The Artist - Donald P. Olsen
A noted classical violinist turned abstract painter, Donald Olsen is considered the most significant of the "second generation" of Utah modernists. Don Olsen was born in Provo, Utah. He did his undergraduate work at Brigham Young University and then continued his education at the University of Utah. After graduation, Olsen taught in Provo, Lincoln, and Jordan High Schools, as well as at the College of Southern Utah, where he taught music and art. He also was an art instructor at the Art Barn in Salt Lake City.
Olsen has been called one of the most persuasive protagonists (leading figures) of non-objective art from the 1950s to the 1980s. Because of his dedication to modern art, the development of his painting style has paralleled modern art's evolution. He has experimented with almost every modern style of painting from the 'brushed-action painting' of Abstract Expressionism, to the 'hard-edge' of Minimalism. In 1955, he had a solo show at the Salt Lake Art Center. After this show, he was known for 'thickly painted-with-muscle brushwork.' Later on in his career, Olsen's work moved towards a type of Geometric Purism that has its beginnings with artists such as Piet Mondrian.
According to James Haseltine, "Following his marriage to Betty in 1962, Don Olsen did some of his more lively work-a series of canvases dominated by white used as positive shape, negative passage or ground, dripped line, or textural splatter. His colors are most often used unmixed, directly from the tube, alla prima, with reds most prominent and blues, greens and yellows playing a secondary role."
The Art
DONALD PENROD OLSEN (1910-1984) Provo/Salt Lake City
Chelsea VI, 1980
acrylic on canvas, 67-1/2" x 80" (170.7 x 197.1 cm)
Museum Purchase 1981.056
Abstract painter Don Olsen studied with Hans Hofmann at Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1954. Later, his frequent trips to New York gave him access to the important twentieth-century abstract painters. He was profoundly influenced by the New York School and always returned from his trips full of vigor. He was Utah's conduit to the cutting edge of the American avant garde. This painting, Chelsea VI, belongs to the New York School of Minimalist, Hard-Edge art, popular from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.
An unpretentious, sensitive, and intellectual man, Don Olsen was the leading exponent in Utah of nonobjective and experimental art. In his own words, his philosophy of painting is simply stated,
Painting is not an illusion. A painting can only be itself; it does not simulate, borrow from, or pretend to be anything outside itself. It is a real thing and its reality lies in being itself. A painting reveals the internal expression of the artist and has nothing to do with observation of visual facts.
Concepts
Visual Art Core Curriculum - Utah State Office of Education
Under the Standard of Making, this print can help the student:
- create various shapes by having lines intersect. Note: a shape is also created if a line connects with the edges of the paper.
- create a non-objective (one that does not contain a recognizable object or subject matter) artwork through exploring the placement and/or layering of various shapes.
Under the Standard of Perceiving, this print can help the student:
- name the basic shapes within a work of art (for example, geometric and natural).
- group objects by the similarity of shapes.
- create a work of art with simple shapes that promote the following two types of balance:
- Symmetrical: the size of objects or shapes appear to be similar on both sides of the artwork
- Asymmetrical: the size of objects or shapes are dissimilar on both sides of the artwork.
Under the Standard of Expressing, this print can help the student:
- describe how colors, sizes of objects, general shapes, and textures of objects within an artwork might help it convey a real or imagined story.
- classify artworks according to the following approaches:
- Realistic: looks real or life-like, usually mimics nature.
- Expressive: displays emotions, feelings and/or moods.
- Formal: emphasizes the elements such as line, color, and/or shape. It is not concerned with looking like something (realistic) or trying to create strong emotions (expressive). Usually it is non-objective (does not have a recognizable object or subject matter).
Under the Standard of Contextualizing, this print can help the student:
- define what cultures may have a tradition of the following art concepts:
creates art as a means of self-expression
creates art for religious purposes
creates art for narrative purposes
creates art for functional purposes
© Copyright 1997 Springville Museum of Art
All rights reserved
|
