Research Catalog

Michael C. Spafford : epic works

Title
Michael C. Spafford : epic works / essay by Bruce Guenther.
Author
Spafford, Michael, 1935-
Publication
  • Seattle : Lucia/Marquand, [2018]
  • [Seattle] : Distributed by University of Washington Press
  • ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library ND237.S638 A4 2018Off-site

Details

Additional Authors
  • Guenther, Bruce
  • Greg Kucera Gallery, host institution.
  • Woodside/Braseth Gallery, host institution.
  • Davidson Galleries (Seattle, Wash.), host institution.
Description
87 pages : color illustrations; 29 cm
Summary
Michael C. Spafford, one of the most respected and admired painters in the Northwest, has created a cohesive body of work of rare intelligence and power. Now professor emeritus at the University of Washington School of Art, he began teaching in 1963 and was an influential and provocative teacher. Spafford remains an active painter who has never shied away from bold, often brutal universal themes. The rigorous physicality and formal invention inherent in his work enhance the viewer's visual understanding as well as the potency of the image. Widely exhibited, awarded, and collected, Spafford is best known for his fascination with myths of origin and heroic endeavor. His paintings, drawings, prints, and murals depict vivid episodes from epic poems and Greco-Roman mythology: 'Leda and the Swan', the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey', 'The Twelve Labors of Heracles', to mention a few. Many of these narratives were revisited by Spafford over time in different formats in search of a better visual vignette. He strips these well-known narratives to their most emblematic elements, depicting them in a radically abstracted form, which illuminates these stories in a direct and visually affecting way.
Uniform Title
Paintings. Selections
Alternative Title
  • Paintings.
  • Epic works
Subject
  • Spafford, Michael, 1935- > Exhibitions
  • Spafford, Michael, 1935- > Themes, motives > Exhibitions
  • Spafford, Michael, 1935-
  • 1900-1999
  • Mythology, Greek, in art > Exhibitions
  • Painting, American > 20th century > Exhibitions
  • Prints, American > 20th century > Exhibitions
  • Mythology, Greek, in art
  • Painting, American
  • Prints, American
  • Themes, motives
Genre/Form
  • exhibition catalogs.
  • Exhibition catalogs.
  • Catalogues d'exposition.
Note
  • Published on the occasion of a three-gallery exhibition, held in Seattle, Washinton, at Greg Kucera Gallery, Woodside/Braseth Gallery, and Davidson Galleries, April and May, 2018.
Contents
Preface / Lisa Dutton-Spafford -- No heroes here / Bruce Guenther -- Plates.
ISBN
  • 9780998681795
  • 0998681792
LCCN
2018931270
OCLC
  • on1038006748
  • 1038006748
  • SCSB-9153125
Owning Institutions
Princeton University Library