James Daniel Bishop (October 7, 1927February 16, 2021) was an American painter. He completed his education in the United States, before moving to France in 1957 and living there for most of his career. He was granted a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 1970.

Early life

Bishop was born in

Neosho, Missouri Neosho (; originally or ) is the most populous city in Newton County, Missouri, Newton County, Missouri, United States, which it serves as the county seat. With a population of 12,590 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city i ...

, on October 7, 1927. He was the only child of Otto McMaster Bishop and Faye Lenora Robinson Bishop. The family resided at 327 South Washington Street during his childhood. He attended Neosho High School, graduating in 1945. That same year, he enrolled in

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, and later obtained his bachelor's degree in journalism."Neosho Graduate Has Art Show in Paris in November," Neosho Daily News, December 12, 1963.

Art career

Bishop's formal art education began in 1950, when he entered the

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. The Sam Fox School was founded in 2006 by uniting the academic units of Architecture and Art with the University's Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to creat ...

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

and studied there for three years. He was subsequently accepted into the Yale-Norfolk Summer Art School in Norfolk, Connecticut. He also studied at

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a private liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The college was ideologically organized around John Dewey's educational ...

under Esteban Vicente, before spending one year at Columbia College studying art history with

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for developing new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An expert on earl ...

. Bishop went on to reside in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, then

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, before relocating to France in 1957 and settling there for most of his career. He had his first one-man show at the Galerie Lucien Durand in Paris in November 1963. He was awarded a

for fine arts in 1970. His "Paintings and Works on Paper" journeyed to the

Kunstmuseum Winterthur The Kunst Museum Winterthur (English: The Winterthur Museum of Art) is an art museum in Winterthur, Switzerland run by the local ''Kunstverein''. From its beginnings, the activities of the Kunstverein Winterthur were focused on contemporary art - ...

in Switzerland, the

Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume Jeu de Paume ( en, Real Tennis Court) is an arts centre for modern and postmodern photography and media. It is located in the north corner (west side) of the Tuileries Gardens next to the Place de la Concorde in Paris. In 2004, Galerie Nationale ...

in Paris, and the

Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History The Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History (''LWL-Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte'') is an arts and cultural museum in Münster, Germany Besides an extensive collection ranging from '' spätgotik'' painting and sculptur ...

in Germany, as part of a survey from 1993 to 1994. Bishop's style was tied to the

post-World War II The aftermath of World War II was the beginning of a new era started in late 1945 (when World War II ended) for all countries involved, defined by the decline of all colonial empires and simultaneous rise of two superpowers; the Soviet Union (US ...

tradition of

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

from both the US and Europe. The artwork he produced was compared to numerous movements like

abstract expressionism 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 ...

and Supports/Surfaces, although Bishop called himself "an Abstract Expressionist of the quieter branch". One of the most powerful features of his work was the manner in which it alluded to "frames and methods of presentation", which appeared to call to mind

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

. He utilized the "nuanced and expressive qualities" of color and scale to great effect, leading

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

to dub his works that employed light as "half architecture, half air". Bishop had an exhibition of works on paper from 2007 until 2008 at the Josef Albers Museum in Bottrop, Germany. In its October 2008 issue, ''

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...

'' published "Painting by Other Means" by Joe Fyfe, a major review of Bishop work. The exhibition also traveled to the

Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München The Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich (München), Germany, is a large collection of drawings, prints and engravings. It contains 400,000 sheets starting from the 15th century from various artists around the world. Along with Kupferstichkabi ...

and the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. Six years later, the

David Zwirner Gallery David Zwirner Gallery is an American contemporary art gallery owned by David Zwirner. It has four gallery spaces in New York City and one each in London, Hong Kong, and Paris. History The Zwirner Gallery opened in 1993 on the ground floor of ...

in New York hosted a solo exhibition of his work.

Later life

Bishop lived and worked in Blévy, near Maillebois in rural

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Musée d'Arts de Nantes The Fine Arts Museum of Nantes, along with 14 other provincial museums, was created, by consular decree on 14 Fructidor in year IX (31 August 1801). Today the museum is one of the largest museums in the region. The facades, roof and stairs in the ...

starting on February 12, 2021. This was part of an exhibition titled "United States of Abstraction", covering the contribution of Americans to the post-World War II art scene in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. However, this was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in France The COVID-19 pandemic in France has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have reached France on 24 January 2020, when the first COVID-19 case in both Europe and France was identified in Bordeaux. Th ...

. He died on February 16, 2021, at a hospital in

Dreux Dreux () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. Geography Dreux lies on the small river Blaise, a tributary of the Eure, about 35 km north of Chartres. Dreux station has rail connections to Argentan, Paris and Granvi ...

. He was 93.

Notable exhibitions

*1963: Galerie Lucien Durand, Paris, France *1966:

Fischbach Gallery The Fischbach Gallery is an art gallery in New York City. It was founded by Marilyn Cole Fischbach in 1960 at 799 Madison Avenue. The gallery in its early days became known for hosting the first significant solo exhibitions of now leading art ...

, New York, New York *1993:

, Switzerland *2007: Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop, Germany *2008:

Staatliche Graphische Sammlung The Pinakothek der Moderne (, ''Pinakothek of the Modern'') is a modern art museum, situated in central Munich's '' Kunstareal''. Locals sometimes refer to it as the ''Dritte'' ("third") ''Pinakothek'' after the Old and New. It is one of the world' ...

, Munich, Germany *2014: David Zwirner, New York, New York"James Bishop" https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/james-bishop/press-release

Notable collections

*''Farm'', 1966, oil on canvas; in the collection of the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

*''Untitled'', 1980, oil on canvas; in the collection of the

*''Untitled'', 2002, oil, pencil and colored pencil on paper; in the collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, James 1927 births 2021 deaths People from Neosho, Missouri Painters from Missouri Black Mountain College alumni Syracuse University alumni Columbia College (New York) alumni American Expressionist painters American expatriates in France Neosho High School alumni Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts alumni