Jack Hooper

Jack Meredith Hooper (August 26, 1928 - January 24, 2014) was an American painter, muralist, sculptor, printmaker and art educator. Hooper was a major figure on the Southern California art scene, belonging to that generation of Los Angeles painters who matured during the late 1950’s and the 1960’s, painters such as John Altoon, Sam Amato, Robert Irwin, Lee Mullican, William Brice and Billy Al Bengston. Recognized as gifted in art by family, he began art training in a Work Projects Administration (WPA) school at the age of twelve. Hooper served in the United States Army Air Corps at the end of WW II. Education 1951 AA Los Angeles City College 1952 B.A., Painting, magna cum laude, Mexico City College 1952-53 Académie Julian, Académie de la Grande Chaumière 1956 graduate study in at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) 1958 M.A., Painting West Coast Modernist School Hooper knew many of the artists of the period, including Frida Kahlo who would become the subject of many of his portraits and studies over the coming decades. Teaching/ Appointments 1956 teaching assistant; UCLA 1957 Associate in Art, Drawing & Painting; UCLA 1960 & 1962 Summer Visiting Professor of Art; University of Colorado, Boulder 1961 Assistant Professor of Art, UCLA 1962-1969 Assistant Professor of Art, Chairman of the Art Department, Director of Galleries; Mount St Mary’s College Los Angeles 1975-77 Visiting Professor of Art; University of California Santa Cruz, CA Shows (partial list) 1965 "Three California Painters," Long Beach Museum of Art, CA 1963 Oakland Museum of Art, CA 1965 "Three California Painters," Long Beach Museum of Art, CA 1963 Oakland Museum of Art, CA 1962 "Fifty California Artists" Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Art with the Collaboration of the Los Angeles County Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. 1961 "Arts of Southern California - VIII: Drawing," Long Beach Museum of Art, CA. Traveled to: Everhart Museum of Art, Scranton, PA; Columbia Museum of Art, SC; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; Columbus Museum of Art & Crafts, GA; Eastern Illinois State College, Charleston, IL.; La Jolla Art Center, CA; Texas State College for Women, Denton, TX: University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 1961 Santa Monica Municipal Art Gallery, CA 1960 San Francisco Museum of Art, CA 1960 Seattle Art Museum, WA Co-founded Aesthetic Research Center (A.R.C.) with architect, Frank Gehry

Painting is an art form that has spanned innumerable cultures, with artists using the medium to tell stories, explore and communicate ideas and express themselves. To bring abstract paintings, landscape paintings, still-life paintings and other original paintings into your home is to celebrate and share in the long tradition of this discipline.

When we look at paintings, particularly those that originated in the past, we learn about history, other cultures and countries of the world. Like every other work of art, paintings — whether they are contemporary creations or works that were made during the 19th century — can often help us clearly see and understand the world around us in a meaningful and interesting way.

Cave walls were the canvases for what were arguably the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict natural scenery through art. Portrait paintings and drawings, which, along with sculpture, were how someone’s appearance was recorded prior to the advent of photography, are at least as old as Ancient Egypt. In the Netherlands, landscapes were a major theme for painters as early as the 1500s. Later, artists in Greece, Rome and elsewhere created vast wall paintings to decorate stately homes, churches and tombs.

Today, creating a wall of art is a wonderful way to enhance your space, showcase beautiful pieces and tie an interior design together.

No matter your preference, whether you favor Post-Impressionist paintings, animal paintings, Surrealism, Pop art or another movement or specific period, arranging art on a blank wall allows you to evoke emotions in a room while also showing off your tastes and interests. A symmetrical wall arrangement may comprise a grid of four to six pieces or, for an odd number of works, a horizontal row. Asymmetrical arrangements, which may be small clusters of art or large, salon-style gallery walls, have a more collected and eclectic feel.

Download the 1stDibs app, which includes a handy “View on Wall” feature that allows you to see how a particular artwork will look on a particular wall, and read about how to arrange wall art. And if you’re searching for the perfect palette for your interior design project, what better place to turn than to the art world’s masters of color? 

On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive collection of paintings and other fine art for your home or office. Browse abstract paintings, portrait paintings, paintings by emerging artists and more today.