John Moore (painter)

John Moore
Born1941
St. Louis, Missouri, US
EducationRanken Technical College, Washington University in St. Louis, Yale University
Known forPainting, drawing
StyleRealism
SpouseSandra Moore
AwardsAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters, National Academy of Design, National Endowment for the Arts
John Moore, Turnstile, oil on canvas, 70" x 68", 2012.

John Moore (born 1941) is an American contemporary realist painter.[1][2][3] His art has focused on studio interiors, still lifes, and in his best-known work, cityscapes and the American post-industrial landscape of dilapidated mill towns and factories.[4][5][6] He emerged in the early 1970s amid a resurgence of representational work, appearing in many surveys[7][8][9] and critical examinations that helped define new modes of American realism.[10][11][12][13] While the highly detailed nature of his work evokes that movement, it diverges from approaches such as photorealism in its social concern, painterly handling and composite compositions, which distill direct observation, sketches, memories and photographs of multiple sites and views into re-imagined but believable scenes.[14][15][16] Curator John Stomberg wrote of these constructed worlds: "The image he creates is only real in the painting, yet all the parts do have their origins in the observable world. Therein lies the eerie potency of Moore's vision—its plausibility. He is more of a spectacular fabulist than a realist."[17]

Moore has been recognized by the American Academy of Arts and Letters[18] and National Academy of Design[19] and has exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[9][20][21] His work belongs to the public collections of those four museums, among others.[22][23][24][25] He lives and works in Belfast, Maine with his wife Sandra, and is Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts of the University of Pennsylvania.[26][6]

  1. ^ Little, Carl. "John Moore’s Fabricated Realities," Hyperallergic, June 9, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  2. ^ Worth, Alexi. "John Moore," ARTnews, September 1997, p. 132.
  3. ^ Medoff, Eve. "John Moore—Realism Reinvented," American Artist, March 1978, p. 35–41, 71–2.
  4. ^ Battcock, Gregory. Super Realism: A Critical Anthology, Toronto: Clarke, Irwin and Company, Ltd., 1975.
  5. ^ The New Yorker. "John Moore," May 16, 1994.
  6. ^ a b Rosenberg Amy S. "Artist John Moore found beauty in aging infrastructure. Will America?" Philadelphia Inquirer, December 7, 2021. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  7. ^ Burton, Scott. The Realist Revival, New York: American Federation of Arts, 1972. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  8. ^ Queens Museum. New Images: Figuration in American Painting, Flushing, NY: Queens Museum, 1974. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  9. ^ a b The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Aspects of the City, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983.
  10. ^ Nemser, Cindy. "Representational Painting in 1971: A New Synthesis," Arts Magazine, December 1971–January 1972, p. 41–6.
  11. ^ Henry, Gerrit. "The Real Thing," Art International, Summer 1972.
  12. ^ Schjeldahl, Peter. "Realism—A Retreat to the Fundamentals?" The New York Times, December 24, 1972.
  13. ^ Kulterman, Udo. New Realism, Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1972.
  14. ^ Miller, Nancy Bea. "Three to Watch: John Moore," Art New England, December 1989/January 1990, p. 39.
  15. ^ Sozanski, Edward J. "John Moore, Locks Gallery," The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 7, 1994.
  16. ^ Berlind, Robert. "John Moore Portals," The Brooklyn Rail, May 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  17. ^ Stomberg, John. "From Downtown to Doughnuts: Realism and the Role of the Image in Boston Area Painting," in Painting in Boston: 1950-2000, Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, Nicholas J. Capasso and Jennifer Uhrhane, Lincoln, MA: University of Massachusetts Press/DeCordova Museum, 2002. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  18. ^ American Academy of Arts and Letters. Awards. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  19. ^ National Academy of Design. John Moore, People. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  20. ^ Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, Three Centuries of American Art, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  21. ^ Davidson, Jalane and Richard Davidson, Frank H. Goodyear. Perspectives on Contemporary American Realism, Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1982. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  22. ^ The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thursday, John Moore, Art Collection. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  23. ^ Philadelphia Museum of Art. View, John Moore, Collection. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  24. ^ Art Institute of Chicago. John J. Moore, Artists. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
  25. ^ Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Pink Flower Glass Series, #9, John Moore, Objects. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  26. ^ Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. "John Moore, Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts," People. Retrieved January 20, 2023.