World’s Best Animal Realists Named By America’s 25 Best Galleries: LEE, NEDER, DOLMAN, BARTELS, PYLE, BECKER, VAN HULSEN, CHANG, NOVAK, LOUCKS, QIAO & SERSTINSKAJA / 2021 AMERICAN ART AWARDS

5 min readOct 3, 2021

Each May the American Art Awards organization selects the 25 Best Galleries and Museums in America, then in autumn these revered art institutions vote on online art to decide the world’s best contemporary artists.

The 25 Best GALLERIES + MUSEUMS In America, 2021 — American Art AwardsAmerican Art Awards

The AAA board chooses only one gallery or museum per state per year. Among other criteria, selections are based on…

www.americanartawards.com

America’s Best Galleries & Museums scored almost 2,000 works in 50 categories from 64 countries.

Winners in Category 33 are from MALAYSIA, ENGLAND, UK, NETHERLANDS, USA, NORWAY, TAIWAN, GERMANY, CHINA & LITHUANIA.

BIO OF 1ST PLACE WINNER: Monica Lee was a digital imaging artist for a photography studio for 12 years. It wasn’t until 2013 that she decided to pick up a pencil again just for fun, but realized that she still loves drawing. Quitting her job to become a full-time artist, Monica’s appreciation and admiration of the value of good photographs sparked her interest in photorealism. Specializing only in charcoal and graphite, her style of drawing emphasizes the details of her subject matter. Through her works, she hope to portray the beauty of wildlife animals. Hopefully it will inspire people to appreciate and help protect it for future generations.

In 2021, Monica was a finalist in the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation: Wildlife Artist of the Year. https://www.facebook.com/monicaleeart

ARTIST CONTACTS FOR ART COLLECTORS:

.Category 33. REALISM — ANIMAL

1st Place MONICA LEE MALAYSIA https://www.facebook.com/monicaleeart “Vigilant” 23.5x35.5" Graphite & charcoal.

2nd Place-Tie JUDIT NEDER ENGLAND https://www.facebook.com/judit.neder/ “Angel” 30x40cm Acrylic on canvas.

2nd Place-Tie SAM DOLMAN UK www.samdolman.com “Elektra” 45x60cm Oil on wood.

3rd Place-Tie SANDRA BARTELS THE NETHERLANDS www.sandrabartelsartist.nl “A New Beginning” 30x40cm Pastel, pastelmat.

3rd Place-Tie DAN PYLE USA http://danpyleartist.com/ 18x22" “The Great Ape” Charcoal on illustration board.

3rd Place-Tie LINDA BECKER USA http://www.linda-becker.pixels.com “Vigilance” 16x12" Pastel pencil on matboard.

4th Place-Tie ESTHER VAN HULSEN NORWAY www.esthervanhulsen.com “Ferrari Of The Skies — Peregrine Falcon” 36x30cm Watercolour and colored pencil on board.

4th Place-Tie YU-LI CHANG TAIWAN https://artgo.info “Pet Cat” 54x39cm Pastel.

4th Place-Tie SANDRA BARTELS THE NETHERLANDS www.sandrabartelsartist.nl l “Hope” 32x32cm Pastel, pastelmat.

5th Place-Tie KRISTINA NOVAK GERMANY Pastel. https://www.instagram.com/kristina_petportraits/ “The Scarf” 50x70cm

5th Place-Tie DEAN LOUCKS USA www.deanloucks.com dean@taod1.com “Just Me” 30x40” Acrylic on canvas.

6th Place-Tie YUYANG QIAO CHINA 498233604@qq.com
“Warblers Past Midnight” 29.7x42cm Colored pencil.

6th Place-Tie DANGUOLE SERSTINSKAJA LITHUANIA https://petdrawings.net “Seals” 50x40cm Oil on paper.

Click below to see the relaxing hour-long movie revealing 2021’s hundreds of winning artworks:

Artworks from 59 countries won among the 50 categories: paintings, drawings, photography, digital and sculpture. (Americans won more because Americans entered more since the competition is better known here.)

Number of winners per country: Argentina 1, Australia 12, Belarus 2, Belgium 2, Brazil 3, Bulgaria 2, Canada 30, China 85, Croatia 2, Cyprus 1, Denmark 2, England 2, Finland 1, France 7, Georgia 3, Germany 18, Ghana 1, Greece 3, Hungary 2, Japan 1, India 10, Iran 1, Ireland 1, Israel 1, Italy 14, Kazakhstan 1, Kuwait 2, Latvia 6, Lithuania 27, Macedonia 5, Malaysia 2, Mexico 2, Moldova 1, Morocco 1, Netherlands 3, New Zealand 1, Nigeria 8, Norway 1, Oman 1, Pakistan 1, Philippines 5, Poland 8, Republic Of Korea 12, Romania 2, Russia 45, Serbia 1, South Africa 8, Spain 11, Sweden 3, Taiwan 7, Thailand 1, Turkey 3, Uganda 1, UK 10, Ukraine 5, USA 264, Uzbekistan 1, Zambia 1, Zimbabwe 2.