"Color Spirits" Oil Painting by James Havard C. 2016

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James Havard's career can be divided into three broad periods: realism (1960s), abstract illusionism (1970s), and abstract expressionism with tribal … Read more James Havard's career can be divided into three broad periods: realism (1960s), abstract illusionism (1970s), and abstract expressionism with tribal and outsider influences (1980s and beyond).

He moved to Santa Fe in 1989 where he continued to develop his style, ultimately freeing himself from all references to abstract illusionism. His later paintings have fewer overt tribal references and are smaller in size than many of his earlier pieces.

In 2006 Havard suffered a stroke but continued to paint. This well-trained artist who for many years was inspired by outsider art has become an outsider himself in the sense that he then was painting with the constraints of a physical handicap. Due to Havard's limited mobility, his last works were small in scale, but are nonetheless extremely powerful, perhaps even more so because the reduced format concentrates them.

Havard's work is in the permanent collection of many museums around the world, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Museum of Modern Art (Stockholm, Sweden), Tucson Museum of Art (Arizona), and the Los Angeles County Museum (California)

James Havard 1937- 2020.

Image is 5" x 7". See less