James Doolin
Encyclopedia
James Doolin was an American painter best known for his saturated photo-realism depicting Southern California urbanscapes. Los Angeles artist and writer Doug Harvey notes that his paintings allow us "to see the places we overlook every day and to recognize that, in spite of its ominous industrial overtones, the city is shot through with a luminous, electric vitality and a psychological potency verging on the mythic."
His father, a successful insurance salesman, wanted the artist to follow him in a business career, but in 1950, Doolin applied to the University of Vermont
with the intention of pursuing a liberal arts education. However, a teacher encouraged him apply to Philadelphia's University of the Arts
and he was awarded a full scholarship. The University of the Arts
"provided him with a strong foundation and a new attitude about the value of art." and he credits the school with fostering his individual style.
In 1954, stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Doolin enjoyed his first taste of Europe. This included visits to Munich's Haus der Kunst
and Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Discharged from the army in 1957, Doolin moved to New York and worked as a freelance commercial artist in advertising for the next four years, creating art in his limited spare time.
Despite the cultural stimulation New York offered, Doolin was unsatisfied professionally and artistically, and worked overtime in order to save money for an extended trip to Europe in 1961. Doolin subsequently embarked on what might best be described as a cultural pilgrimage through the major art and historical centers of Europe. The artist was particularly influenced by works of Dutch and Italian Renaissance masters and contemporary abstract artists.
Re-energized, Doolin settled into a rented a house on the island of Rhodes and painted, inspired by the mosaics he viewed throughout southern Europe, and most notably, Ravenna, Italy. His work during this period featured jewel-like patterns and bright colors. Both the "frontal structure" and "flattened space" of these smaller paintings would become an enduring influence in his later work. While in Greece, Doolin met and later married Leslie Edwards, a young Australian woman. The artist, returning to New York stimulated by his marriage and extended stay in Europe, was now "fiercely determined to be a painter."
Throughout his career, Doolin struggled against "the L.A. art establishment's prejudice against pictorialism and regionalism," but he eventually earned the respect of critics, collectors and fellow artists. After his masterful, luminescent painting Psychic headlined the traveling exhibition "Representing L.A.," (200-2002) and the San Jose Museum of Art in 2001 held a retrospective of his work, his reputation as a major Los Angeles artist was solidified.
Background
Doolin was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and moved with his parents and brother to the suburbs of Philadelphia when the artist was seven. The New England landscapes he encountered summering in Vermont would later prove influential in his work. During his primary school years, as the U.S. engaged in World War II, he became fixated with images of military hardware and battle scenes. As young as ten years old, "Doolin worked through foreshortening issues" [with wing positions in aerial dogfight drawings] and "mastered the principles of perspective." Complex perspective would become a dominant motif throughout his career.His father, a successful insurance salesman, wanted the artist to follow him in a business career, but in 1950, Doolin applied to the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
with the intention of pursuing a liberal arts education. However, a teacher encouraged him apply to Philadelphia's University of the Arts
University of the Arts
University of the Arts or University of Arts may refer to:*University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States*University of the Arts London in London, England, United KingdomGermany...
and he was awarded a full scholarship. The University of the Arts
University of the Arts
University of the Arts or University of Arts may refer to:*University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States*University of the Arts London in London, England, United KingdomGermany...
"provided him with a strong foundation and a new attitude about the value of art." and he credits the school with fostering his individual style.
Travel
The wide open spaces and vast scale Doolin encountered on a cross-country trip to the Rocky Mountains in his late teens opened the artist to new possibilities and experiences, and sparked three successive summers of hitchhiking excursions to Chicago and California. The latter two trips enabled him to assimilate both the natural beauty of Yosemite and the invigorating and sometimes gritty cityscapes of San Francisco.In 1954, stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, Doolin enjoyed his first taste of Europe. This included visits to Munich's Haus der Kunst
Haus der Kunst
The Haus der Kunst is an art museum in Munich, Germany. It is located at Prinzregentenstrasse 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich's largest park.-History:...
and Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Discharged from the army in 1957, Doolin moved to New York and worked as a freelance commercial artist in advertising for the next four years, creating art in his limited spare time.
Despite the cultural stimulation New York offered, Doolin was unsatisfied professionally and artistically, and worked overtime in order to save money for an extended trip to Europe in 1961. Doolin subsequently embarked on what might best be described as a cultural pilgrimage through the major art and historical centers of Europe. The artist was particularly influenced by works of Dutch and Italian Renaissance masters and contemporary abstract artists.
Re-energized, Doolin settled into a rented a house on the island of Rhodes and painted, inspired by the mosaics he viewed throughout southern Europe, and most notably, Ravenna, Italy. His work during this period featured jewel-like patterns and bright colors. Both the "frontal structure" and "flattened space" of these smaller paintings would become an enduring influence in his later work. While in Greece, Doolin met and later married Leslie Edwards, a young Australian woman. The artist, returning to New York stimulated by his marriage and extended stay in Europe, was now "fiercely determined to be a painter."
Artificial Landscapes
Back in New York, new styles had emerged during his time away from the city, and "Pop Art and Hard-Edge Painting now commanded the spotlight." Doolin returned to commercial art, but set aside time to paint. Inspired by Al Held and other Hard-Edge painters, he began working on a series of "Geometric abstract paintings that would become known as Artificial Landscapes." These landscapes dealt with man-made as opposed to natural environments, and "related directly to the streetscapes of his New York neighborhood - road signs, building walls, darkened doorways, and billboards from the semi-industrial area close to the docks." These works were "often divided horizontally and compartmentalized into blocks of geometric patterns to reflect the flat, bold forms within the urban landscape." The artist achieved a heightened sense of artificiality using "harsh, inorganic colors absent from nature."Western Landscapes
In the early '70s, Doolin spent four years on a major work titled Shopping Mall -- a large-scale, detailed aerial view of the intersection of Arizona Avenue and Third Street in Santa Monica -- which established his reputation as an important contemporary interpreter of the Western landscape. After a fertile exile to the Mojave Desert, he returned to the urban environment of L.A., and in the '90s began documenting it with a complex ambivalence and virtuosic formal sensibility that teetered between allegorical and deadpan realism. In his vertiginous depictions of negative social spaces -- bus stops, empty billboards, the dry trough of the L.A. River, the concrete islands between freeway onramps -- he managed an unlikely marriage between the lurid sublimity of California landscape tradition and the postindustrial apocalyptic melancholy of J.G. Ballard. The suspicion of easy cynicism was belied by the meticulous craftsmanship of the work -- Doolin's compositions, and his subtle but consummate depiction of light, were seldom short of breathtaking.Collections, Awards & Reputation
Doolin's work is "represented in many public and corporate collections and is reproduced in numerous books on America." He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and three NEA Grants.Throughout his career, Doolin struggled against "the L.A. art establishment's prejudice against pictorialism and regionalism," but he eventually earned the respect of critics, collectors and fellow artists. After his masterful, luminescent painting Psychic headlined the traveling exhibition "Representing L.A.," (200-2002) and the San Jose Museum of Art in 2001 held a retrospective of his work, his reputation as a major Los Angeles artist was solidified.