2001 Texas Bluebonnet Award. Charles Dickens’ "The Magic Fish-bone" (Harcourt), with Florczak's captivating illustrations, was released in Fall 2000. "A Cowboy Christmas" (Simon & Schuster, Fall 2001), was the third pairing with Audrey Wood. "YIKES!!!", his first self-authored book was published in 2003 by Scholastic's Blue Sky Press, who will also publish his "The Incredibly Coincidental but Amazingly True Life Adventures of a Boy Named Jack". 2005 saw the publication of "Horses Of Myth" (Dutton).

Florczak also produces paintings for limited editions in Japan for Trans-Modern Art, Ltd.