1970 “Muse on Red” Mixed Media Portrait of a Woman American Modernist Jack Hooper

Jack Hooper
“Woman on Red”
1/2/1970
Gouache, ink and pencil on glossy, red paper
11″x8.5″ unframed
Signed and dated in ink lower right

In the year 1970, Jack Hooper’s artistic prowess shines through in a striking portrait of a woman. Using bold black marker strokes on glossy red paper, he masterfully captures the essence of his subject. The woman’s dark hair, painted with precision, cascades gracefully, while she dons a patterned sweater that reaches up to her neck. Hooper’s meticulous attention to detail is evident as he skillfully highlights the left side of her face with luminous white paint, creating a captivating interplay of light and shadow. This portrait exemplifies Jack Hooper’s ability to infuse depth and character into his art, leaving an indelible mark on the world of American 20th-century art.

Jack Meredith Hooper (August 26, 1928 – January 24, 2014) was an American painter, muralist, sculptor, printmaker and art educator. Hooper was a major figure on the Southern California art scene, belonging to that generation of Los Angeles painters who matured during the late 1950’s and the 1960’s, painters such as John Altoon, Sam Amato, Robert Irwin, Lee Mullican, William Brice and Billy Al Bengston. Recognized as gifted in art by family, he began art training in a Work Projects Administration (WPA) school at the age of twelve. Hooper served in the United States Army Air Corps at the end of WW II.

Education

1951 AA Los Angeles City College
1952 B.A., Painting, magna cum laude, Mexico City College
1952-53 Académie Julian, Académie de la Grande Chaumière
1956 graduate study in at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
1958 M.A., Painting West Coast Modernist School

Hooper knew many of the artists of the period, including Frida Kahlo who would become the subject of many of his portraits and studies over the coming decades.

Teaching/ Appointments
1956 teaching assistant; UCLA
1957 Associate in Art, Drawing & Painting; UCLA
1960 & 1962 Summer Visiting Professor of Art; University of Colorado, Boulder
1961 Assistant Professor of Art, UCLA
1962-1969 Assistant Professor of Art, Chairman of the Art Department, Director of Galleries; Mount St Mary’s College Los Angeles
1975-77 Visiting Professor of Art; University of California Santa Cruz, CA

Shows (partial list)
1965 “Three California Painters,” Long Beach Museum of Art, CA
1963 Oakland Museum of Art, CA
1965 “Three California Painters,” Long Beach Museum of Art, CA
1963 Oakland Museum of Art, CA
1962 “Fifty California Artists” Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Art with the Collaboration of the Los Angeles County Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
1961 “Arts of Southern California – VIII: Drawing,” Long Beach Museum of Art, CA. Traveled to: Everhart Museum of Art, Scranton, PA; Columbia Museum of Art, SC; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; Columbus Museum of Art & Crafts, GA; Eastern Illinois State College, Charleston, IL.; La Jolla Art Center, CA; Texas State College for Women, Denton, TX: University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
1961 Santa Monica Municipal Art Gallery, CA
1960 San Francisco Museum of Art, CA
1960 Seattle Art Museum, WA

Co-founded Aesthetic Research Center (A.R.C.) with architect, Frank Gehry