Author Description

While the history of mid-twentieth-century modernism reveals many well-known heroes, other artists played equally roles, including Everett Gee Jackson. As a pioneer of progressive art in Southern California, Jackson was once considered "altogether too ultra" for some local critics, but this label did not prevent him from becoming the so-called dean of San Diego artists. Jackson's lifelong interest in vanguard aesthetics and his commitment to formalist principles in art-making merit careful study. Everett Gee Jackson/San Diego Modern 1920-1955 is the first comprehensive look at the artist since his death in 1995. In this well-illustrated book, D. Scott Atkinson chronicles Jackson's varied career, from his youth in East Texas, to his early training at the Art Institute of Chicago, through his extended Mexican sojourn - where he encountered the influential work of Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco - to his long and distinctive presence in the Southern California art community. As an exhibiting artist, illustrator of popular books, and revered teacher, Jackson produced a storing legacy. with 52 color plates.