Frederic James (1915-1985) was born in Kansas City, Missouri and was originally an architect. He gave up architecture and dedicated his life to painting, but soon his career was interrupted by World War II. After he returned he continued with his art and teaching career at the Art Institute. Through his career, James completed, "Night Tower," which is an image of oil drilling. This image depicts several oil workers drilling through the night at an industrial oil facility. This image shows great contrast of light and dark. James executed the industrial structure very well as the spotlights bounce off the metal structure. His architectural influence shows through in this structure as well. One really gets the feel that this is at night. He also portrayed the strain in the worked very well. The stretching and wrinkles of the clothing emphasize the hard work that they are doing. The casting of all the shadows is very realistic and gives this a photo realistic quality. James had quite a talent for painting and printmaking as this lithograph shows. His switch from architecture proved to be a prosperous one.
No comments:
Post a Comment