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February 1963
Painting

1963
61 1/4 x 69 3/4 in. (155.58 x 177.17 cm)

Frank Lobdell (Kansas City, Missouri, 1921 - 2013, Palo Alto, California)

Object Type: Painting

Medium and Support: Oil on canvas

Credit Line: Gift of Michael Hackett, Hackett Mill Gallery

Accession Number: 2009.07

Exhibition

Frank Lobdell: Wonderland, March 10, 2012 - August 5, 2012, New Wing, Second Floor, North Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

A Culture of Spontaneity: San Francisco Abstract Expressionism From the Permanent Collection, November 8, 2008 - July 5, 2009, New Wing, Second Floor, North Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years, October 3, 2004 - February 13, 2005, New Wing, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, First Floor, San José Museum of Art.

SJMA Label Text

Frank Lobdell: Wonderland (2012)

February 1963 (1963) represents a turning point in Lobdell’s conception of space and development of forms and figures. Complicated relationships exist between the painting’s expansive field of yellow, a central dark oval, and two crescent-shaped forms. Although February 1963 (1963) was made before the printing of the lithograph ’67, which is located to the right of this painting, a strong affinity between the two works suggest that neither medium took precedence over the other. In fact, Lobdell viewed painting and printmaking as equally important endeavors that embodied a variety of possible spatial divisions, which he would alter and repeat in subsequent works.

A Culture of Spontaneity: San Francisco Abstract Expressionism From the Permanent Collection (2008-2009)

The painting of Frank Lobdell epitomizes a strain of the San Francisco movement furthest removed from the New York School. Slow and deliberate rather than brash and impulsive, his brooding art is the very antithesis of Manhattan-based “action painting.” Lobdell, who saw heavy action at the front lines near the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, viewed the human condition as an endless struggle for meaning, purpose, and dignity. He expressed that struggle, not through turbulent gesture, but through forms that seemed burdened, as art historian Hirschel Chipp described them, “with the agony of a human organism confronted with an environment that offers little that is certain—no horizon, no gravity, no substance.”

It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years (2004-2005)

Many artists, including Frank Lobdell, believe that giving titles to paintings eliminates the possibility for multiple interpretations. Instead, Lobdell refers to the specific time period in which his work was made. Central to February 1963 (1963) is the artist’s struggle to locate meaning in an increasingly confusing and disaffected world. The vaguely anthropomorphic, upward climbing womb- or pod-like form alludes to the struggle to rise above the difficulties of life, a theme that is prevalent in Lobdell’s work.

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Location Latitude: 2nd Floor Gallery North, Longitude: WR 17

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Exhibition List

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Culture of Spontaneity: SF Abstract Expressionism from the Permanent Collection San Jose Museum of Art , 11/8/2008 - 7/5/2009

Dimensions

Image Dimensions: 61 1/4 x 69 3/4 in. (155.58 x 177.17 cm)

Bibliography List

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Selections: The San Jose Museum of Art Permanent Collection. Selections: The San Jose Museum of Art Permanent Collection San Jose Museum of Art. San Jose, CA, 2004
Page Number: 144-145

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