The Big Picture: A Look at the Life and Art of Harry Jackson will be on display at the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyoming through August 10th, 2014. The show has been curated by Eric Wimmer, who describes his first visit to Harry Jackson Studios in early 2013:
“I entered the main gallery and stood there staring, motionless, speechless. It was as though I had stepped into the missing gallery of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were large Abstract Expressionist and Color Field paintings reminiscent of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Helen Frankenthaler. There was Fauvist work that would have made Matisse proud, Cubist oil paintings that evoke Picasso and Braque and Regionalist style portraits of the working class. I discovered even more surprises such as large compositions of Spanish dancers that could have been painted by Manet himself. Scattered throughout this vast collection were these incredible bronze sculptures as well, depicting everything from cowboys and Native Americans to Mexican death dancers and medicine men.”
Using a select group of works by artist Harry Jackson, Wimmer was able to create a retrospective exhibit, as well as a bit of an art history lesson. The exhibit’s variety of styles and subject matters will excite an array of art enthusiasts, and perhaps connect the less art-centric through the curious life story of Harry Jackson who worked alongside Thomas Hart Benton and Jackson Pollock, developed friendships with John Wayne and President Ronald Reagan, and called Wyoming the home.
Friday, June 6 (6-8pm) will be a reception and gallery talk for this exhibit at the Nicolaysen Art Museum. All are welcome to join in the event!