Black and Red Cliffs, Clouds by John C. Wylie
This is an oil on canvas by American modernist painter John C. Wylie. It is an abstracted landscape. The foreground has a large black space that could be interpreted as a rocky landscape. The midground is bluish-green and is ambiguous as it could be a field or water. This is framed on the right be what appear to be red cliffs. Above this occupying the upper two thirds of the painting is sky with lavender color and superimposed clouds. In addition, the artist adds two geometric shapes, a cube and a rectangle. I interpret this to be an abstracted rainbow as the colors of the rectangle range from red to yellow and those of the cube from green to violet--in other words, the ROY G BIV spectrum. This composition is very characteristic of his work. The work is framed and the framed size is noted. The painting itself is 18 3/16 x 12 3/16 inches. It is in excellent condition. It is signed and dated lower right, J. C. Wylie '72. There is no damage or paint loss. The colors are vivid. It was deaccessioned from a University Collection. A fine modern piece. See the other two pieces by the same artist.
John C. Wylie was born in 1918 in El Paso, Texas. He studied at the University of Minnesota, and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from New Mexico Highland University and a Master of Fine Arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art where he studied with Zoltan Sepechy. He also studied with Richard Neutra at the Art Institute of Chicago. He had extensive exhibits in 1940s and 50s primarily in the Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan) and in New Mexico. Most notably he had exhibitions at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) (1953), the Minneapolis Institute of Art (1952), the Detroit Museum of Fine Art (1947), and a solo exhibit at the University of New Mexico (1948). He received several awards for exhibited works including the Cranbrook Academy of Art (1949), the Museum of New Mexico (1946, 1951), and the Philbrook Art Center (1947, 1952). He taught at the Memphis Academy of Art from 1950-51; and the Minneapolis School from 1952-54. Wylie 'disappears' from the historical record in the mid-1950s. However, nearly 10 works by him dating from the 1970s (including this work) were discovered as part of a deaccessioning of large art holding of a Midwestern University suggesting a return to the upper Midwest. However, the subject matter does suggest the artist spent considerable time in the Southwest, particularly New Mexico.
Price: $400
Size: 18 3/16 x 12 3/16 inches
Framed Size: 22.25 x 16.25 inches
Condition: Excellent
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Subject: Modernism
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