Harold Garde. painting. 50 years.

Mar.27 - Aug. 21, 2010

Harold Garde (American, b. 1923) is a painter's painter. His evocative compositions and rich surfaces convey forms or figures that range from highly simplistic to psychologically complex. An abstract expressionist, Garde's introduction to those influences was while he was a student at the University of Wyoming in the 1940s when he came to the University on the G.I. Bill. He studied art with surrealist Leon Kelly, abstract expressionist George McNeil, and geometric abstractionist Ilya Bolotowsky.

Harold Garde. painting. 50 years. is the first major retrospective of his work. Included are paintings from various subjects he has explored over the years: vases, portraits, figures, chairs, puppets, pinnacles, crossroads and sightings. A series of kimono images are in the form of strappo, a printmaking process he invented in which dried paint is transferred onto paper. Garde says of his work, "I am interested in what paint can do, making marks that expressively respond to my thoughts and actions."

Garde received his BFA from the University of Wyoming in 1949. He has exhibited extensively in Florida and Maine in recent years where he lives and works.

Curated by Jeannie Dowis and organized for a national tour by the Museum of Florida Art.

Funded in part by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation,Rocky Mountain Power Foundation, and the National Advisory Board of the UW Art Museum.

Images:

Top:  Harold Garde (American, b. 1923), Samurai Kimono, 1997, acrylic on canvas, 45 x 56 inches, courtesy of the Museum of Florida Art

Center: Harold Garde (American, b. 1923), The Swimmer, 1996, acrylic on canvas, 45 x 55 inches, photo courtesy of the Museum of Florida Art

Bottom: Harold Garde (American, b. 1923), Black Pinnacle, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 45 x 67 inches, photo courtesy of the Museum of Florida Art