James Havard (American, 1937-2020), Large Abstract Composition

acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 1982, signed and dated at lower right, unframed.
60 1/4 x 60 1/4 in.
James Havard was born in Galveston, Texas, and studied visual arts at Houston State College. After graduation in 1959, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Havard's early work focused on still lifes and more traditional forms of art making, but was using more experimental techniques by the 1960s. Havard delved into minimalism and began a twenty-year professional relationship with Marion Locks Gallery in Philadelphia, beginning with his first exhibition in 1970. During this time he began to use industrial materials from the auto body show beneath his studio. Havard scratched and abraded the surface of these works and controlled the illusionist techniques by the use of airbrushing, which he later refined into the painterly, abstract trompe l’oeil gestures seen in this work.

After moving to New York City in the 1980s, Havard focused on large-scale, expressive paintings sometimes referencing Native American culture. In 1989 Havard moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and began incorporating silk-screened images of Hopi masks and tabletas and motifs from Zuni pottery. Havard’s work is represented in numerous museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art.

Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.lelandlittle.com

Good estate condition, some areas of age cracking and scattered minor flaking to mixed media.