J. Jay McVicker

American, 1911-2004

Death PlaceStillwater, Oklahoma, United States, North America

Birth PlaceVici, Oklahoma, United States, North America

BiographyJ. Jay McVicker was an artist and educator. He was born in Vici, Oklahoma in 1911. He received his B.A. at Oklahoma State University, 1940 and his M.A. in 1941. He was on the faculty at OSU, Stillwater, 1941 as a professor of art, 1959-77, Professor Emeritus, 1977 and headed the department, 1959-77.
He is best-known for his Oklahoma scene paintings, although his works evolved from a romantic-realist aesthetic in the early-mid 1940s, through an exploration of cubism, to an eventual embrace of non-objective, geometric abstraction during the 1950s-1980s. Through the 1940s, he worked almost exclusively in black and white. He exhibited in over 16 of Philbrook's Oklahoma Artists' Annuals and influenced generations of Oklahoma artists through his printmaking techniques. His work is in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art, Library of Congress, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, and Wichita Art Museum.

During the 1940s McVicker produced black and white aquatints depicting his native Oklahoma landscape as well as industrialscapes in a very representational style. In the late 1940s and early 1950s he introduced color to his images in aquatint as well as silkscreen. It was during this time that he began shifting his style towards cubism and semi-abstraction.

*****************

J. Jay McVicker, 92, of Stillwater, died Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2044, in Westhaven Nursing Home, Stillwater.

He was born in Vici, Oklahoma October 18, 1911, to Jesse Allen and Clara Mae (Hendrick) McVicker. He married Laura Beth Paul Aug. 20, 1938. She died in 1993.

His exhibits included San Francisco Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Museum of Art, Museum of Non-Objective Painting, New York, Chicago Art Institute, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Denver Art Museum, William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, National Academy of Design, Downtown Gallery, New York, Pasadena Art Institute, Oakland Art Gallery, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, Library of Congress, United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Carnegie Institute, The Print Club of Philadelphia, Joslyn Memorial Art Museum, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Salon Des Realites Nouvelles, Paris, Galleria Origine, Rome, Whitney Museum of American Art and Momentum Mid-Continental, Chicago.

Hi is included in the following collections: Library of Congress, Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College, Texas, Springfield Art Museum, Missouri, Seattle Art Museum (Northwest Printmaking Collection), Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, Tenn., Birmingham Public Library, Chapman Museum of Fine Arts, Wichita Art Association, Chicago Society of Etcher Collection, Philbrook Art Center, Laguna Beach Art Association, Metropolitan Museum of art, Joslyn Art Museum, numerous private collections and United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

He has exhibits in group shows of prints abroad including Istanbul, Athens, Cairo, Manila, London, Brussels, Lyon, Rome, Vienna, Belgrade, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Mexico, Norway, Casablanca, Saigon, Pairs, Bordighera, Lima, Panama and Germany.

He is included in "Who's Who in American Art", "Who's Who in America" and "Who's Who in the World."

Person TypeIndividual