This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| Born in Corsicana, Texas, James Blanding Sloan was a painter, wood carver, graphic artist, set designer, sculptor and illustrator. He kept his ties to Texas but spent most of his career in California with a brief stint in New York City.
Sloan studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He shared a studio with Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt and through him met George Senseney, whose color etchings inspired Sloan. Then Sloan worked in New York City designing stage sets for the theater including for musicals by Earl Carroll.
In the mid 1920s, Sloan lived in San Francisco and had a studio on Polk Street and a puppet theatre on Montgomery Street. In the 1930s, he was in Hollywood as a stage-set designer, and in 1934 became director of the WPA Federal Theater in Los Angeles.
During this time, he was also employed by the National Youth Administration in San Antonio as supervisor of arts and crafts at the La Villita restoration project. He then lived in New York City for a period of time and then returned to California.
According to one source, "He died in Canyon, California in 1975! He etched here, painted here and made glorious puppets here. (Thomas E Vinson).
Source:
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940
John and Deborah Powers, Texas Painters, Sculptors, & Graphic Artists
Thomas E Vinson, Note to AskART, November 2003
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