Eric Spencer Macky
{{Short description|New Zealand-born American artist and professor}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Eric Spencer Macky
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|11|16}}
| birth_place = Ponsonby, New Zealand
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1958|05|05|1880|11|16}}
| death_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.
| education = Elam Art School,
National Gallery of Victoria Art School,
Académie Julian
| alma_mater =
| spouse = Constance Lillian Jenkins (m. 1912–1958; death)
| children = 2
| office = 2nd President of California College of Arts and Crafts
| term_start = 1944
| term_end = 1954
| 1blankname =
| 1namedata =
| predecessor = Frederick Meyer
| successor = Daniel S. Defenbacher
| blank1 = Other names
| data1 = Spencer Macky,
E. Spencer Macky
| occupation = Painter, printmaker, educator, academic administrator
}}
File:Mother and Child by Eric Spencer Macky (cropped).jpg
Eric Spencer Macky, also known simply as Spencer Macky (1880–1958) was a New Zealand-born American painter, intaglio printmaker, academic administrator, and educator.{{Cite web|date=2018-09-21|title=Eric Spencer Macky|url=https://art.famsf.org/eric-spencer-macky|access-date=2021-07-25|website=FAMSF Search the Collections|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=1954|title=Reminiscences of Eric Spencer and Constance Macky : oral history transcript / and related material, 1954-1957.|url=https://oac.cdlib.org/search?style=oac4;Institution=UC%20Berkeley::Bancroft%20Library;titlesAZ=R;idT=UCb112348919|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Online Archive of California (OAC)}} He was president of the California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts), from 1944 until 1954. He also founded the Spencer Macky Art School in San Francisco, from 1916 until 1917. He was also known for his landscape paintings and scenes of San Francisco.
Biography
Eric Spencer Macky was born November 16, 1880, in Ponsonby{{Cite web|title=Eric Macky|url=https://www.aucklandartgallery.com/explore-art-and-ideas/artist/926|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Auckland Art Gallery|language=en}} near Auckland, New Zealand.{{Cite book|last=Hughes|first=Edan Milton|title=Artists in California, 1786-1940|year=1989|publisher=Hughes Publishing Company |isbn=9780961611217|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9LUzAQAAIAAJ}}{{Cite web|date=2014-04-07|title=Eric Spencer Macky (1880 – 1958)|url=https://bancroftlibrarycara.wordpress.com/eric-spencer-macky-1880-1958/|access-date=2021-07-25|website=California Art Research Archive|publisher=The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley|language=en}} He was interested in art at a young age and by age 14, he was attending the Elam Art School on a scholarship and studied under C. F. Goldie.{{Cite book|last=Julius|first=Harry|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-348692208/|title=Art in Australia|publisher=Argus and Robertson, Limited|others=Anthony Horderon and Sons, Ltd.|year=1919|editor-last=Smith|editor-first=Sydney Ure|volume=6|location=Sydney, Australia|pages=39|chapter=E. Spencer Macky|editor-last2=Stevens|editor-first2=Bertram|editor-last3=Jones|editor-first3=C. Lloyd}}{{Cite web|title=Eric Spencer Macky - Biography|url=https://www.askart.com/artist/Eric_Spencer_Macky/6643/Eric_Spencer_Macky.aspx|access-date=2021-07-25|website=AskArt.com}} From 1903 to 1906, Macky attended National Gallery of Victoria Art School (formally National Gallery School of Painting) studying under Lindsay Bernard Hall; and continued studies in 1907 at Académie Julian in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens.
Macky arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area between 1910 and 1912. He taught at California School of Arts and Crafts (now known as California College of the Arts) from 1913 to 1921; University of California, Berkeley; and he was the Dean of California School of Fine Arts (now known as San Francisco Art Institute) from 1919 until 1935. He had notable students including Robert Boardman Howard,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5IEzw2IJ5ZQC|title=Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers|publisher=Apollo|year=1986|isbn=978-0-938290-04-9|editor-last=Opitz|editor-first=Glenn B.|location=Poughkeepsie, NY|language=en}} George Post,{{Cite book|last1=McClelland|first1=Gordon T.|url=http://www.calart.com/artists/featured/Post-George/166|title=California Watercolors 1850-1970|last2=Last|first2=Jay T.|publisher=Hillcrest Press, Inc.|year=2002|via=CalArt.com}} and John Melville Kelly.
