Description

Signed, titled, and dated.  Neatly gold framed late work of California Native, John Saccaro (1913-1981) attract oil painting. Signed Saccaro/1980.

BayArea native John Saccaro was a major contributor to the San Francisco school of Abstract Expressionism. After studying at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco in 1954, he began a teaching career at UCLA where he further developed his signature style. Saccaro’s utilization of slashing, angular brush work and high contrast color palette made him popular amongst institutions such as the De Young Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Dimensions: 23 1/2″ x 16 1/4″

Provenance:   
The Estate of John Saccaro

Carmel Art Gallery

John Saccaro Art Training

When John Saccaro turned 18, he decided to leave high school. He stayed in a hotel and started to search for jobs in San Francisco. After a year, he entered his very first art class. There, he met the woman he would soon marry– his art teacher, Marie Lynch. John was not only chasing his dreams of becoming an artist but also pursuing Marie Lynch as his lover. Marie was from Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from the University of California in San Francisco. She and John Saccaro loved the arts and had a creative streak, so their interests intertwined.

As John Saccaro was becoming skilled as an artist, a friend asked him to join the Public Works Art Project (PWAP). He was eager to apply, so he submitted his portfolio of watercolors. After some deliberation, he was hired and assigned to the Easel Section. After a period of contributing art to this department, he was moved to the Mural section in late 1939. At 25, he already managed his own show in the San Francisco Museum of Art.

He was then given the job of supervising the tile mural project at the San Francisco Aquatic Park. The installation crew was already in San Francisco and needed a director. They only spoke Italian and since John Saccaro spoke the language he was the ideal director to manage them. His work in the Aquatic Park came to a halt when World War II began. John joined the army and was made the artist of the troop. He painted camouflage prints on the tanks, red crosses on the ambulances, and stars and identification marks for their platoon. He even painted a lot of Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny pictures on the tanks while in Europe.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1939 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1946 M.H. de Young Memorial Museum
1958 the Oakland Museum of California
1959 San Francisco Museum of Art
1960 M.H. de Young Memorial Museum
1962 BoDes Gallery
1981 Museo Italo Americano
1990 Carlson Gallery

Selected Group Exhibitions

1939 Art Institute of Chicago
1939-1942 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1954 The Oakland Museum of California
1955 Carnegie International
1955-1957 Corcoran Gallery of Art
1958 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
1957-1958 Denver Art Museum
1962 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1962 The Cantor Art Center at Stanford University
1962 California Palace of the Legion of Honor
1973 The Oakland Museum of California
1996 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Selected Collections

The Oakland Museum of California
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Pasadena Art Museum
M.H. de Young Memorial Museum
Elvehjem Museum
Crocker Art Museum
Laguna Art Museum
Triton Museum