Jim Dine“I was drawing since I was two years old.

I never thought of anything else.”

Jim Dine is a world-renowned artist. For over forty years, Dine has produced more than three thousand paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints, as well as performance works, stage and book designs, poetry, and even music. His art has been the subject of numerous individual and group shows and is in permanent collections of museums aroundthe world.

Mr. Dine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 11, 1935.Point to red X where Walla Walla is located and then to red X where Cincinnati is located. It is located in the Southwest corner of the state of Ohio.

+X

X

Teacher notes

His mother died when he was 12 years old. When Dine was 14, he and his brother went to live with his grandparents. He always knew he wanted to be an artist; and when he was 16, he drove to the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he took adult education classes in painting.

At 17, he found a book by Paul Sach’s, Modern Prints and Drawings. This book changed Mr. Dine’s life.

He saw prints by Emile Nolde.

Emile Nolde Self portrait

The Prophet by Emile Nolde

Self Portrait ?

Woodcut: Ernst Kirchner, Alpine Shepherd, 1917

He saw prints by Ernst Kirchner.

Stiff Hat

Self Portrait, Max Beckman

And he saw prints by Max Beckman.

So he went down in his grandfather’s basement where he had wood working tools. Dine took an old top of a table and using a chisel he began to carve. He carved a picture of an old rabbi, a Jewish minister, that turned out to look like his grandfather. It was about 12” x 16.” He put ink on the the carved wood and placed paper over that, rubbed it by hand and made his first print!

University of Cincinnati

School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ohio University

His reputation in the art world began to grow in 1959 when he met Claes Oldenburg and Allan Kaprow. They opened a gallery in the Judson Memorial Church (Judson Gallery) in Greenwich Village and staged a series of theatrical events they called “Happenings.”

Many group Dine in with other Pop Artist. But Jim Dine’s work was more personal. His art came from deep inside him. His works pertains more to his lifelong search for self and for insights into what it means to be human.

(Show the next two slides after readingthe paragraphs below. These picturesare examples of what artist “saw” and painted. They were not personal.)

Still Life #24 1962 Tom Wesselmann

Rainy Day Taxi, Red Grooms, 2005

Draw or Paint

Lithograph

Woodcut

Throughout his career Jim Dine used common objects in his work that were meaningful in his own life--such as tools, bathrobes, and hearts. He used these objects over and over using many different media, such as painting,printing and sculpting. And when peoplesaw a heart, they knew right away it was created by Jim Dine.

HeartsMr. Dine began using hearts in the mid-1960s. It has appeared prominently in his paintings, drawings and prints as well as in his sculpture.

Four Hearts, 1969

This heart was created in Mr. Dine’s studio in the foothills of the BlueMountains just outside Walla Walla. It is called the Technicolor Heart.

Do you notice how big it is? Can you see tools on the outside of the heart?

Dine is also inspired by ancient art. His Venus figures are based on Venus de Milo a statue created second century BC that was discovered on the Greek island of Melos in 1820.

This statue can be found in Walla Walla! Mr. Dine carved the statue out of wood with a chain saw and then had it bronzed at the Walla Walla Foundry. It is located on Whitman campus, 380 Boyer Avenue. Look for it some time!

Bath robes

Jim Dine’s bathrobes are self-portraits. They are a stand-ins for himself. It is believed hedrew his first bathrobe froman ad in a newspaper.

Blood's on the River Now, 2005

1983 Cooper Street Robe (woodcut)

The Orange Birthday Robe 2010Lithograph with woodcut

His most recent theme is the figure of Pinocchio. Like many, Dine was introduced to the Pinocchio story through the Disney film when he was a child. He states at first, “I identified with the lying boy….”

As an artist he identifies with Geppetto, who brings the wooden puppet to life, and considers the figure a metaphor for what all artists do: bring ideas to life. “I saw the Walt Disney movie when I was six, and I was very frightened by it and enchanted by it.” In the 1960’s Mr. Dine found a Pinocchio doll at a junk store. It was made of paper mache with real clothes sewn by hand. He kept the doll for 30 years. In the 90’s, Mr. Dine felt he had to do something with it.

Red Pants II, 1999Etching with hand coloring

Pinocchio, 2008Screen print, woodblock

White Gloves, 4 Wheels, 2007

Sculpted from wood, about 7 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

Five Paint Brushes

ToolsTools are very important to Dine because they are part of his own self-portrait or who he is. When he was growing up in Cincinnati he spent a lot of time in his family’s hardware store, and has said that his earliest memories are of being around hand tools. Tools are an extension of himself as he creates.

No title

Big Red Wrench in a Landscape

Mr. Dine is brilliant. However, he struggled in school. When he was young, he had a hard time reading. It took him a long time to read a sentence. He had to guess a lot. And he tells us,

“…I was a bad boy in school primarily because I couldn’t read well, because I’m dyslexic. And the only thing I could read was poetry till I was 22 and I started to read novels. But you know, poetry kept me in the world of language.”

Poetry is written a few words or short sentences. This made it easy for Mr. Dine to read. Today he is an avid reader and he hads written numerous poetry and art books.

The first contemporary art project at the Museum at the Getty Villa, Los Angeles, California.

This is an example of Mr. Dine combining art with words.

Four Greek statuettes of female figures each 8-feet high, (painted wood) arranged around a 7-foot high self-portrait head of Jim Dine. The walls are covered in Mr. Dine’s poetry.

Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets), Jim Dine, 2008

Dine, renowned for his wit and creativity as a Pop and Happenings artist, has a restless, searching intellect that leads him to challenge himself constantly. Over four decades, Dine has produced more than three thousand paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints, as well as performance works, stage and book designs, poetry, and even music. His art has been the subject of numerous individual and group shows and is in the permanent collections of museums aroundthe world.

Where do your images come from?...

“They don’t come from anywhere. They come from dreams and they come from my childhood.”

Tool Art Project:

1) Write your name on the back of your paper.

2) Turn your paper over and draw one line across (horizontal) on your paper.

3) Trace or draw a tool of your choice. Ask a neighbor to help hold your tool.

4) Select two colors (compimentary) and color the background.

5) Color your tool.6) Write words if you would like.7) Spray your picture with baby oil and rub

with cotton ball.8) Clean up your area.