JAMES HOWELL
James Howell was born in Kansas City, MO (1935 – 2014). His interest in art began early as he attended the Nelson Atkins Art Institute in elementary school. He graduated from Stanford University in 1957 with a BA in English Literature and again in 1961 with a B.Arch. This same year, he received the Stanford University’s Humanities Prize for the Arts and earned his pilot’s license at the Northrop Aviation in California.
By 1962, he decided to pursue his artistic practice. Fairfield Porter encouraged him to work with acrylics, a new medium at the time. By 1968, Howell was primarily creating abstract paintings and was exhibiting regularly.
In 1983 he created an award-winning studio on San Juan Island, WA. He was surrounded by nuanced, infinitely shifting tones of gray sky, water, and light that undoubtedly influenced his artistic production. During these years of self-imposed retreat, his palette became neutral and his work lost all of its contrast. After moving to New York in 1992, Howell worked with the architect Deborah Berke to create his living and work space in the West Village. The studio won the American Institute of Architects New York Design Award in 1997.
By the 90s, Howell had arrived at his signature “light into shadow” paintings. This led the artist to his “Series 10” in 1996, which would occupy him for the rest of his life. This series culminated his lifelong fascination with mathematics, physics, and Eastern philosophy. He pursued the subtleties of gray through beautifully executed drawings and paintings as he searched for the answer to his question: “What constitutes painting?”
His work has been collected in public and private collections internationally. Howell’s thorough records of his process are being transcribed digitally for The James Howell Foundation Archives, which will be available to scholars by appointment.
The James Howell Foundation is represented by Bartha Contemporary (London) and Galerie Bigaignon (Paris).
Niklas von Bartha, niklas@barthacontemporary.com
Thierry Bigaignon, thierry@bigaignon.com