Lot 487: James McCray (American 1912 - 1993) Clown Figure

James McCray (1912 - 1993) Circus Clown Figure gouache on paper. Signed and dated lower right. At UC he was greatly influenced by his teachers Worth Ryder and John Haley. His teaching experience included UC Berkeley (1935-40, 1947-80), California School of Fine Arts (San Francisco) (1940-46), San Francisco Museum of (modern) Art (1941-43), and Santa Barbara College (1951). EXHIBITIONS Oakland Art Gallery, 1935; Golden Gate International Exposition, 1940; San Francisco Art Association Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1937 -57th, 1940 - 60th, 1942 - 62nd, 1945 - 65th - awarded Anne Bremer Memorial Prize for abstract painting titled 'Reticulation'. Alfred Frankenstein, the noted art critic wrote of this work, "McCray has produced the most original and interesting new development in painting that has manifested itself on this coast in my time'., 1949 - 68th, 1950 - 69th, 1955 - 74th, 1956 - 75th, 1957 - 76th, 1959 - 78th, 1960 - 79th, 1961 - 80th; Art Institute of Chicago, 1948, Fifty- Eighth Annual Exhibition of American Paintings and Sculpture, Abstract and Surreal American Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Whitney Museum of Art, New York; Phillips Memorial Gallery, Washington D.C.; Third - Fifth Winter Invitationals, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1962, 1963, 1964; Salon de Realite, Paris; Institute of Creative Arts Grant, 1965 - 66