Biografie von Xavier GONZALEZ (1898-1993)

Birth place: Almeria, Spain

Addresses: New Orleans; NYC (active in Provincetown, MA, 1947-on)

Profession: Painter, sculptor, teacher

Studied: AIC, 1921-23; his uncle, José Arpa; San Carlos Acad., Mexico City; Paris; Far East.

Exhibited: Los Angeles, 1930 (prize); Arts & Crafts Exhib., New Orleans, 1937 (prize); AIC; PAFA, 1939, 1946-53, 1958, 1966; Pepsi Cola Exhib., 1945, 1947; J.S. Sargent prize for watercolor, Boston, 1946; Phila. Int.; watercolor exhib., 1947 (Dawson medal); Phila. WC exhib., 1948 (Dana medal); Grand Central Gal., NYC, 1951-53; CI; BM; Witte Mus, San Antonio, 1968 (retrospective); WMAA. Awards: Am. Acad Arts & Letters, 1951 (grant); Guggenheim fellowship, 1947; Ford Fndn. grant

Member: AWCS; Am. Nat. Acad.; Nat. Assn. Mural Painters (pres., 1968).

Work: WMAA; MMA; New Orleans Mus. Art; Witte Mus., San Antonio; SAM; War and Peace auditorium; Dallas MFA; State Teachers College; Alpine, TX; USPO, Hammond, LA; Court House, Huntsville, AL

Comments: In the early 1930s, he was creating drip-action paintings ó many years before the style was made famous by Jackson Pollock. Asked why he did not exhibit them, he said, "I refuse to let an experiment became a finality." Teaching: San Antonio, 1924; Newcomb College, Tulane Univ., 1930; Brooklyn Mus., 1945; lecturer, Nat. College Assn., 1946; Western Reserve Univ., 1953-54; Summer School Art, Wellfleet, MA; lecturer, MMA. Publications: author, Notes About Painting, 1955.

Sources: WW73; WW40; Crotty, 103; Provincetown Painters, 266; Falk, Exh. Record Series.