Lee Mullican
Lee Mullican (December 2, 1919 – July 8, 1998) was an American painter, curator, and art teacher.[1][2] He was an influential member of the Dynaton Movement.[3][4]
Lee Mullican | |
|---|---|
 Lee Mullican (1970) in his Santa Monica residence | |
| Born | December 2, 1919 Chickasha, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | July 7, 1998 Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Abilene Christian University, Kansas City Art Institute, University of Oklahoma |
| Known for | Painting, drawings |
| Movement | Dynaton, Surrealism |
| Spouse | Luchita Hurtado |
| Children | 2, including Matt Mullican |
Early life and education
Lee Mullican was born on December 2, 1919, in Chickasha, Oklahoma.[1] He studied at the Abilene Christian University in Texas, the University of Oklahoma, and the Kansas City Art Institute.[1]
During World War II, he was in the United States Army and served in Hawaii.[1]
Career and late life
He moved to San Francisco after the war in 1947.[1] Mullican was part of a 1951 exhibition called "Dynaton" held at the San Francisco Museum of Art.[5] Mullican was a member of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture faculty from 1962 to 1990.[6]
His paintings were abstract and have a "rigid" and "linear" quality to them.[7] He applied paint with a printer's knife.[7] Mullicans work was influenced by cosmology, which is also a trait found in other Dynaton artists work.[8]
Mullican married artist Luchita Hurtado and they had two sons.[9] Their son Matt Mullican is an artist; and their son John Mullican is a writer and director.[9] He died on July 8, 1998, in Santa Monica, California.[1] In 2008, his son John Mullican released the documentary film, Finding Lee Mullican.[10][11]
References
- Oliver, Myrna (1998-07-08). "Lee Mullican; Influential Surrealist Artist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
- "Review: Lee Mullican's colors crackle with energy". Los Angeles Times. 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
- Kimball Whiting. "Lee Mullican (1919-1998)". sullivangoss.com. Retrieved 2011-06-09..
- Whiting, Sam (January 21, 2021). "Gertrud Parker, artist and founder of Museum of Craft and Folk Art, dead at 96". Datebook | San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
- "Art and soul : Internationally known Taos artist Lee Mullican dies". Taos News. July 16, 1998.
- "UCLA Obituary: Lee Mullican". Retrieved 2011-06-09.
- Yau, John (2016-06-12). "Restless and Rigid". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
- Schwendener, Martha (2015-07-16). "Review: 'All Watched Over' Contemplates Art's Relationship to Technology". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
- Rea, Naomi (2020-08-14). "'Her Legacy Has Only Just Begun': Luchita Hurtado, the Protean Artist Who Gained Renown in Her Final Decade, Has Died at 99". Artnet News. Retrieved 2022-01-19.
- Heffley, Lynne (2005-11-13). "The Patron of Their Arts". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
- "Remembering Luchita Hurtado, painter, eco-warrior and witness to a century of art". The Art Newspaper. 2020-09-04. Retrieved 2022-01-20.
Further reading
- Eliel, Carol S., Lee Mullican, Amy Gerstler, and Lari Pittman. Lee Mullican an abundant harvest of sun (Los Angeles County Museum of Art: Los Angeles, 2005) ISBN 978-0-87587-194-3
- McCollum, Allan,"The Drawing Appears," in Lee Mullican: Selected Drawings, 1945-1980. University of California, Los Angeles (1999).
- Lee Mullican, "Selected Works," published by Galerie Schreiner, 1980
External links
- Oral history interview with Lee Mullican, 1992 May 22-1993 Mar. 4, from Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
- Interview of Lee Mullican, part of Los Angeles Art Community - Group Portrait interview series, Center for Oral History Research, UCLA Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.