10th of 11 works found
Portrait of Beethoven
Artist
Wise, Jack
Title
Portrait of Beethoven
Technique
ink
Date
1967
Dimensions
27.5cm height x 27.5cm width
Type
painting
Accession Number
2020.2.15
Collection
Permanent Collection
Gift of the Estate of Harry Locke
Jack Marlowe Wise, painter (b at Centerville, Iowa 27 Apr 1928; d at Victoria, BC 20 November 1996). Jack Wise made significant contributions to Canadian art but he will be best remembered for his connection to the "Pacific North West School" tradition that includes Mark Tobey and Morris Graves, amongst others. Wise learned the tenets of abstract expressionism as a student at Washington University (BFA, 1953) and Florida State University, obtaining a Master of Science in Art degree in 1955. For the next few years he immersed himself in various teaching positions including the development of a craft industry amongst the native Indians in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he met Toni Onley. He moved to the West Coast of Canada in 1963. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Wise continued to paint, study and teach, including posts at the University of California, Victoria College of Art and the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts. As well, important exhibitions of his work were mounted. Of particular note were Jack Wise: A Decade of Work, which was organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in 1978, and The Internal Landscape, presented at the Nickle Arts Museum in 1985. Wise's work is found in many public collections in Canada and the most comprehensive holdings are found at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, which owns more than 30 main paintings including the Dorje series.