Joe Park (1964) is a Canadian-born painter who now lives in Seattle and Washington, USA. Sheila Farr, art critic at the Seattle Times wrote about him:

“Joseph Park’s imagery has a quaint, paint-by-number simplicity that at one time would have seemed odd for a guy who can handle paint like a master. Park doesn’t blend color on his canvases, trying for a semblance of realism, but instead fills in areas with single tones, sometimes overlaid with shafts of light and shadow, so that his pictures look like animation stills. With references to famous pictures and Japanese movies, Park makes animals play human roles in images that are slick, unsettling and mildly ironic in their post-modern sensibility.”

Shown above is a detail of Park’s 2001 work Pursuits. It is painted in oil on linen, and measures 52in x 43in (132×109cm). The work is a remastered version of William Bouguereau’s famous 1873 painting Nymphes et Satyre (Nymphs and Satyr). Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find dozens of contemporary versions of the same painting. Click the second to view Joe Park’s Pursuits in his online catalog.

American realistic painter Joshua LaRock (b. 1982) didn’t have serious artistic aspirations until a few years ago. Only as recently as in 2006 he started studying classical drawing and painting. Since then, many of his works have been exhibited, and he received several prestigious awards. Today he is member of the teaching staff at The Grand Central Academy in New York.

Shown above is a detail of one of his recent works, entitled Jeune Femme Allant a la Fontaine. Unlike most Remastered Bouguereaus on this site, LaRock’s work was done in oil on linen, measuring 62×28 inches (157×71cm). It is a modern version of Bouguereau’s 1885 work Jeune Fille Allant à la Fontaine (Young Girl Going to the Fountain). As the subtle change in the title implies Bouguereau’s young girl has become a young woman in LaRock’s version.

Below you can compare the two versions. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find several more contemporary versions of Bouguereau’s original painting. Click the second to visit Joshua LaRock’s website.

Automobiles saw the light only in William Bouguereau’s final years, and the Frenchman never felt inclined to paint them. But others did! Shown above is L’Amour au Humvee by American digital artist katiekate (real name Catherine R. Drumm) for a Hummer photoshop contest on FreakingNews in 2008. At the time the Hummer was still the must-have car for many. That’s over now. In February 2010, General Motors decided to discontinue the gas-guzzling four-wheel monster.

L’Amour au Humvee was based on Bouguereau’s 1888 painting L’Amour au Papillon (Cupid with a Butterfly). Below you can compare the original and the remastered version. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find nearly twenty contemporary creations. Click the second to view it on FreakingNews.

February 23, 2010 marks the 16th birthday of American teen actress Dakota Fanning [wiki]. Fanning’s breakthrough performance was in I Am Sam in 2001. As a child actress, she appeared in high-profile films such as Man on Fire, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte’s Web. Fanning began transitioning to more adult roles with Hounddog and The Secret Life of Bees. She has won numerous awards and is the youngest person ever to have been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

The portrait shown above was made by digital artist FormNFunction in 2006, and was the winner in a Modern Renaissance contest on Worth1000. The work was based on Bouguereau’s 1895 work Le Goûter (Just a Taste). Below you can compare the original and the remastered painting. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find many other contemporary versions (including portraits of Hillary Clinton, Gwen Stefani and Heather Graham). Click the second to view the contest entry on Worth1000.

February 22, 2010 marks the 35th birthday of American actress, film producer and film director Drew Barrymore [wiki]. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was eleven months old, and after her breakout appearance in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial she quickly became one of Hollywood’s most recognized child actors. She successfully made the transition from child star to adult actress. Since 1990 she has also become a successful movie producer and director.

The portrait shown above was made by digital artist Famous58 in 2003, and was the winner in a Modern Renaissance contest on Worth1000. The work was based on Bouguereau’s 1869 work Le retour du marché (Returned from the market). Below you can compare the original and the remastered painting. Click the first to visit the gallery where you will find several other contemporary versions (including portraits of Sheryl Crow and Catherina Zeta-Jones). Click the second to view the contest entry on Worth1000.

With the Winter Olympics in full swing, William Bouguereau has sent his own team to Vancouver. Three girls, a young bacchante and two bathing beauties, have trained for months and are now showing their talents on ice. Below are the participants in their original context. Click to visit the galleries where you will discover the ladies in many more incarnations.

Twice each year Worth1000 challenges digital artists to create a ghostly image in a classical work of art. The sixth edition of this GhostRen contest, in February 2010, drew 41 creations, five of which were Remastered Bouguereaus.

Shown above is the highest scoring entry (#4) among them. It was created by aheadmon, and based on Bouguereau’s 1881 work La Vierge aux Anges (The Virgin with Angels).

Below you can see all five Remastered Bouguereaus in this contest. Click to visit the galleries where you will find many more contemporary versions of the original Bouguereau paintings.

Related previous posts:
Bouguereau Is Seeing Ghosts (August 2009)
Bouguereau Ghost Grabs Gold (February 2009)

Enzie Shahmiri [website, Flickr] creates paintings which have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibits in California and are in private collections in the USA, Europe and the Middle East. Her art ranges from traditional oil portraits to Orientalist style figurative pieces using a Classical Old Master’s technique. Her work has been published on numerous occasions and has been featured in books.

One of her works is the portrait of a girl in a poppy field shown above. The original oil painting measures 40″ x 30″ (102 x 76cm). It is based on Bouguereau’s 1885 painting Meditation. In Enzie’s own words:

“I painted this girl in a field, as if she is just taking a little rest on her way home. This field could be just about anywhere, but I remembered the fields arounf the Caspian sea in Iran and decided to introduce a lot of Iranian elements, such as the shoes I own, the prayer rolls, jewelery and scarf.”

Below you can view the original Bouguereau painting. Click to visit the gallery where you will find several other remastered versions of the original artwork.

The commercialization of Saint Valentine’s Day (14 February) may be fairly recent, but the holiday has been around since the 19th century, mostly in the USA and Britain. It’s unlikely William Bouguereau celebrated Saint Valentine, but his modern-day followers have linked the French master with the Christian saint several times.

Shown above is Valentine Engagement by digital artist Sassydeb, created for a Valentine Paintings photoshop contest on FreakingNews in 2007. The work was inspired by Bouguereau’s famous 1895 painting Le Ravissement de Psyche (The Rapture of Psyche). Sassydeb flipped the original picture so the ring would be on Psyche’s correct hand.

Below are four Valentine-inspired images from Bouguereau Remastered. Click each to visit the galleries where you will find many more contemporary versions of the original paintings.

February 11, 2010 marks the 41st birthday for American actress Jennifer Joanna Aniston [wiki]. She established her acting career in the 1990s with her role as Rachel Green in the U.S. sitcom Friends, a role for which she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She also starred in several Hollywood films, including Bruce Almighty, Office Space, Rumor Has It, Leprechaun, Derailed and Rock Star.

Bouguereau Remastered contains three portraits of Jennifer Aniston. They are shown below. Click each to visit the galleries where you can discover many more contemporary versions of the original Bouguereau paintings.