Tuesday, February 9, 2021 – ABSTRACT ART IN MANY FORMS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2021
The
282nd Edition
From Our Archives
JOHN HULTBERG
CALIFORNIA
NEW YORK ARTIST
AT THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
John Hultberg, Monhegan Dock, 1961, oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.42
John Hultberg studied at the Art Students League with artists Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. In 1952 his work was included in an exhibition of emerging artists, and two years later he won first prize at the Corcoran Gallery of Art Biennial. In 1955, Time magazine declared him the “latest darling of modern art.” (Jacks, John Hultberg: Painter of the In-Between, 1985) Hultberg exhibited his work all over the world, published many poems, and taught in art schools across the country. His paintings often show surreal landscapes of indistinct objects that evoke stormy wastelands or long-forgotten ruins.
John Hultberg, Road through the Labyrinth, 1979, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.35
John Hultberg, Desecration of the House, 1977, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.37
- John Hultberg, Sculptor’s Garden, 1968, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.46
- John Hultberg’s paintings of imaginary environments often show strange groups of art objects and old artifacts. In Sculptor’s Garden, he included paintings, easels, and other tools to suggest artists working out-of-doors. But there are no people in the image and the works on the easels appear unfinished, as if whoever was working here had to leave suddenly; the threatening clouds and desolate landscape in the distance emphasize this sense of abandonment. Hultberg wanted to infuse his landscapes with uncertainty and ambiguity, and once wrote that “I rejoice that I find in painting a way to create my own earth.” (Jacks, John Hultberg: Painter of the In-Between, 1985)
John Hultberg, Blue Black Destruction, 1958, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.55
John Hultberg, Machine Shop Showing Gantry Cranes Newport News Shipyard, 1957, gouache, charcoal, pencil and crayon on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.59
John Hultberg, New City, 1957, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.58
John Hultberg, After De Chirico, 1953, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.57
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Judith Berdy
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