Robert P. McChesney

Robert Pearson McChesney (1913–2008) was a California post-war artist, abstract expressionist painter, assemblage artist, printmaker, sculptor and teacher. He is considered one of the "progenitors of Bay Area abstract expressionism".[1]

This article is about the 20th century artist. For other uses, see Robert McChesney.

Life

He grew up in Marshall, Missouri. From 1933 to 1934 he studied at Washington University School of Fine Arts, and in 1936 at the Otis Art Institute.[2]

He worked the Federal Art Project (FAP) in San Francisco,[3] and on murals for the Golden Gate International Exposition (GGIE). At GGIE, McChesney worked with a team of around 10 people, on a mural series designed and directed by artist, Herman Volz. It consisted of two large mural on two sides of a large federal building called,The Conquest of the West, and on one side of the building it wasBy Landand the other wasBy Sea. This particular mural was the world's largest at the time. Other artists that worked on this multi-year mural project included artist helping including: Jose Ramis, John Saccaro, John Thomas Hayes (Tom Hayes), Carlton Williams, Peter Lowe, Percy Freer, Alden Clark and Ernest Lenshaw.[4]

He was a merchant marine seaman, during World War II.[2][5] He taught at California State University, Hayward (1958–1962), the California Labor School as well as the California School of Fine Arts.[5][6]

He married Frances (a former artist figure model) in 1937; they later divorced.[7] His second marriage was to Mary Fuller, an artist and author, on December 1949.[7] They lived in the North Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area.[7] Settling down in the Sonoma Mountain area in Petaluma, California.[8][9]

McChesney died in 2008.[2]

References
  1. "Robert McChesney 1913 – 2008". David Findlay Jr Gallery. Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  2. "Robert Pearson McChesney (1913–2008)". Ask Art. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  3. Wood, M.V. (May 31, 2002). "The Art of Collecting Art". The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on December 22, 2011.
  4. "Oral history interview with Herman Volz, 1964 June 27". Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution. June 27, 1964. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  5. Giles, Gretchen (June 22, 2005). "Private Universe, Robert McChesney's galactic world". MetroActive. North Bay Bohemian Newspaper. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  6. "Robert McChesney". November 9, 2014. Archived from the original on November 9, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  7. M.V. Wood (May 31, 2002). "It's a colorful life / Robert McChesney, Mary Fuller celebrate art and their marriage with a joint show". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. Giles, Gretchen (June 10, 2009). "Artists Robert and Mary Fuller McChesney found peace outside the limelight". MetroActive. Metro Newspapers. Retrieved November 8, 2014.
  9. Howell, Daedalus (July 6, 2000). "Enduring Visions, Local retrospective shows off Robert McChesney's abstract paintings". MetroActive. Sonoma County Independent Newspaper. Retrieved November 8, 2014.


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