Ben Culwell - Abstract Expressionism Artworks

 

 Ben Culwell  (1918— 1992)
"It is for the important average that I want to speak, the rank and file. The general nature of the use I try to make of the art of painting is, I hope, apparent: that is, to express the sum of relationships which is a total human being. With art, as with atomic physics, the big problem in the world today is to bring the human being abreast of the techniques and the inventions of his material culture—to achieve an adequate modern spiritual integrity."-- Ben Culwell,
A San Antonio native, Culwell was reared in Houston and graduated from high school in Dallas.  After declining a scholarship offered by the Dallas Art Institute, he studied two years at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and in 1936 Columbia University, where his instructors included Walter Pach.  In 1937 Culwell returned to Dallas and worked for an insurance company.  He began to exhibit his works and taught at the Texas State College for Women, Denton (1940-41)until he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in October 1941.
War with Japan began while Culwell was on a transport bound for Pearl Harbor.  Beginning in January 1942, he served in the Pacific on the heavy cruiser USS Pensacola, primarily as a captain's yeoman, receiving three campaign ribbons and thirteen battle stars.  During the 1942 Battle of Tassafarongo off Guadalcanal, the Pensacola was hit by a torpedo, resulting in an explosion that killed or wounded 1,300 of the crew.  After a year of repairs, the cruiser returned to the South Pacific war with Culwell aboard.  In 1944 he left the Pensacola for reserve midshipman training at Cornell University, from which he was commissioned ensign.  He also attended Colgate University.
After the war, Culwell settled in Dallas and pursued concurrent careers as a painter and successful businessman in insurance.  His business took him to San Antonio in 1950 to open a new office.  He Returned to Dallas in 1954.  In 1961 he moved to Temple, where he became president of American Desk Manufacturing Company, retiring in 1974 to paint full time.  Culwell died in a Marlin hospital and was buried in Temple.

 

Kathleen Gemberling Adkison - Abstract Expressionism Art

 

Kathleen Gemberling Adkison (July 5, 1917 - 2010), was an American abstract painter.

Like Jackson Pollock, Adkison worked with her canvas on the floor. She is recognized as among the first female to do so. However, her focus is based on the natural beauty of rocks, trees, tall grasses and other images she perceived from her hikes with her husband.

Adkison was a critically acclaimed artist and highly recognized for her work. She was among only eight women included in Northwest Art Today at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. She died in August 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stu Sutcliffe - Abstract Painting

 

 Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe ( 1940 – 1962), known as Stu Sutcliffe, was a Scottish painter and musician better known as the original bass guitarist of the English rock band the Beatles. Sutcliffe left the band to pursue his career as a painter, having previously attended the Liverpool College of Art. Sutcliffe and John Lennon are credited with inventing the name "Beetles", as they both liked Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets. They also had a fascination of group names with double meanings (as Crickets, for example, the word refers to both an insect as well as a sport), so John then came up with "The Beatles", from the word beat (though John's original spelling of the pun was "Beatals"). As a member of the group when it was a five-piece band, Sutcliffe is one of several people sometimes referred to as the "Fifth Beatle".When he performed with the Beatles in Hamburg, he met photographer Astrid Kirchherr, to whom he was later engaged. After leaving the Beatles, he enrolled in the Hamburg College of Art, studying under future pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi, who later wrote a report stating that Sutcliffe was one of his best students.Sutcliffe earned other praise for his paintings, which mostly explored a style related to abstract expressionism.
While studying in Germany, Sutcliffe began suffering from intense headaches and experiencing acute light sensitivity. In February 1962, he collapsed in the middle of an art class after complaining of head pains. German doctors performed tests, but were unable to determine the exact cause of his headaches. After collapsing again on 10 April 1962, he was taken to the hospital, but died in the ambulance on the way there. The cause of death was later found to have been a brain haemorrhage – severe bleeding in the right ventricle of his brain. Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dimitri Hadzi - American Abstract Sculptore

Dimitri Hadzi (1921 – 2006) was an American abstract sculptor who lived and worked in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and also taught at Harvard University for over a decade.Hadzi was born to Greek-American immigrant parents in Greenwich Village, New York City on March 21, 1921. As a child, he attended a Greek after-school program, where he learned language, mythology, history, and theater. He also won a prize for drawing. After graduating from Brooklyn Technical High School, he worked as a chemist, while continuing his studies in chemistry by night.In 1942, he signed up for the Army Air Force, serving in the South Pacific region while continuing to draw in his spare time. After his service, he returned to New York to study painting and sculpture at Cooper Union.Hadzi taught studio arts at Harvard University, from 1975 to 1989.Wikipedia