In 1944, Spencer Macky was appointed President of California College of Arts and Crafts when the college's founder Frederick Meyer retired. Macky held this position for a decade, until 1954.{{cite book |title=CCAC the Art College in the Community |publisher=the Press of the California College of Arts and Crafts |pages=16–17 |url=https://vault.cca.edu/items/e0bda1d0-308b-4676-84df-6f08d92df97b/1/ |access-date=6 January 2022}}
Eric Spencer Macky and his spouse Constance founded in 1916, the Spencer Macky Art School in San Francisco.{{Cite book|url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/cara/ucb/text/Cara_Volume_15.pdf|title=California Art Research|year=1937|isbn=0-910938-88-1|editor-last=Hailey|editor-first=Gene|series=Series 1, W.P.A. Project 2874|volume=15|location=San Francisco, California|publication-date=1987|pages=99–118|editor-last2=Schwartz|editor-first2=Ellen Halteman}} The first location of the school was at Post Street, near Gough Street in a building that housed many other notable artists including Leo Lentelli, Clark Hobart, William Claussen, Louise Mahoney, Florence Lundberg, Sigmund Beel, and George Hyde.{{Cite book|url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/cara/ucb/text/Cara_Volume_15.pdf|title=California Art Research|year=1937|isbn=0-910938-88-1|editor-last=Hailey|editor-first=Gene|series=Series 1, W.P.A. Project 2874|volume=15|location=San Francisco, California|publication-date=1987|pages=99–118|editor-last2=Schwartz|editor-first2=Ellen Halteman}} The school was popular and moved to a larger space at the "Artists Building" at 535 Sacramento Street in San Francisco. By 1917, the Spencer Macky Art School was merged with the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA; now known as the San Francisco Art Institute).
Macky was married to Constance Lillian Jenkins in 1912 in Berkeley, California.{{Cite book|url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/cara/ucb/text/Cara_Volume_15.pdf|title=California Art Research|year=1937|isbn=0-910938-88-1|editor-last=Hailey|editor-first=Gene|series=Series 1, W.P.A. Project 2874|volume=15|location=San Francisco, California|publication-date=1987|pages=99–118|editor-last2=Schwartz|editor-first2=Ellen Halteman}} They had two sons, their son, Donald Spencer Macky (1913–2007) was an artist.{{Cite web|title=Donald Macky|url=https://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/obituaries/donald-macky/article_71cf471a-e912-543b-8a00-1306b043f6e8.html|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Napa Valley Register|date=15 December 2007 |language=en}}
Death and legacy
Macky died on May 5, 1958, in San Francisco. Macky's work is included in public museum collections, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Musée d'Orsay,{{Cite web|title=Eric Spencer Macky|url=https://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/espace-professionnels/professionnels/chercheurs/rech-rec-art-home/notice-artiste.html?nnumid=116173|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Musée d'Orsay: Notice d'Artiste}} Seattle Art Museum,{{Cite web|title=Spencer Macky|url=https://art.seattleartmuseum.org/people/4688/spencer-macky;jsessionid=8D0157DBDF2A8DC353A39A215B37EB34/objects|access-date=2021-07-25|website=Seattle Art Museum}} and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.
In fall 2013, three lost murals were discovered on the campus of San Francisco Art Institute, including Spencer Mackey’s Life Drawing Class (1936) by Eleanor Bates Streloff.{{Cite web|date=2015-08-31|title=Lost Fresco From 1930 Uncovered at San Francisco Art Institute|url=https://www.7x7.com/lost-fresco-from-1930-uncovered-at-san-francisco-art-institute-1787227514.html|access-date=2021-07-25|website=7x7 Bay Area|language=en}} Artist Ruth Cravath carved a bust of Macky in 1935, which is now part of the collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.{{Cite web|title=Head of E. Spencer Macky|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/35-3394/|access-date=2021-07-25|website=SFMOMA|language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Eric Spencer Macky}}
- [https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/ft8q2nb6db/ Photo of Spencer Macky (1948) from the Hagemeyer (Johan) Photograph Collection]
- [http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b11234891~S1 Reminiscences of Eric Spencer and Constance Macky: oral history transcript / Eric S. Macky; tape recorded interview conducted in 1954. Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, California, 1957: and related material, 1954-1957.]
{{California College of the Arts|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macky, Eric Spencer}}
Category:20th-century New Zealand artists
Category:Académie Julian alumni
Category:California College of the Arts faculty
Category:New Zealand emigrants to the United States
Category:New Zealand expatriates in Australia
Category:New Zealand expatriates in France
Category:Presidents of California College of the Arts
Category:San Francisco Art Institute faculty
Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty
Category:Heads of universities and colleges in the United States