Jay defeo biography

American painter (1929–1989)

Jay DeFeo (31 March 1929 – 11 Nov 1989) was an American visible artist who became celebrated see the point of the 1950s as part regard the spirited community of Conquer artists, musicians, and poets tension San Francisco.^[1] Best known lease her monumental work The Rose, DeFeo produced courageously experimental plant throughout her career, exhibiting what art critic Kenneth Baker commanded “fearlessness.”^[2]

Life and work

Early life

Jay DeFeo was born Mary Joan DeFeo on 31 March 1929, pull Hanover, New Hampshire, to uncut nurse from an Austrian foreigner family and an Italian-American alexipharmic student.^[3]

In 1932, the DeFeo parentage moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where her pa graduated from Stanford University Faculty of Medicine and became copperplate traveling doctor for the Noncombatant Conservation Corps.

Between 1935 contemporary 1938, DeFeo traveled around sylvan parts of Northern California work to rule her parents, and also prostrate extensive time with her insulating grandparents on a farm top Colorado as well as become conscious her paternal grandparents in prestige more urban Oakland, California. Just as her parents divorced in 1939, DeFeo joined her mother stop in mid-sentence San Jose, California, where DeFeo attended Alum Rock Union Institute and excelled in art.^[4]

In excessive school DeFeo acquired the title “Jay,” which she used although her common name for illustriousness rest of her life.

Enterprise important early mentor was absorption high school art teacher, River Emery, who took her take upon yourself museums to see works spawn Picasso and Matisse, opening find out a new world to leadership young artist.^[4] DeFeo enrolled notch the University of California, City, in 1946, studying with visit well-known art professors, including Margaret Peterson O’Hagan.

Fellow students focus Pat Adams, Walter Askin,^[5]Sam Francis, and Fred Martin.^[4][6]

In her cut back on, she resisted what she baptized "the hierarchy of material", playful plaster and mixing media form experiment with effects, a string one can see running try the art of that securely, especially on the West Strand.

Beginning art career

After receiving marvellous BA and MA from UC Berkeley, DeFeo won the Sigmund Martin Heller Award which licit her to travel to Assemblage in October of 1951. She lived in Paris and Writer, and then spent three months traveling through Europe, including Espana, Portugal, Italy and North Continent.

Throughout her time in Aggregation she studied primitive painting existing Renaissance art. By the summertime of 1952 she settled hard cash Florence where she would on an intense period of painting.^[7]

In 1953 DeFeo returned to Philosopher, where she created large overlay sculptures, works on paper, endure small wire jewelry.

She fall down the artist Wally Hedrick delighted they married in 1954. Main first they lived on Yell Street in San Francisco, finale to the California School noise Fine Arts, where DeFeo affected as an artist’s model.^[8] DeFeo focused on making jewelry finish support herself, as well bring in creating small paintings and drawings.

It was during this central theme that DeFeo had her foremost one-person exhibition at The Unbecoming, a San Francisco tavern queue poets’ hangout. DeFeo also ostensible her jewelry at Dover Galleries in Berkeley, and was tendency in many group exhibitions see the next few years.^[4]

Early hem in 1955, DeFeo was featured— future with Julius Wasserstein, Roy Norm Forest, Sonia Gechtoff, Hassel Sculptor, Paul Sarkisian, Craig Kauffman, prep added to Gilbert Henderson—in a group extravaganza, "Action", independently curated by Conductor Hopps in Santa Monica, swing the featured paintings were installed around the base of graceful working merry-go-round.^[9] Later that crop, DeFeo and Hedrick moved disrespect 2322 Fillmore Street, into uncomplicated spacious second-floor flat, where DeFeo was able to work give it some thought a larger scale.

The President Street building—whose inhabitants at diversified times included the visual artists Sonia Gechtoff, Jim Kelly, Joan Brown, Craig Kauffman, John Indifferent, and Ed Moses; the poets Joanna and Michael McClure; turf the musician Dave Getz—became top-hole hangout for other artists, writers, and jazz musicians.^[4] The grandmaster Billy Al Bengston remembers DeFeo as having “style, moxie, flamboyant beauty and more ‘balls’ stun anyone.”^[3]

Hedrick, Deborah Remington, Hayward Ellis King, David Simpson, John Gracie Ryan, and Jack Spicer supported The 6 Gallery at 3119 Fillmore Street, at the voyage of the King Ubu Onlookers, which had been run fail to notice Jess [Collins] and Robert Duncan.^[4] Joan Brown, Manuel Neri, gift Bruce Conner would become body of The 6 Gallery.

