Jack Wilkinson

Jack Wilkinson

Wilkinson, Jack

Berkeley 1913

Oregon

painter

draftsman

printmaker

Northwest artist

Oregon artist

Jack Wilkinson was a philosopher, teaching innovator, and an artist of international repute. Born in California, he completed undergraduate courses at the University of Oregon in Eugene before continuing at the California School of Fine Arts. He traveled to Paris to study with Fernand Léger and others. After joining the faculty at the University of Oregon in 1941, he established one of the first basic design courses in an American university. He was a legendary teacher, famous for lectures lasting longer than four hours. One student, Otto Fried, remembered, "Since he was a man interested in all subjects, we had discussions in the fields of philosophy, psychology, mathematics, design, and of course, aesthetics. One class started at 9:00 a.m. and continued until 8:00 at night, ten students started out, locations changed, and Jack was still talking and illuminating. The group narrowed to three and then two, with Jack still talking." He taught people to look for the underlying principle and basic factors in experience and to think imaginatively. He brought Buckminster Fuller to the University of Oregon campus in 1951, and helped start the Artist in Public Schools program. He encouraged mural painting and completed a large one on campus at the entrance to Lawrence Hall. He also completed murals in Burns, Oregon in the Federal Building in 1941 and in the Lane County Courthouse in Eugene.

Wilkinson participated in exhibitions worldwide. He had one person shows at the California School of Fine Arts in 1939, the Portland Art Museum in 1954, and the University of Oregon in 1959. His many group shows included the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 1951. Stylistically he began with an analytical approach to landscape but by the 1950s his work became more abstract and figurative. In the 1960s he returned to landscapes and studies of the nude figure. Wilkinson's work captured a spirit of spontaneity. He preferred a cool palette with blue dominating. In 1968 he moved to Louisiana to head the Department of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University which presented a retrospective of his work in January of 1975.

Artist biography reproduced with permission from the authors, Oregon Painters: the First Hundred Years (1859-1959), Ginny Allen and Jody Klevit.

Male

Teacher of: Otto Fried (American, born Germany, 1922-2020)

Teacher of: LaVerne Erickson Krause (American, 1924-1987)

Teacher of: Vernon Witham (American, born 1925)