James Havard (1937 – December 15, 2020) was an American painter and sculptor. He was a pioneer of

abstract illusionism Abstract illusionism, a name coined by art historian and critic Barbara Rose in 1967. Louis K. Meisel independently coined the term to define an artistic movement that came into prominence in the United States during the mid-1970s. History The wo ...

in the 1970s. In the 1980s he changed his style into a form of

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 ...

influenced by Native American and tribal cultures as well as

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...

. Drawing inspiration from outsider and tribal art, Havard stands within a tradition that includes such notable artists as

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

Cy Twombly Edwin Parker "Cy" Twombly Jr. (; April 25, 1928July 5, 2011) was an American Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and photographer. He belonged to the generation of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. Twombly is said to have influenced you ...

Jean Dubuffet Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet (31 July 1901 – 12 May 1985) was a French Painting, painter and sculpture, sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so-called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what ...

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved fame as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, alongside Al ...

, and

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

Life and work

James Pinkney Havard was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1937. He received a bachelor of science degree in art from Sam Houston State College (now

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...

) in Huntsville, Texas, in 1959. From 1961 to 1965 he studied at

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he was influenced by realist painters Ben Kamihira and Hobson Pittman. His career can be divided into three broad periods: realism (1960s),

(1970s), and

with tribal and outsider influences (1980s and beyond). “His early work was . . . realistic and traditional, including landscapes, churches, and figuration much in the same styles as

Camille Corot Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875), or simply Camille Corot, is a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast o ...

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

, and

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

.” Beginning in 1967, he broke away from realism and went through a period of experimentation with various abstract and contemporary styles (e.g., monochromatic paintings). By the late 1970s Havard was considered one of the founders of abstract illusionism along with

Al Held Al Held (October 12, 1928 – July 27, 2005) was an American Abstract expressionist painter. He was particularly well known for his large scale Hard-edge paintings. As an artist, multiple stylistic changes occurred throughout his career, howe ...

Jack Lembeck John Edgar "Jack" Lembeck (born in 1942) is an American painter and sculptor known for his abstract illusionism paintings and installation art. Early life and education Lembeck was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He received a BFA from the Universi ...

, John Clem Clarke, George D. Green, and Tony King. His work during this period is characterized by pastel colors, “optical illusions and combinations of gesso wipes, chalk scrawls, incised lines, and squirts of paint directly from the tube.” In 1976, one art critic wrote of his paintings, "Though conceived to fool the eye, Havard's paintings are at once daring and subtle, complex in scheme and simplistic in symbolic reference." He moved to New York in 1977 and took frequent trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico, beginning in 1978. In New York, his color palette darkened and his works became richer in texture. He began including Native American images and Native American words (e.g., mimbres) inscribed in loose script as well as random numbers. During the 1980s Havard’s paintings began to include thicker layers of paint, more collage elements, and fewer squiggles of paint and optical illusions. He moved to Santa Fe in 1989 where he continued to develop his style, ultimately freeing himself from all references to abstract illusionism. His later paintings have fewer overt tribal references and are smaller in size than many of his earlier pieces. One critic accused Havard's paintings of "display ngthe female body with what comes off as a misogynistic vigor." Havard began to use an encaustic medium that allowed him to incise the surface of the painting which gave them a carved, luminous appearance. His palette varies from dark, rich, and contrasting colors to bright blues and reds. Rich textures and visually arresting but crudely rendered figures define his work. Many of his paintings seem visually dense. One collector of Havard's paintings remembered his initial uniformed response to them: "What a mixed up mess these are." In 2006 Havard suffered a stroke but continues to paint. This well-trained artist who for many years was inspired by outsider art has become an outsider himself in the sense that he now paints with the constraints of a physical handicap. Due to Havard's limited mobility, his most recent works are small in scale, but "are nonetheless extremely powerful, perhaps even more so because the reduced format concentrates them." Havard's work is in the permanent collection of many museums around the world, including the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

(New York),

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

(Washington, D.C.),

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), Museum of Modern Art (Stockholm, Sweden), Tucson Museum of Art (Arizona), and the Los Angeles County Museum (California).Sasse, ''James Havard'', 232. Havard has been married three times: Charlotte Liles (1958–61), Elizabeth Corson Beardsley (1965–74), and Catherine Bruni (1985–89). He has two children, Inga Renee Esterak Posey (b. 1960) and Houston James Havard (b. 1985), from his first and third marriages respectively. Havard died at home in December, 2020.

Selected bibliography

* Sasse, Julie. ''James Havard''. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2006. * McKanic, Arlene. “The Figure 2001,” ''Artnews'', March 2002. * Korotkin, Joyce. “James Havard,” ''The New York Art World'', April 2001. * Kolpas, Norman. "Expert Guidance," Southwest Art 29, no. 3 (Aug. 1999): 74-78. * Polsky, Richard. “Allan Stone Gallery,” ''Art Market Guide: Contemporary American Art'', 1998, 174. * Haggerty, Gerard. “James Havard,” ''Artnews'' (June 1997): 128. * Cavanaugh, Tony. “James Havard's powerful paint personages have real presence,” ''Artspeak'' March 1997. * Bell, J. Boyer. “Spring Group Exhibition,” ''Review Art'', June 1996, 31. * McCormack, Ed. “Four Diverse Talents and James Havard solo show at Allan Stone,” ''Artspeak'', Spring 1996, 4. * “James Havard,” ''Santa Fe Magazine'', October 1991. * Lipton, E.C. “Opposites in Art,” ''Artspeak'', March 16, 1990. * Ratcliff, Carter. “The Collectors: An American Palette,” ''Architectural Digest'', May 1986, 205.

References

External links

Bill Lowe GalleryVisual Art SourceWindsor Betts Art BrokerageMill Contemporary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Havard, James 1937 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists Sam Houston State University alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni People from Galveston, Texas 20th-century American male artists

Life and work

Selected bibliography

See also

References

External links