A glimpse of Harry Jackson’s life – First time traveling to Italy

Here are some sketches from the first trip my father took to Italy.

Bay of Naples 7/9/1954 by Harry Jackson, copyright Harry Jackson Trust

Naples street scene by Harry Jackson 7/9/1954 copyright Harry Jackson Trust

I want to show these sketches because they are from the first trip my father took to Italy and the rest of Europe.  He arrived in 1954 to study the masters of the renaissance and to part ways with the abstract expressionist school of art in NY.  It is a very important period in his continuing development as an artist and as a maverick.

Most of the sketches he made at this time were made to study the work of the masters.  That was what he was there to do.  Even so sketching one’s surroundings and working from life is an important part of developing one’s artistic voice.  One can see here that he did that as well as study the works of the masters.

I am currently in Italy visiting my father’s home and studio.  It is where I was born and all my brothers and sisters were born.  Well my sister Molly was born in Sweden, but she was at the home in Italy soon enough. The home in Italy was built in the mid 60′s, just before I was born, and has been an important and constant part in the lives of all of us children.  It is where an incredible amount of his creative work has been done and where his foundry was located.  All of this was in his future when he first came to Italy and made the simple sketches above.

A glimpse of Harry Jackson’s life – Coming to Wyoming

Thank you to all who have commented on the blog post about my father’s death.  There are some good acquaintances and stories being kept alive with those comments.  My siblings and I have enjoyed these comments about how other people viewed and were affected by our larger than life father.  This is the first in a series of posts where each gives a small glimpse into a different aspect of the life and art of Harry Jackson.

One of the seminal events in his life was running away to Wyoming.  This is the cover of LIFE magazine dated February 8, 1937.  The picture is titled “Winter on the range.”  It’s a photo by Charlie Belden of winter on the Pitchfork ranch in Meeteetse Wyoming.  The Z bar T ranch which is referred to in the article is a ranch and brand that was part of the Pitchfork.  You can see the entire article here: “Winter on the Range“

My father saw this article and knew that was where he wanted to go.  In 1938 he arrived in Cody, WY by train.  The train tracks didn’t go any farther.  It took him another year to get to the Pitchfork Ranch outside of Meeteetse, WY on the upper greybull river.

Resources

• Meeteetse museum info: http://www.meeteetsemuseums.org/index.html
• Buffalo Bill Historical Center: online digital collection of Charles Belden
• University of Wyoming American Heritage Center: Online digital collection of Charles Belden
• Google Books: Life Magazine February 8, 1937

Harry Jackson dies at 87

photo by Chris Gimmeson, Buffalo Bill Historical Center

My father passed away on Monday April 25^th, 2011 after a long, rich, tumultuous life.  He was 87.

He was a force of nature, full of rage, love, humor, and madness.  And he burned at an intensity that few could withstand for very long.  A war-decorated WWII Marine who served on the front lines in the Pacific, he endured lifelong consequences from head injuries suffered during the amphibious assault at Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll.  Epileptic seizures and uncontrolled rage marred many episodes in his life after the war.

He was a walking paradox.  He was brilliant in his artistic life, yet unable to recognize and receive proper treatment for his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  One minute, he would bring a complete stranger into his innermost circle; and the next, he wouldn’t trust even those closest to him.

He leaves a creative legacy marked by astounding courage and accomplishment.  His artistic career spans six decades, with work that covers an incredibly wide spectrum: from the early Marine works (we was a combat artist), through the abstract expressionist paintings that were featured in Life Magaine, all the way to his much celebrated western art.

All of his children would like to extend their deep gratitude to his staff (in Italy and in Cody) for their invaluable contributions, especially during these last years of his life.  Their respect and loyalty never wavered during these challenging years, and that is a rarity these days.

I live in Cody and have spent much of the last year with him. My brothers and sisters have been visiting him over the last year.  During the last week several of us were with him almost continually.   We have a complicated relationship with him that resists an easy short summation but we all believe he is finally at peace.  This much is indisputable: He was a profoundly gifted, larger than life, creative maverick, and anyone who met him will remember the mark he left on their lives.

There will be further information on a public service to celebrate his life, in the weeks to come.  I welcome any memories or stories of my Dad or of his art work.  You may leave them in the comments section below.  The comments are moderated so there may be a few days delay before they appear on the blog.

Molly, Jesse, Luke, Chloe and I thank everyone for their warm wishes at this time.

Thank you,
Matthew Jackson

Harry Jackson interview on Wyoming PBS – Wyoming Chronicle

The Wyoming PBS show Wyoming Chronicle is airing an interview with Harry Jackson on Friday April 15th at 7:30pm (MST).  Harry Jackson was interviewed by Chris Turner last summer, 2010, for Wyoming Chronicle and answered questions about his life, coming to Wyoming, World War II and his Art.

Tune in to see the most recent television interview with Harry Jackson.  If you miss it you can catch it on line after it is aired at this link: Wyoming Chronicle Video on Demand

link to the show summary: http://www.wyomingpbs.org/programming/wyomingchronicle/#episode220

Harry Jackson’s website: www.harryjackson.com

Harry Jackson website is being redesigned

harryjackson.com, harryjackson.net, harryjackson.org is being redesigned.  In the meantime this blog will server as a way of getting information out about what is happening with Harry Jackson’s Art.  You can leave comments here or you can email Matthew Jackson at matt(at)harryjacksonstudios(dot)com (The email is obscured to protect from spamming, but replace (at) with @ and (dot) with .)

New York Times article on Marine Corps sketch artists shows a Harry Jackson WWII painting

Harry Jackson was a Marine Corps Sketch artist in WWII. As is the case with all sketch artists they are a Marine first and then on top of that they are sketch artists.  He was involved in 3 amphibious assaults in the Pacific.  He was wounded and received traumatic brain injuries that led to epilepsy and several other problems that continue to affect him to this day.

There is a very good article on the Marine Corps sketch artist program that will appear in the Sunday, July 18th edition of the New York Times.  Here’s a link to an online version of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/18/arts/design/18marines.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all .  The artwork that accompanies the article can be viewed by clicking the link in the article to view the Marine Art slide show.  It’s on the left hand side of the article at the top.  Or you can just click this link to the slide show.  Harry’s painting is the 8th slide in the show.  If you want to see it directly here’s the direct link to his painting.

It’s written by Carol Kino who has her own website at: http://www.carolkino.com/.  It uses Harry as the example of sketch artists from WWII and shows his painting “Tarrawa-Betio” from 1944.  I think it has another title but I’ll have to research it and update the post later.  I’ll do a later post on Harry’s WWII sketches and paintings.

Here’s some links:
The National Museum of the Marine Corps

Jackson masterworks cleaned and on loan to Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, GA.

In October of 2008 Harry’s heroic paintings “The Stampede” and “The Range Burial” that hung in the Whitney Gallery at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center for almost 40 years were taken down.  The Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville Georgia was very interested in displaying the paintings with the  Harry Jackson sculptures they already had in their collection.  They eventually came to an agreement with the Buffalo Bill Historical Center for a 5 year loan of the paintings and to also have the paintings cleaned and mounted.  Here’s a link to the “Art Conservator” magazine Fall 2009: http://www.williamstownart.org/news/images/AC4.2.pdf

Go to page 11 in the Adobe document to view pages 20 and 21 of the article on the cleaning and remounting of the two masterworks by Harry Jackson, “The Stampede” and “The Range Burial”.