Byron McClintock (1930 – March 31, 2022) was an American

Abstract Expressionist Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

painter and printmaker.

Biography

McClintock was born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, to in 1930 and Eletha (Humphrey) McClintock and Robert McClintock. He grew up in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington, and joined the Merchant Marine in 1946. Three years later, he settled in San Francisco, where he took art classes at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). Among his teachers were Richard Diebenkorn, Edward Corbett, and

James Budd Dixon James Budd Dixon (November 26, 1900 – December 1, 1967) was an American Abstract Expressionist painter and printmaker. He was a member of the "Sausalito Six" group of San Francisco Bay Area painters. Family and education James Budd Dixon was bor ...

. He developed his skill as a printmaker working as Dixon's assistant. At one point he shared a studio in the city with

Ernest Briggs Ernest P. Briggs Jr. (1923–1984) was a second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter known for his expressive, sometimes calligraphic brushwork, his geometric compositions, and revolution in abstract painting that secured New York City's po ...

. During the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, McClintock served as an illustrator and instructor in the U.S. Army and was afterwards stationed in Alaska (1953–55). On his return to San Francisco, he became the co-owner of a commercial photoengraving business. In the 1980s, he left that business and got a job with the San Francisco Maritime Museum, where he had previously been a volunteer. McClintock moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, in 1997.

Artwork

Although he has made a number of paintings, McClintock is best known for his prints, which range from

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

to drypoint etchings and mezzotints. Highly abstract, with an atmospheric use of color, they yet offer "intimations of landscape". His work was included the Museum of Modern Art (New York)'s 1954 survey, "American Prints of the 20th Century," at which time he was credited, along with

Will Barnet Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American artist known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent dreamlike worlds. Biogr ...

and Ralston Crawford, with helping to bring color lithography in America to a par with work being done in Europe. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and the Library of Congress, among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClintock, Byron 1930 births American abstract artists Abstract expressionist artists 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American painters American male painters People from Klamath Falls, Oregon Korean War artists Living people San Francisco Art Institute alumni Artists from Seattle Artists from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American male artists