1985 William Douglas McGee Purple Heart Oil on Paper

Description

William Douglas McGee (1925-1999)
"Purple Heart" Memory of Bogel, World War II Anzio, 1985
Oil and watercolor on paper

William … more William Douglas McGee (1925-1999)
"Purple Heart" Memory of Bogel, World War II Anzio, 1985
Oil and watercolor on paper

William Douglas McGee was a prolific artist and teacher. His time at the historic Black Mountain College placed him in the center of the art world and drove his development as an accomplished artist. He is best identified by his early abstract oil paintings, mixed media collages, and large color field paintings that are exhibited in MOMA, Dallas Museum of Fine Art, Chicago Art Institute, and others museums.

While teaching at Brown, William began to shift his art from Black and White oils to an intense study of collages. The collages were fragments of painted paper, torn and repainted, often canvas and magazine reproductions were glued in and letters and were brought in for abstract purposes not for their original meaning. He was signed to the Grace Borgenicht Gallery where the collages were shown at several one man and group shows from 1956-1962.

In 1978 tragedy struck as Williams house burnt down destroying about 30% of his life's work. The tragedy brought an end to the Color Field period and William reverted back to collage period by making assemblages of cloth, paper, and metal from the wreckage. William remained a very active artist until his death in 1999. less