Oliver Lee Jackson

Oliver Lee Jackson (born 1935)[1] is an American painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker whose studio is in Oakland, California.[2]

Oliver Lee Jackson
Born1935 (age 87–88)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Other namesOliver Jackson, Oliver L. Jackson
EducationIllinois Wesleyan University,
University of Iowa
Occupation(s)Painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker
Websitewww.oliverleejackson.com

Early life and education

He was born in 1935 in St. Louis, Missouri, into an African American family.[3] After graduating from Vashon High School, Jackson attended Illinois Wesleyan University (B.F.A. 1958).[3][4] He served in the United States Army and was honorably discharged in 1961.[4][5] He attended the University of Iowa (M.F.A. 1963).[3][4]

Teaching

In the 1960s, he taught art classes at St. Louis local universities and colleges and remained active in this local community.[6] He was Director of Program Uhuru at Pruitt & Igoe public housing in St. Louis in 1967 and ’68, a program to bring the low-income African American community a constructive means of developing dialogue through arts programs.

He taught at St. Louis Community College (1964 to 1967); Southern Illinois University (1967 to 1969); Washington University in St. Louis (1967 to 1969); and Oberlin College (1969 to 1970).[5] In 1971, he moved to California and joined the faculty at California State University, Sacramento, where he remained until 2002.[5]

Art career

Jackson was affiliated with the multidisciplinary arts collective Black Artists Group (BAG) in St. Louis through his close friendship with BAG co-founder Julius Hemphill, though he was not an official BAG member.[4] BAG was founded by musicians, theater artists, dancers and visual artists as a support structure for creative expression among African American artists, and in order to have a greater place in the cultural landscape.[6]

Jackson’s paintings are based in figural and gestural forms, and often expressionist in nature.[7][8] There are a mixture of cultural references and iconography in his paintings including references to historical African art and European Modernism.[9] Photographs of the Sharpeville massacre in March 1960 in South Africa became an inspiration for Jackson in the development of his figurative gestural forms, and resulted in his Sharpeville Series (1968–1977).[10][8]

Jackson’s works are in the museum collections of the Museum of Modern Art;[11] the Metropolitan Museum of Art;[12] the Studio Museum in Harlem;[13] the National Gallery of Art;[14] San Francisco Museum of Modern Art;[15] San Jose Museum of Art;[16] the Seattle Art Museum; and many other public collections.[5]

Exhibitions

Solo

Group

References
  1. Haddad, Natalie (2022-02-17). "The Figural Ghosts of Oliver Lee Jackson's Expressive Abstraction". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
  2. Bravo, Tony (November 19, 2021). "Oliver Lee Jackson: 'Any Eyes'". Datebook | San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide. Archived from the original on 2022-01-19. Retrieved 2023-05-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. Stella, Lizabel (8 December 2020). "Conserving Oliver Lee Jackson's "Untitled (Sharpeville Series)"". Blanton Museum of Art. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  4. Vaughn, Kenya (July 16, 2021). "'It's Meant to Move You'". St. Louis American. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  5. "Oliver Lee Jackson". Seattle Art Museum. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  6. Looker, Benjamin (2004). BAG: "Point from Which Creation Begins": The Black Artists' Group of St. Louis. Missouri History Museum. pp. 120–122. ISBN 978-1-883982-51-5.
  7. Matrix Berkeley, 1978-1998. University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. 1998. p. 66.
  8. Salzman, Jack; Smith, David L.; West, Cornel (1996). Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Macmillan Library Reference. p. 1417. ISBN 978-0-02-897345-6.
  9. King, Mary (8 April 1979). "Oliver Jackson at Bixby". Newspapers.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 81. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  10. Vaughn, Kenya (December 13, 2021). "Inspired by Africa". St. Louis American. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  11. "Oliver Jackson". The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  12. "Untitled No. 8, 1985". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  13. "Collection". The Studio Museum in Harlem. 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  14. "Oliver Lee Jackson". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  15. "Jackson, Oliver Lee". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  16. "Oliver Jackson". San José Museum of Art. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  17. Dalkey, Victoria (10 October 1993). "Oliver Jackson Relies on Drawings to Clarify His Vision". Newspapers.com. The Sacramento Bee. p. 177. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  18. Wickouski, Sheila (May 22, 2019). "Feel the energy of Oliver Lee Jackson's 'Recent Paintings' at National Gallery of Art". Fredericksburg.com. The Free Lance-Star. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  19. "Mills College Art Museum". 7x7 Bay Area. 2022-01-28. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  20. Johnson, Mark (September 11, 2013). "1976 and Its Legacy: Other Sources: An American Essay at San Francisco Art Institute". Art Practical.
  21. "'About Faces' Celebrates Portraiture, Preserve Interest in Ourselves". Newspapers.com. Oakland Tribune. 22 September 1987. p. 32 (C-3). Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  22. "Weekend Museums". Newspapers.com. The San Francisco Examiner. 5 August 1994. p. 63. Retrieved 2022-02-05.
  23. Keever, Erin (2020-12-24). "Best in Show: The Blanton Museum's 'Expanding Abstraction'". Sightlines. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
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