World’s Best Figure Expressionists Named By America’s 25 Best Galleries: BECHTOLSHEIM, RADIVILOVIC, MANCUSO, KIM, BENNETT, GHETIU, STEELE, KWON, LYNN, KRUPA, KAPLAN & JIA / 2021 AMERICAN ART AWARDS

6 min readOct 1, 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.

America’s 25 Best Galleries scored almost 2,000 works in 50 categories from 64 countries.

Winners in this category are from USA, LITHUANIA, ITALY, UK, CROATIA, GERMANY & CHINA.

BIO FOR 1ST PLACE WINNER: Anouschka Bechtolsheim is an award-winning student and painter at the Nueva High School in San Mateo, California, U.S. Starting to paint with oils at age 12, she’s been hooked ever since. Today, her work focuses on women’s mental health, using abstractions as a vessel to explore intimate moments of emotionality.

Anouschka’s art has been recognized regionally by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and Congressional Art Competition, nationally by Celebrating Art, and internationally by the Ruth Borchard 2021 Self Portrait Prize and the Khaled Bin Sultan Science Without Borders Challenge.

Currently, her work is showcased in the Ruth Borchard Long-list Exhibition and hangs on the walls of the U.S. Capitol.

Also passionate about the intersection of art and mental health, when Anouschka’s not found with a paintbrush in hand, she’s working on Finding Yourself Through Art, a podcast and 42-page guided art journal giving individuals the resources to create art for their wellbeing that transforms the lives of teens around California. Artbyanouschka.org

ARTIST CONTACTS FOR ART COLLECTORS:

Category 12. EXPRESSIONISM — HUMAN FIGURE

1st Place ANOUSCHKA BECHTOLSHEIM USA https://artbyanouschka.com/ 16x19 “Transcendence” Oil on paper.

2nd Place-Tie ANA RADIVILOVIC LITHUANIA ana.radivilovic@gmail.com
“On The Shadow Side. Vulnerability” 28x36cm Watercolor on paper.

2nd Place-Tie LUCIANO MANCUSO ITALY www.facebook.com/luciano.mancuso.376 “The Kiss Of Life” 120x100cm Acrylic On Canvas.

3rd Place-Tie JENNIE KIM USA kjennie0709@gmail.com
“Walking Through History” 18x24" Pen and colored pencil.

3rd Place-Tie TOM BENNETT USA www.insatgram.com/tombennettart/ “Eremitic” 12x12” Monotype.

4th Place-Tie SERGHEI GHETIU LITHUANIA https://www.saatchiart.com/all?query=serghei%20ghetiu
“I Will Write Your Name With Rain!” 65x80cm Oil on canvas.

4th Place-Tie ELLEN KIM USA ellenk0305@gmail.com
“Drowning Fears” 18x24" Acrylic on board.

5th Place-Tie LINDA STEELE USA www.facebook.com/LindaSteeleOriginals/photos “Arlo” 12x16" Acrylic glaze over fluid metallic acrylic on canvas.

5th Place-Tie YUNSU KWON USA knpkhjcany@gmail.com
“Spaghetti Dinner” 18x24" Acrylic on board.

5th Place-Tie LINZI LYNN UK/USA www.linzilynn.com “Serenity” 24x24" Acrylic on canvas.

6th Place-Tie ALFRED FREDDY KRUPA CROATIA
https://www.wikiart.org/en/alfred-freddy-krupa Ink, acrylic, pen, paper.
“Girl Masked By A Transparent Gray Gauze Costume” 61x42cm

6th Place-Tie RUDOLF M. KAPLAN GERMANY rudolfkaplan@mat-conbonn.de “Cazzo!” 80x60cm Oil on canvas.

6th Place-Tie TONY JIA CHINA jiadb123@outlook.com
“Portrait Of A Woman On Fire” 50x70cm Oil on canvas.

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.