Jake Berthot Untitled 1985 Oil On Linen

Art Sz: 20"H x 18"W

Frame Sz: 23 1/2"H x 21 1/2"W

Jake Berthot (1939–2014) was an American artist whose abstract paintings contained elements of both the minimalist and expressionist styles. During the first 36 years of his career his paintings were entirely non-figurative. His style changed in 1995 when he moved his studio from New York City to a rural community in upstate New York. While continuing to be abstract his paintings thereafter contained figurative elements and were seen to have greater emotional content. Throughout his career his work frequently appeared in solo and group exhibitions in both commercial and public galleries. It has been collected by the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, National Gallery of Art, and other major American art museums. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1981 and a National Endowment for the Arts grant in 1983.

Berthot was born on March 30, 1939 in Niagara Falls, New York, and, from age two, was raised on a truck farm in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, 175 miles to the south. As a child, he received his first drawing lessons from his maternal grandmother who was also his primary caregiver. Having completed his education at local public schools, he briefly enrolled in a commercial art school in Pittsburgh before moving on to New York where, from 1960 to 1962, he attended evening classes at Pratt Institute and from 1960 to 1961 at the New School for Social Research. Berthot later credited a Pratt instructor, Hank Raleigh, with getting him a start as a professional painter. The classes he took gave him relatively little grounding in the technique or history of art, but he learned much from hours spent in museums. He also learned much from other artists, particularly Milton Resnick who, as he later said, took him under his wing and through his friendship and guidance I became more aware of the real possibility of painting."