John Hultberg (February 8, 1922 – April 15, 2005) 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 ...

and Abstract realist painter. Early in his career he was related to the

Bay Area Figurative Movement The Bay Area Figurative Movement (also known as the Bay Area Figurative School, Bay Area Figurative Art, Bay Area Figuration, and similar variations) was a mid-20th Century art movement made up of a group of artists in the San Francisco Bay Area wh ...

; he was also a lecturer and playwright.

Early life and education

John Hultberg was born in 1922 in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

.Bob Keyes, Staff Writer
"STUDY IN CONTRASTS ; They were husband and wife but when it came to their painting, John Hultberg and the late Lynne Drexler had about as much in common as light and dark."
''Portland Press Herald'' (Portland, ME). McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 2005. Accessed via HighBeam Research, a subscription required service. February 2, 2014 He had a sister, Helen, and brothers Paul and Dean. Hultberg attended

Fresno State College California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

, graduating in 1943. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was a Navy lieutenant. After the war, his education at the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

(CSFA) (now the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

) was funded by the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

. His teachers included

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...

and

Clyfford Still Clyfford Still (November 30, 1904 – June 23, 1980) was an American painter, and one of the leading figures in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediately follo ...

and he was a classmate of

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he bega ...

, who was also a mentor, James Budd Dixon,

Walter Kuhlman Walter Kuhlman (1918–2009) was a 20th-century American painter and printmaker. In the late 1940s and 1950s, he was a core member of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism. He later worked in a representational style related to Ame ...

Frank Lobdell Frank Lobdell (1921 - 2013) was an American painter, often associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement and Bay Area Abstract Expressionism. Life and career Frank Lobdell was born on August 23, 1921 in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Mi ...

, and George Stillman, which whom he created a portfolio of 17 lithographs. This 1948 portfolio, titled ''Drawings,'' has been acknowledged as a landmark in Abstract Expressionist printmaking. The group has been referred to as "The Sausalito Six," because most, lived in

Sausalito Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge. Sausalito's p ...

, north of San Francisco.Acton, David. ''The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints.'' New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2001. Pages 66, 70, 72, 82, 84, 86, 120. He was also a contemporary of Clay Spohn and David Park. Hultberg studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

beginning in 1952

Personal life

Hultberg was first married to Hilary Blech. In 1961 Hultberg met fellow artist

Lynne Mapp Drexler Lynne Mapp Drexler (May 21, 1928– December 30, 1999) was an American abstract and representational artist, painter and photographer. Early life and education Lynne Drexler was born on May 21, 1928 and raised in the Newport News, Virginia, area. ...

at The Artist's Club in New York. Artists there discussed abstract expressionism. Drexler and Hultberg were married and three years traveled and lived in Mexico, the West Coast and Hawaii.Paintings by Maine artist Lynne Drexler on view at the Portland Museum of Art
. Portlandmuseum.org. August 1, 2008. Retrieved on February 2, 2014. Then, they lived at New York's Chelsea Hotel in the late 1960s.Lynne Drexler biography.
Spanierman Modern. Retrieved February 2, 2014. Seeking a relaxing environment, the couple bought a house off the coast of Maine on Monhegan Island in 1971 and split their time between New York City and Maine, particularly spending the summers at their island house. By 1983, Drexler moved year-around and permanently near Lighthouse Hill on

Monhegan Island Monhegan () is an island in the Gulf of Maine located in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. A plantation, a minor civil division in the state of Maine falling between unincorporated area and a town, it is located about off the mainland. Th ...

, an artists' haven off the coast of Maine, where she had spent most summers since 1963.“Lynne Drexler: Painter” at the Monhegan Museum
Workingwaterfront.com. Retrieved on February 2, 2014.Lynne Drexler: Her light and times , The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Pressherald.mainetoday.com (March 13, 2010). Retrieved on February 2, 2014. Hultberg did not like to live year-round, particularly during the harsh winters, at Monhegan Island and moved to Portland in 1985. He asked Drexler to come with him, but she decided to stay on the island. They were estranged at that time of her death, on December 30, 1999. He died of complications of a stroke on April 15, 2005, at

Roosevelt Hospital Mount Sinai West, opened in 1871 as Roosevelt Hospital, is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System. The 514-bed facility is located in the Midtown West neighborhood of New York City. The fac ...

in New York. He lived on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of the city.Wolfgang Saxon
"John Hultberg, 83, Painter Prominent in the Avant-Garde, Dies"
''The New York Times.'' April 25, 2005. Retrieved February 2, 2014. He had a son named Carl R. Hultberg and Elaine Wechsler was his agent and partner.

Career

Hultberg primarily made

paintings that were minimalist and dark, and also made

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

invented landscapes with "linear perspectives and angular shapes." Hultberg was described as an Abstract realism, who combines "abstract" and "concrete" with attention to detail, bold color use, and strong design. In 1952 he was introduced at 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 ...

in a show of new artists. He lived for one year in Paris between 1954 and 1955 and gained a reputation there for his work. In 1955 he won the Corcoran Biennial first prize in Washington. In the mid to late 1950s, Hultberg, along with his colleague and friend Norman Carton, worked at an
regularly exhibited
at the

Martha Jackson Gallery Martha Jackson (; January 17, 1907 – July 4, 1969) was an American art dealer, gallery owner, and collector. Her New York City based Martha Jackson Gallery, founded in 1953, was groundbreaking in its representation of women and internatio ...

. His paintings were influenced by his time spent at Monhegan Island, and his career thrived after he moved to Portland. His work was shown in many galleries, including the

Anita Shapolsky Gallery The Anita Shapolsky Gallery is an art gallery that was founded in 1982 by Anita Shapolsky. It is currently located at 152 East 65th Street, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, in New York City. The gallery specializes in 1950s and 1960s abstract e ...

in New York City and the Albright Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, he gave lectures, and in 1985 he had an exhibition at the

Portland Museum of Art The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in the U.S. state of Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine. Hi ...

. A play that he wrote was produced the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

theatre department. He published the book ''Sole Witness'', ''Vagabondage, a Paris Odyssey (1953–1955)'', his poetry and other books. He taught art in Hawaii and the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. He was teaching at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at American Fine Arts Society, 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists ...

and was a full-time resident in New York by 1990. He taught until the week of his death at the Art Students League. His work was part of a group show at Aucocisco in Portland in February 2005, at which time he was living in New York City.

Legacy

Collections

His works are in the following collections: *

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: Locations Americas * The Solomon R. Guggenhei ...

, New York *

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York City, which has 20 of his works, all but one made in 1963. *

, MaineJohn Hultberg, ''Suspension 5''
Portland Museum of Art. Retrieved February 2, 2014. *

Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (SAMA) is an art museum with five locations in southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. It is headquartered at Saint Francis University in Loretto, where it was founded in 1976. Other locations were o ...

John Hultberg
Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. Retrieved February 2, 2014. *

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

John Hultberg biography.
London Group. Retrieved February 2, 2014.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hultberg, John 1922 births 2005 deaths Painters from New York (state) United States Navy personnel of World War II California State University, Fresno alumni Artists from Berkeley, California San Francisco Art Institute alumni Painters from California 20th-century American painters American male painters United States Navy officers Military personnel from California 20th-century American male artists