James Claussen is a contemporary American lithographer and abstract painter. His lithography is distinguished by the technique of drawing directly on the stone surface as a second drawing process. His paintings combine surrealism with abstraction.San Francisco Art Institute, James Claussen faculty profile, accessed January 25, 2019 https://www.sfai.edu/bios/james-claussen Academy of Art University, Board of Directors, Administrators and Faculty, accessed January 25, 2019 https://www.academyart.edu/wp-content/uploads/board-of-directors-administrators-faculty.pdf
Biography Born in Iowa City, Iowa, Claussen received a bachelor's in fine arts in painting and printmaking from the Kansas City Art Institute where he was a student of William Wind McKim who was a student of Thomas Hart Benton.About James Claussen, Web site of James Claussen, accessed January 6, 2020 http://www.jamesclaussen.com/about-james-claussen.html Claussen also holds a master's in fine arts in painting and printmaking from the University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design where he studied with Jacob Lawrence and Glen Alps. Lawrence was Claussen's graduate advisor. Claussen has lectured widely on lithography and is currently a professor at the San Francisco Art Institute and the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Claussen's lithographs appear as illustrations in books including The Sea Within Us by Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the California Society of Printmakers: One Hundred Years, 1913-2013 Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. The Sea is Within Us. Aletti Editore, February 14, 2013 http://www.jamesclaussen.com/publihed.htmlSnow, Maryly et al. California Society of Printmakers: One Hundred Years, 1913-2013, California Society of Printmakers, June 2, 2015. http://www.caprintmakers.org/california-society-of-printmakers-one-hundred-years-1913-2013-ebook-edition/ and on magazine covers including New Letters: A Magazine of Fine Writing.Ray, David (ed.) New Letters: a Magazine of Fine Writing. University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO, Fall, 1982, p. 34.http://www.newletters.org/magazine/volume-49-issue-1, accessed March 3, 2019. His work is included in collections of corporations and numerous museums globally.“Resolving Space – Lithographs by James Claussen: April 30, 2017 to July 9, 2017,” Web site of Peninsula Museum of Art, accessed March 3, 2019. https://peninsulamuseum.org/exhibits/resolving-space-lithographs-james-claussen These include the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Ackland Art Museum, the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, Pratt Institute, the University of Wisconsin Chazen Museum of Art, the deCordova Museum in Boston, and the National Museum of Fine Arts in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Victoria & Albert Museum web site, summary page of lithograph entitled It's Alive, accessed January 25, 2019. http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1154287/its-alive-print-claussen-james-e/The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, works of James Claussen-lithograph entitled Bristles, accessed January 25, 2019. https://art.nelson-atkins.org/people/2246/james-claussen/objectsThe University of Wisconsin Chazen Museum of Art, collections page of Revolution by James Claussen, accessed January 25, 2019. http://embarkkiosk.chazen.wisc.edu/Obj28684?sid=3527&x=82971 Claussen's shows have included 19 solo exhibitions and 76 group exhibitions.Collections and Exhibitions. Web site of James Claussen, accessed January 25, 2019 http://www.jamesclaussen.com/resume.html His solo exhibitions include shows at the Peninsula Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, Gary Francis Fine Art in Alameda, California, and the George Krevsky Gallery in San Francisco. Claussen's work is also displayed in the Oakes-Wood House in Iowa City which is the former home of lithographer and painter Grant Wood. Claussen is a former vice president of the California Society of Printmakers."2014 Board Members/Officers," The California Printmaker: The Journal of the California Society of Printmakers, 2015, p. 32
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Work The Seattle Times calls Claussen's lithographs “great precision of line and texturing and an imagery markedly different from the abstract images of most contemporary printmakers.” Tarzan, Deloris. “Visual Arts.” Seattle Times, May 29, 1977. http://www.jamesclaussen.com/article4.html According to the Kansas City Star, Claussen operates at “a high level of care and craft.” The Star describes Claussen's work as “gentle surrealism” which means “pictures formed of accumulated and disparate images that seem to float through a field of ether.” Hoffmann, Donald. “Anniversary Gifts Strengthen Museum.” Kansas City Star, October 10, 1982. http://www.jamesclaussen.com/article1.html New Letters: a Magazine of Fine Writing quotes Claussen as saying “as objective as the realism of drawn objects may seem, their meaning is ruled by the imaginative eye.” Ray, David (ed.). “James Claussen.” New Letters: a Magazine of Fine Writing. University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO, Fall, 1982, p. 34. http://www.newletters.org/magazine/volume-49-issue-1, accessed March 3, 2019. Claussen's lithographs have been reproduced in numerous media outlets including San Francisco magazine, San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, Iowa Press-Citizen, Saint Joseph Gazette and Artslant magazine.Farmer, Rob. “First Impressions,” San Francisco magazine, July, 1999. http://www.jamesclaussen.com/artices.html “Artist's Watercolors, Drawings, Lithographs on View at Museum,” St. Joseph Gazette, St. Joseph, Missouri, October 21, 1981. http://www.jamesclaussen.com/article3.html Croft, Karen. “Art Show Has Welcome Surprises,” San Jose Mercury News, February, 1986] http://www.jamesclaussen.com/articles1.html “James Claussen Exhibit Kicks Off Fall,” Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, August 29, 1999. http://www.jamesclaussen.com/articles.html
References
External links “Profile of James Claussen,” Artslant magazine, accessed January 25, 2019 James Claussen
James Claussen: Selected Artist, Prints: CA, LA and Beyond, Part 2, juried by Michelle Murillo, California Society of Printmakers, February 13 – 28th, 2015, accessed March 3, 2019. http://www.caprintmakers.org/prints-ca-la-and-beyond-part-ii-selected-artists-announcement/
Artist's Website James Claussen