James Jarvaise


James Jarvaise was an American painter based in Southern California.

Background

Jarvaise was born in New York City, but later lived in Chicago, Pittsburgh, and eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1946. He was educated at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, PA; Ecole Dart/ Biarritz, France with Fernand Léger; earned a B.F.A. from the University of Southern California in 1952; studied at Yale in 1953; and earned an M.F.A. in 1954 from the University of Southern California. Jarvaise relocated to Santa Barbara in 1969 and, from 1991 forward, served as Head of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Oxnard College. Here, he influenced a new generation of painters, including Henry Taylor.

Art career

In 1958 Museum of Modern Art curator Dorothy Canning Miller selected James Jarvaise for inclusion in the museum's Sixteen Americans exhibition, with the potential to launch his career to great heights. However, life got in the way. A teaching job, a growing family and a desire for a less urban lifestyle took priority. Jarvaise did not become a household name. All the same he continued with his art.
In 2012, Louis Stern Fine Arts set out to remedy Jarvaise's obscurity with their "James Jarvaise And The Hudson River Series" exhibition.
His most recent exhibition, "James Jarvaise: Collages Redux" at Louis Stern Fine Arts featured a selection of his latest work from 1989-2013. The show earned him a positive review on KCRW ArtTalk by Hunter Drohojowska-Philp. The review praises the work for being the most youthful art on exhibit in April 2015. James Jarvaise was 91 and energetically attended the opening.
His paintings and collages can be found at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and the MoMA in New York.

Personal life

Jarvaise had five children.

Shows

Solo exhibitions