Biography from Annex Galleries:
| Paul Landacre, printmaker and illustrator, was born in Columbus, Ohio
and attended Ohio State University until he was suddenly crippled by
the onset of a debilitating illness. In 1916, he moved to Chula
Vista, California to recover from his illness, living with his newly
remarried father. During his long convalescence, Landacre roamed
the hillsides and found solace in drawing the landscape and soon
purchased his first blocks of linoleum. By 1922, he had moved to
Los Angeles to attend classes at the Otis Art Institute. Wood engraving
was not part of the curriculum, and Landacre was self-taught in this
art form.
He worked as a commerical illustrator, married Margaret McCreery in
1925, and with the support of his wife, devoted himself to wood
engraving in 1926. His first solo exhibition was at the Blanding
Sloan Workshop Gallery in San Francisco in 1929, and an exhibition the
following year at Zeitlin’s bookshop in Los Angeles was the genesis of
a long and rewarding relationship between the artist and Jake Zeitlin.
Landacre became the pre-eminent American woodengraver, an honor
bestowed by Rockwell Kent as well as Carl Zigrosser. His
woodengravings are brillant in their composition, style, and stark
contrasts and his mastery of the medium led to his election to the
National Academy of Design in 1946. He illustrated award-winning
books of poems for Ward Ritchie and Alexander Dumas’ A Gil Blas in California.
His first solo book, California Hills and other Woodengravings of
1931 won Fifty Books of the Year. Landacre taught woodengraving
at the University of Southern California, Otis Art Institute and the
Kahn Institute and held memberships in the California Society of
Etchers, California Print Makers Society, American Society of Wood
Engravers, and the American Society of Etchers, Gravers, Lithographers
and Woodcutters.
His woodengravings were included in numerous exhibitions, including the
1939 New York Worlds Fair, and are illustrated in numerous books on
woodengraving and American printmaking.
Repositories of his work include the Boston Museum of Fine Arts;
Library of Congress; Los Angeles Public Library; Museum of Modern Art,
New York; Oakland Museum; New York Public Library; Philadelphia Museum;
San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts; and the
Seattle Museum.
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Biography from AskART:
| Born in Columbus, OH on July 9, 1893, Paul Landacre,while a student at
Ohio State University, contracted a streptococcus infection which left
him crippled for life. Upon graduation in 1916, he relocated to
the milder climate of southern California. He soon began his
career in a San Diego advertising agency and about 1922 settled in Los
Angeles where he remained.
In 1926 he quit his job as a commercial artist to concentrate on
printmaking. Landacre taught wood engraving at Otis Art Institute
until his suicide on June 3, 1963.
He was the author-illustrator of several books including California Hills. Rockwell Kent once called him "the best American wood engraver working."
Memberships:
National Academy of Design, California Printmakers Society, California Society of Etchers, San Diego Fine Arts Society
Exhibitions:
Exh: Zeitlin Gallery (LA), 1930 (solo); Philadelphia Print Club, 1932
(1st prize), 1933, 1936, 1944; Bullock’s (LA), 1933; SFMA, 1935;
California Art Club, 1936; Northwest Prairie Print Makers, 1933-40
(prizes); Venice Biennale, 1938; Library of Congress, 1943, 1946
(prizes); Smithsonian Inst., 1947 (solo); LACMA, 1946, 1983 (solos).
Collections:
IBM; Boston Museum; Philadelphia Museum; Mills College (Oakland); SFMA;
NY Public Library; NMAA; Whitney Museum (NYC); Library of Congress;
LACMA; LA Public Library; Huntington Library (San Marino); Orange Co.
(CA) Museum; MOMA; Honolulu Academy of FA; Columbus (OH) Public
Library; Seattle Museum; Victoria & Albert Museum (London). | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Southern California Artists (Nancy Moure); Who's Who in American Art 1936-62; Who's Who in California 1942; Who's Who on the Pacific Coast 1949; Journal of the Print World, Fall 1991; Fine Art & Antiques, Dec. 1993. | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
Biography from AskART:
| | Born in Columbus, Ohio, he became one of the most skilled printmakers in the United States. He attended Ohio State University and spent a lifetime on wood engravings. He illustrated numerous books and taught at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. He was a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists. |
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