| James Penney | ||
| Birth Date: 1910 |
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| Death Date: 1982 Artist Gallery |
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| Most New York City artists have come from somewhere else and James Penney, from Missouri, was no exception. He first studied at the University of Kansas and then at New York’s Art Students League with George Grosz, Thomas Hart Benton and John Sloan. Like many artists Penny claims to have learned more outside of art school then from his teachers. He once said “you pick it up from friends, the air, the museums, the dealers, and in books - and The Depression, of course, was an education in itself.”
Penney discovered how fast one can get to know New York City and feel at home in it without ever losing that sense of excited discovery. He developed a comfortable combination of abstraction and realism and communicates that special vitality and energy in his work, which is so unique to New York City.
The WPA was also a blessing for Penney as it was for so many artists. He worked, painted and executed murals and soon latched onto teaching that continued throughout his life, spending the last years of his life at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
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