LEE MULLICAN (American, 1919-1998). Venice, 1971. Acrylic on canvas. Inscribed verso: Lee Mullican 1971 / VENICE. 50...

Description

LEE MULLICAN (American, 1919-1998)
Venice, 1971
Acrylic on canvas
Inscribed verso: Lee Mullican 1971 / VENICE
50-1/2 x 76-1/2 inches (128.3 x 194.3 cm)


More Information:

Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma in 1919, Lee Mullican was to become one of the key members in the abstract school that developed in the Western United States. 

It was his training at topological school for the US Army Corps of Engineers using aerial photography and mapping techniques that proved to be one of the major influences in his later art.  The other, a magazine published by artist Wolfgang Paalen called DYN which focused on the relationships among art, science, and imagination; surrealism and Native North and South American art.  After his discharge from the army in 1947, he moved to San Francisco where he met British surrealist Gordon Onslow Ford and was then introduced to Wolfgang Paalen.  In 1951 the three collaborated on an exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art called Dynaton, which included their work plus the Native American works that influenced them. 

His work was set apart from the New York school of abstraction by primitive imagery, his use of texture - ridges of paint on the canvas, and his use of tertiary colors instead of primary or even secondary colors.

In 1952 Mullican moved to Santa Monica where he began teaching.  Eventually he taught at UCLA and became an integral part of the art community in Los Angeles until his death in 1998.

He has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions including the recent "Lee Mullican: An Abundant Harvest of Sun", curated by Carol S. Eliel at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2005-2006.   His work is found in many public collections at home and abroad, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York and Paris, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Art.

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