James McGarrell
Encyclopedia
James McGarrell is an important American
painter
known for painting lush figurative interiors and landscapes.
and at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine
. He then entered the graduate painting program at the University of California, Los Angeles
. In 1955 McGarrell had his first solo exhibition at the Frank Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills and received a Fulbright grant to the State Academy of Art in Stuttgart, Germany.
After returning from Germany
in 1956, McGarrell began a long distinguished academic career at Reed College
in Portland, Oregon
. Three years later he returned to Indiana University to direct the graduate painting program. In 1981 he accepted a position in the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, where he remained until his retirement from teaching in 1993. He has also been an artist in residence at many institutions for short periods, most notably at Skowhegan, the International School in Umbria
, Rice University
, the University of Utah
, Arizona State University
, and Dartmouth College
.
During the past half century McGarrell has had more than a hundred solo exhibitions at galleries and museums in America, England
, France
, and Italy
. His paintings, prints, and drawings have been included in hundreds of exhibitions in the United States, South America
, Europe
, and Japan
.
He is a member of the National Academy
and Correspondent Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts
de l'Institut de France. In 1995 he was the recipient of the Jimmy Ernst Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Arts and Letters.
McGarrell has held residencies, grants, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts
, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and the study centers of the Bogliasco Foundation outside Genoa
and the Rockefeller Foundation
at Bellagio
in Italy. He has also been senior resident at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program in New Mexico
.
His work has been included in: five Whitney Annuals and Biennials; the Carnegie International
exhibition twice (1958 and 1983); New Images of Man at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City
(1960); the Dunn International at the Tate Gallery, London
(1963 and 1964); Documenta III (1964)in Kassel, Germany; and USA Art Vivant at the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France. He was one of five painters selected for The Figurative Tradition in American Art at the U.S. pavilion of the 1968 Venice Biennale
. In 2003 several of his paintings were included in La creazione ansiosa: da Picasso a Bacon, a survey exhibition of later 20th century art at the Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy.
McGarrell's paintings are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art
, the Whitney Museum of American Art
, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
, the Art Institute of Chicago
, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Portland Museum of Art
, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
, the Centre Georges Pompidou
, the Hamburg Museum of Art, and many other public and private collections in America and Europe. He is represented in New York by the George Adams Gallery.
where they now live with five cats.
The McGarrells' son, Flo McGarrell
was an installation artist, filmmaker and writer (1974–2010), who was killed in the January 12, 2010 Haiti
an earthquake at the age of 35.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
known for painting lush figurative interiors and landscapes.
Biography
James McGarrell began painting in the basement of his parents' house at age 20. His first formal art studies were at Indiana UniversityIndiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
and at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine
Skowhegan, Maine
Skowhegan is the county seat of Somerset County, Maine, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 8,824. Every August, Skowhegan hosts the annual Skowhegan State Fair, the oldest continuous state fair in the United States...
. He then entered the graduate painting program at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
. In 1955 McGarrell had his first solo exhibition at the Frank Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills and received a Fulbright grant to the State Academy of Art in Stuttgart, Germany.
After returning from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1956, McGarrell began a long distinguished academic career at Reed College
Reed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. Three years later he returned to Indiana University to direct the graduate painting program. In 1981 he accepted a position in the School of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, where he remained until his retirement from teaching in 1993. He has also been an artist in residence at many institutions for short periods, most notably at Skowhegan, the International School in Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
, Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
, the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
, and Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
.
During the past half century McGarrell has had more than a hundred solo exhibitions at galleries and museums in America, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. His paintings, prints, and drawings have been included in hundreds of exhibitions in the United States, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
He is a member of the National Academy
National academy
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanities. Typically the country's learned societies in...
and Correspondent Member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts
Académie des beaux-arts
The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...
de l'Institut de France. In 1995 he was the recipient of the Jimmy Ernst Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Institute of Arts and Letters.
McGarrell has held residencies, grants, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, and the study centers of the Bogliasco Foundation outside Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
at Bellagio
Bellagio
Bellagio is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located on Lake Como. It has long been famous for its setting at the intersection of the three branches of the Y-shaped lake, which is also known as Lario....
in Italy. He has also been senior resident at the Roswell Artist-in-Residence program in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
.
His work has been included in: five Whitney Annuals and Biennials; the Carnegie International
Carnegie International
The Carnegie International is the oldest North American exhibition of contemporary art from around the globe. It was first organized at the behest of industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on November 5, 1896 in Pittsburgh. Carnegie established the International to educate and inspire the...
exhibition twice (1958 and 1983); New Images of Man at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(1960); the Dunn International at the Tate Gallery, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(1963 and 1964); Documenta III (1964)in Kassel, Germany; and USA Art Vivant at the Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France. He was one of five painters selected for The Figurative Tradition in American Art at the U.S. pavilion of the 1968 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. In 2003 several of his paintings were included in La creazione ansiosa: da Picasso a Bacon, a survey exhibition of later 20th century art at the Palazzo Forti, Verona, Italy.
McGarrell's paintings are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, the Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...
, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft and is part of the...
, the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Portland Museum of Art
Portland Museum of Art
The Portland Museum of Art is an art museum in Portland, Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882, it is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District, and is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S...
, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is an art museum located at 1130 State St. in downtown Santa Barbara, California.It was founded in 1941 and currently ranks amongst the top 10 regional art museums in the United States . It is home to both permanent and special collections, the former of which...
, the Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou
Centre Georges Pompidou is a complex in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil and the Marais...
, the Hamburg Museum of Art, and many other public and private collections in America and Europe. He is represented in New York by the George Adams Gallery.
Family
While he was artist in residence at Dartmouth College in the spring term of 1993, McGarrell and his wife, the writer and translator Ann McGarrell, discovered and purchased an early 19th century house in Newbury, VermontNewbury, Vermont
Newbury could be either of the following places in the U.S. state of Vermont:*Newbury , Vermont*Newbury , Vermont...
where they now live with five cats.
The McGarrells' son, Flo McGarrell
Flo McGarrell
Flores "Flo" McGarrell was an American artist, filmmaker, writer and arts administrator. He was raised in Umbertide, Italy and St. Louis, Missouri, United States....
was an installation artist, filmmaker and writer (1974–2010), who was killed in the January 12, 2010 Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an earthquake at the age of 35.