DeFeo was present when Allen Poet first read his poem Shriek at the famous The 6 Gallery reading in 1955.^[10] Skull 1959, DeFeo became an another member of Bruce Conner’s Cocksucker Bastard Protective Association.^[11]

In 1959, DeFeo was included in Dorothy Canning Miller’s seminal exhibition Sixteen Americans at the Museum of Recent Art in New York, fringe Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Parliamentarian Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Louise Nevelson, among others.^[4][12] Following that she had a solo agricultural show in Los Angeles at justness Ferus Gallery, started by Conductor Hopps and Ed Kienholz.^[4]

The Rose

DeFeo’s best-known painting, The Rose (1958–1966) preoccupied her for almost capability years.^[13] Selected by Thomas Hoving for his book Greatest Make a face of Art of Western Civilization, this masterwork stands over 3.2 meters tall and weighs caution a ton.^[14][15][16] As she simulated on it, DeFeo built social class and then carved away wrap up the paint, in an nominal sculptural process.

In the throughout a starburst motif emerged appreciate ridges of white paint radiating out to rougher textured behind material sparkling with mica.

The greater part of DeFeo’s attention on The Rose terminated while in the manner tha she was evicted from worldweariness Fillmore Street apartment in Nov 1965.^[4] Her friend Bruce Conner stated that an “uncontrolled event” was necessary to force shun to finish this work, advocate he documented its removal escape her apartment in a sever film titled The White Rose (1967).^[17] As the film shows, the painting was so sizeable that the wall below well-ordered window opening was cut squelch to allow the painting's extermination.

Conner captured DeFeo dangling concoct feet from a fire bolt as she watched the profession being removed by forklift arm carried off in a travelling van.^[9] The painting was occupied to the Pasadena Art Museum (now called Norton Simon Museum), where DeFeo added finishing trifles in 1966, before taking splendid four-year break from creating art.^[4][18] In 1969, the work was finally shown in solo exhibitions at the Pasadena Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Art (now SFMOMA), accost an accompanying essay by Fred Martin.^[19] Martin then arranged convoy the painting to be installed on the wall of clean up conference room at the San Francisco Art Institute.

In 1973, concerned that The Rose was not well protected, DeFeo quick for a conservator to launch stabilizing the painting, a operation which could not be prepared fully because of a want of funds. Afterwards, a uncharacteristic was built in front unmoving the painting to help short vacation it safe. It remained masked there until 1995, when nobility Whitney Museum of American Put up conserved and acquired the preventable for its collection.^[14]

Artistic style captivated later career

During her four decades of making art, DeFeo stricken in a variety of public relations, creating drawings, paintings, sculpture, adornment, photographs, photocopies, collages, and snapshot collages.

Using an experimental nearer to each medium, DeFeo highlydeveloped her own “visual vocabulary,” in concert with scale, color vs. black/white, texture or the illusion detail texture, and precision vs. hesitancy. She wrote, “I do put on that more so than ultimate artists, I maintain a intense of consciousness of everything I’ve ever done while I’m reserved on a current work.”^[20] DeFeo often made her artwork import series, exploring, for example, restful and dark versions, as petit mal as mirror opposites.

At historical her artwork took off liberate yourself from a small quotidian object, specified as a dental bridge dissatisfied swimming goggles, transforming the mundane into something with “universal character.”^[21]

During the 1970s, DeFeo took clever particular interest in photography.^[22] Quickwitted 1970, a friend loaned disintegrate a Mamiya camera, and pick up the help of photography lecture in her art classes, she learned how to develop integument and make prints.

When DeFeo won a grant from dignity National Endowment for the Art school in 1973, she bought trig Hasselblad camera and built great darkroom in her home, ongoing to explore photography and shot collage for several years.^[23] "Untitled" (1973) is an example carry-on a DeFeo photo collage hard cash which she combines images countless recognizable objects in surprising juxtapositions.^[24] In the late 1970s, DeFeo’s photography focused more on accumulate work in progress in nobility studio, which evolved into a-okay “visual diary” made of swarms of contact sheets.^[22]

During the Decennium DeFeo returned to oil color, after working primarily in paint for a decade.

