Jenne Magafan

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Jenne Magafan
Born1916
Chicago, IL
Died1952 (aged 35–36) [1]
Albany, NY
EducationBroadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs
Known forPainting
Notable workCowboy Dance, A Typical Western Town, S.F. Ruins No. 1, The Windmill
Study for Cowboy Dance (1941), Magafan's mural at the U.S. post office in Anson, Texas Cowboy Dance (mural study, Anson, Texas Post Office) SAAM-1962.8.46 2.jpg
Study for Cowboy Dance (1941), Magafan's mural at the U.S. post office in Anson, Texas

Jenne Magafan (1916-1952) was an American painter and muralist. During her short-lived career, she became a successful mural painter in the 1930s and early 1940s. She gained national prominence for her work in the New Deal art program. Her twin sister Ethel Magafan was also a muralist. [2]

Contents

Her 1941 mural Cowboy Dance is located in the Anson, Texas, post office. [3] Her work is also included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, [1] the Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art [4] and the Carnegie Museum of Art. [5]

She died of a brain aneurysm in 1952, aged 36, at Albany Hospital. [2] [6] [4]

Early life and education

Magafan, and her identical twin sister, Ethel Magafan, were born in Chicago, Illinois. Due to health concerns with their father, the family moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then to Denver, Colorado. [6] [7]

Both Jenne and Ethel attended East High School in Denver. When in high school, the Magafan twins impressed artist Frank Mechau, and their mentor and art teacher, Helen Perry, paid for their sessions with Mechau, in hopes the twins would succeed artistically. [6]

Jenne and Ethel were invited by Frank Mechau to apprentice with him at his Redstone studio in Redstone, Colorado. In 1936, Jenne was awarded the Carter Memorial Art Scholarship and shared it with her sister so they could both attend the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, formally the Broadmoor Art Academy, in Colorado Springs. Mechau then hired them as assistants, and they subsequently entered into careers as muralists, working at first with Mechau and then with Italian-American Modernist painter, Peppino Mangravite, and Boardman Robinson. [6] [8] Mechau encouraged the two to enter competitions sponsored by the U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts. The sisters painted Works Progress Administration (WPA), federal government commissioned, murals in midwestern and western states, some as the sole artist and others as Mechau's assistants. [9]

Career

In 1939, Jenne was awarded her first commission for a mural at the Albion, Nebraska, Post Office. This would be the first of seven commissions. [6] [7] Jenne was awarded five mural commissions for various United States post offices and other government buildings from 1937 to 1943. [10]

Jenne assisted Mechau on several of these commissions. For the Glenwood Springs Post Office, the two artists and another assistant, Edward Chavez, painted Wild Horse Race in 1937. That same year, also for Glenwood Springs, Jenne and Edward painted Decorative Map. The three artists also collaborated on Indian Fight and The Corral for the Colorado Springs Post Office, located in Building 41 of the Denver Federal Center. Jenne also painted murals for post offices in Anson, Texas, and Helper, Utah. [9]

She collaborated with her sister Ethel on a mural for the Social Security Building (now the Department of Health, Education and Welfare) in c. 1942 in Washington, D.C. [4]

Meeting the artists Doris Lee and Arnold Blanch in Los Angeles, the twins learned of the art colony in Woodstock, New York, and traveled there in 1945. That same year, their work was exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design.

Later Years

After World War II, Jenne, her husband, Edward Chavez, and her sister, Ethel, relocated to the art colony in Woodstock, New York, where they remained the rest of their lives. [4]

Jenne received a Tiffany Foundation Fellowship (1949, 1950) and in 1951-1952 she painted in Italy. She died of a brain aneurysm in 1952, aged 36, at Albany Hospital. [4] [6]

Legacy

Examples of her work are in many venues, including the Grafton Street Junior High School, Worcester, Massachusetts; Woodstock Artist’s Association, New York; and others. Magafan showed work primarily at the Ganso Gallery, New York City; at her memorial exhibition at the Ganso Gallery, homage was paid by her fellow artists, including Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Peppino Mangravite, Fletcher Martin, and Eugene Speicher. [8]

She had solo exhibitions at the Denver Art Museum and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and participated in group exhibitions at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Denver Art Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles Museum of Art and Claremont College. [4]

Works

Some of the non-mural paintings by Magafan are:

Awards

Some of the awards Magafan received are: [6]

Commissions

Some of the commissioned works by Magafan not discussed above are: [6]

Exhibitions

Source: [14]

Works Held

Among the collections that hold her works are: [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Jenne Magafan | Smithsonian American Art Museum". americanart.si.edu.
  2. 1 2 "Colorado & Regional Artworks". Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art.
  3. ↑ "Catch the Pioneer Spirit" (PDF).
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Evening Light by Jenne Magafan | oil on paperboard". Kirkland Museum.
  5. ↑ "CMOA Collection". collection.cmoa.org.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Jenne Magafan (1916-1952)". David Cook Galleries.
  7. 1 2 "Jenne Magafan Art". 1stDibs.
  8. 1 2 Heller, Jules, Nancy G. (19 December 2013). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century. Taylor & Francis. p. 358. ISBN   9781135638825.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. 1 2 Beaton, Gail M. (2012). Colorado Women. University Press of Colorado. p. 226. ISBN   9781607322078.
  10. ↑ Trenton, D'Emilio, Patricia, Sandra (1995). Independent Spirits. Autry Museum of Western Heritage. p. 230.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ "Church in Leadville (Colorado) 1938".
  12. ↑ "Western Town (mural study, Helper Utah Post Office)". Smithsonian American Art Museum.
  13. ↑ "Cowboy Dance (mural study, Anson Texas Post Office)". Smithsonian American Art Museum.
  14. 1 2 "Jeanne Magafan". MONA Museum of Nebraska Art. 28 December 2017.
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