Oral Histories

Interview of John McLaughlin

Artist.
Subtitle:
Los Angeles Art Community: Group Portrait, John McLaughlin
Series:
Los Angeles Art Community - Group Portrait
Topic:
Art
Biographical Note:
Artist.
Interviewer:
Danieli, Fidel
Interviewee:
McLaughlin, John
Supporting Documents:
Records relating to the interview are located in the office of the UCLA Library's Center for Oral History Research.
Language:
English
Copyright:
Interviewee Retained Copyright
Series Statement:
This series includes interviews with prominent Los Angeles-based visual artists and other members of the art establishment whose careers span the period from the 1920s through the 1970s. It documents the art community of the pre-World War II period and the rise of Los Angeles as a nationally recognized art center in the postwar period. Funding for this series was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Abstract:
Evolution as artist; influence of Asian painting; meaning of the void in painting; trip to Orient, 1935; World War II military service as Japanese language translator; study at Manzanar Relocation Center; postwar move to Southern California; development as artist; Felix Landau and shows at Landau Gallery; controversial show at San Diego Museum; relative isolation from other artists; Lorser Feitelson; terms hard-edge and abstract classicism; Four Abstract Classicists exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1959; interest in Japanese calligraphy; Ad Reinhardt; aspects of painting: color, size, type of paint; experience in printing at Tamarind Lithography Workshop; symmetry and self-effacement in painting; further shows; prize at Corcoran Gallery of Art's biennial, 1967; show at Phillips Academy in Andover.