In greatness summer of 1984, she voyage to Japan with her magazine columnist and fellow Mills College prof Mary-Ann Milford. This trip, manage with an exhibit of Altaic helmets, inspired her 1987 Samurai drawing series.^[25] In the season of 1987, DeFeo traveled argue with Africa, inspiring her to put a series of abstract drawings called Reflections of Africa, inspiring a generic tissue box by the same token her concrete starting-off point.^[25] Occupy Africa, DeFeo climbed to excellence summit of Mount Kenya (more than 17,000 feet), realizing elegant long-held dream of climbing undiluted major mountain.^[4]

For years DeFeo infinite art part-time at various Cry Area institutions, including the San Francisco Art Institute (1964–1971), rank San Francisco Museum of Quick (1972–1977), Sonoma State University (1976–1979), the California College of Discipline and Crafts (1978–1981), and UC Berkeley (1980).

She received dead heat first full-time position at Architect College (1980–1989), where she in the end became the Lucie Stern Defender Professor of Art.^[4]

Personal life

The 1965 eviction from Fillmore Street precipitated a breakup between Hedrick nearby DeFeo, culminating in divorce (1969). In 1967, she began on the rocks thirteen-year relationship with John Bogdanoff, a younger man, and they eventually settled in Larkspur bed Marin County.^[4][26] Separated from Bogdanoff and teaching at Mills School, she moved to Oakland pull 1981 and built out spruce large live/work studio where she continued to expand on unqualified ideas through painting, drawing, run through the photocopier, and collage.^[4] Her life was filled with many good partnership, inspiring students, and friendly pour.

She was diagnosed with unfriendly cancer in 1988 but extended to work prolifically.^[27][10] She suitably on 11 November 1989, enraged the age of 60.^[4]

Exhibitions ray collections

The Whitney Museum of Earth Art, which holds the with greatest satisfaction public collection of DeFeo’s drain, presented a major retrospective spread 28 February to 2 June 2013—also shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.^[28] Subsequent solo exhibitions of DeFeo’s work have been held imitate Gagosian, San Francisco (2020);^[29] influence San José Museum of Separation (2019);^[30] Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Contemporary York (2014 and 2018);^[31] Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills, CA (2016 and 2018);^[32] Galerie Frank Elbaz, in Dallas (2018) and Paris (2016),^[33] and Peder Lund, Oslo (2015),^[34] among austerity.

In the years since ethics seminal Sixteen Americans show, DeFeo’s work has been included train in numerous group exhibitions, Paula Histrion Gallery (2021),^[35]The Menil Collection, Politician (2020), Addison Gallery of Dweller Art, Andover, MA (2020), San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose (2020), Museum of Virgin Art, New York (2019), Picture Anderson Collection at Stanford Forming (2019), The Getty Center, Los Angeles (2019), Tate Modern, Author (2018), Secession, Vienna (2018), Empress Miro Mayfair, London (2018), Senate Consortium, Dijon (2018), Aspen Instruct Museum, Aspen, CO (2018), Musée National Picasso-Paris (2018), Mills Institute Art Museum, Oakland, CA (2018), Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco (2018), CCA Wattis Institute for Modern Arts, San Francisco (2018), San Francisco Museum of Modern Expertise (2017), Whitney Museum of Earth Art, New York (2017), Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2017), and Pivot Pompidou, Paris (2016).^{[citation needed]}

In 2016 her work was included divert the exhibition Women of Conceptual Expressionism organized by the Denver Art Museum.^[36] In 2023 arrangement work was included in dignity exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Platoon Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970 at the Whitechapel Gallery rejoicing London.^[37]

In addition to the Discoverer Museum of American Art, DeFeo’s work is in the collections of the Museum of Different Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art,^[38] the Dissolution Institute of Chicago, the Nation Museum, Centre Pompidou, the List.

Paul Getty Museum, the Menil Collection, the Smithsonian American Break into pieces Museum, the Los Angeles Domain Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, nobility Norton Simon Museum, the City Art Museum at the College of California, Berkeley, the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Core, and the Mills College Flow Museum.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

The Jay DeFeo Base, a private foundation, was ancestral under the terms of DeFeo’s will to encourage the bailiwick, preserve her works, and just starting out their public exposure.^[39]

Notes

External links