William Douglas McGee (1925-1999)
"Purple Heart" Memory of Bogel, World War II Anzio, 1985
Oil and watercolor on paper
William Douglas McGee was a prolific artist and teacher. His time at the historic Black Mountain College placed him at the center of the art world and drove his development as an accomplished artist. He is best known for his early abstract oil paintings, mixed-media collages, and large color-field paintings, which are exhibited at MoMA, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and other museums.

While teaching at Brown, William began to shift his art from black-and-white oils to an intense study of collages. The collages were fragments of painted paper, torn and repainted; often, canvas and magazine reproductions were glued in, and letters were brought in for abstract purposes, not for their original meaning. He was signed to the Grace Borgenicht Gallery, where the collages were shown at several one-man and group shows from 1956-1962.

In 1978, tragedy struck as Williams' house burnt down, destroying about 30% of his life's work. The tragedy brought the Color Field period to an end, and William reverted to the collage period, making assemblages of cloth, paper, and metal from the wreckage. William remained a very active artist until his death in 1999.

26" W x 31.5" H

A11466