As we work through the artists that exhibited their works at Lehigh University Art Galleries under Francis Quirk's aegis, we will today highlight James Penney who taught in the Hamilton College Art Department from 1948 until his retirement in 1976.
A native of Saint Joseph, Missouri, James Penney came to New York in 1931 after graduating from the University of Kansas. At the Art Students League he studied with George Grosz, John Sloan, Thomas Hart Benton and the printmaker Charles Locke.
In our research, we checked out the oral history interview kept at the Archives of American Art and learned that Penney's first mural commission at Queens, New York's Flushing High School was through the WPA. Photos are below and textual descriptions can be found here.
In our research, we checked out the oral history interview kept at the Archives of American Art and learned that Penney's first mural commission at Queens, New York's Flushing High School was through the WPA. Photos are below and textual descriptions can be found here.
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| WPA sponsored Mural Panel in Flushing High School by James Penney |
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| WPA sponsored Mural Panel in Flushing High School by James Penney |
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| WPA sponsored Mural Panel in Flushing High School by James Penney |
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| WPA sponsored Mural Panel in Flushing High School by James Penney |
First recognized as a major American artist during his years as a muralist with the WPA Arts Project. He made the mural the Memories of Marion Country for the Palmyra Post Office, and Aspects of Rural Missouri for the Union Post Office – both in Missouri.
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| Memories of Marion County by James Penney Palmyra, Missouri Post Office |
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| Close up of "Memories of Marion County" by James Penney Palmyra, Missouri Post Office |
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| Close up of "Memories of Marion County" by James Penney Palmyra, Missouri Post Office |
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| Aspects of Rural Missouri By James Penney |
The realist style of the 1930s and early 1940s eventually gave way to a freer, more expressionistic handling of both oil and watercolor. Penney went on to teach at Hunter College, Bennington College, and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute and Hamilton College.
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| Studio West 58th Street by James Penney |
Penney went on to win several national competitions, including the commission in 1963 to paint the murals in the vestibule of the Nebraska State Capitol at Lincoln. (Note that some biographies give him credit for murals in the rotunda, which does not appear to be accurate.) We reproduce two of them below. First Furrow is particularly striking in that it captures the effort to break the sod of the Nebraskan plains. One can feel the oxen straining and hear the creaking of the plow with the driver struggling to retain his balance as he guides it through the sod. The second provides a classic American scene of people coming together to frame a house.
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| First Furrow by James Penney Nebraska State Capitol |
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| Raising the House by James Penney Nebraska State Capitol |
An archive of Penney's New Yorker cover drawings, mural studies, and prints, is in the New York Historical Society (the lithograph Subway was in their exhibition Impressions of New York, 2005). There are Penney lithographs in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress.
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| Subway Interior by James Penney |
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| "Girders and Lights" Etching by James Penney |
Like Quirk, Penney would master realism and establish himself as a beloved figure in academia. Penney differed in that he took his art in different directions including city life, prints, abstract, recycled objects.
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| "Edge of a Field' by James Penney |
In 1955 the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum of Art had a retrospective of his work referring to him as a member of the Ashcan School. You can see/buy the catalog here on Etsy. He also has works in the Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
We also note that Penney definitely held strong opinions as this painting executed during the depression makes a strong point.
We also note that Penney definitely held strong opinions as this painting executed during the depression makes a strong point.
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| "Thoughts of Capitalism by a Missourian in the Depression" by James Penney |
Very interesting time line of the life and works of James Penney.
ReplyDeleteWe are very fortunate here at Mid-America Fine Arts to have 31 Penney oils and watercolors available including the original oil shown above called "Thoughts of Capitalism by a Missourian in the Depression".