John Altoon
John Altoon in the studio at Gemini G.E.L. Ltd., Los Angeles, 1973
Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002
Photographer: Kenneth Tyler
John Altoon was born in California in 1924. He served in the Pacific as a radio engineer with the United States Navy during World War II and began his artistic studies upon his return. He studied in Los Angeles at the Otis Art Institute, the Art Centre School and the Chouinard Art Institute before relocating to New York in 1950. In 1954 Altoon travelled to Spain, where he met the poet Robert Creeley, with whom he later created the portfolio About women.
Made at Gemini Ltd in 1966, the portfolio consists of 10 lithographs by Altoon, interspersed with poems by Creeley. The subject of the portfolio, women and relationships, was one that both artist and poet addressed continually in their work.
Emilie Owens
CHRONOLOGY
1925 Born in Los Angeles, California, United States of America
1940 Attends Dorsey High School, Los Angeles. Wins scholarship to Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, but is dissatisfied with the course and returns to Dorsey High School
1941-45 Serves in the US Navy as a radar technician during World War II
1947 Re-enrols at the Otis Art Institute
1949 Transfers to the Art Center School, Los Angeles, to study illustration, but finds the emphasis on commercial art displeasing and leaves
1950 Enrols at Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles. Wins Anna Lee Stacey Award for Drawing. Moves to Santa Barbara, California to pursue art full-time; moves to New York and supports himself with advertising jobs
1951– 62 Teaches at the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles
1951 First solo exhibition, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California
1953 Wins Emily Lowe Award Solo exhibition, Artist’s Gallery, New York
1956-60 Teaches at the Art Center School, Los Angeles
1956 Meets Walter Hopps and Edward Kienholz, founders of the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles
1957 Included in inaugural exhibition of Ferus Gallery, Objects on the new landscape demanding of the eye
1960 Artist-in-Residence, Art Center School, Los Angeles
1961 Moves to new studio in Venice, California and begins the Ocean park Series. Teaches at the Chouinard Art Institute
1962 Included in travelling exhibition, Fifty California artists, organised by the San Francisco Museum of Art with assistance from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, originating at Whitney Museum of Art, New York. Receives William and Norma Copley Foundation Grant
1964 Included in exhibition, American drawing, Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York
1964-68 Begins to use an air-brush and creates Hyperion, Sawtelle, Miramar, Seaview, Terrace, Sunset, The princess and the frog, and Cowboy and Indian series of drawings
1966 Completes series of ten colour lithographs, About Women, Gemini GEL, Los Angeles
1967 Solo exhibition, John Altoon, San Francisco Museum of Art, California. Completes lithograph, Untitled, Gemini GEL, Los Angeles
1968 Included in exhibition, Late fifties at Ferus, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
1969 John Altoon died on February 8, in California
Barbara Delano © Tyler Graphics Ltd; revised Emilie Owens, 2007
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions that took place both during his lifetime and following his death.
Further Reading
NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS
- Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015
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