John E. Dowell Jr.
{{short description|American printmaker, professor (b. 1941)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = John Edward Dowell Jr.
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1941}}
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
| education = Art Students' League of Philadelphia,
Tyler School of Art (BFA),
Tamarind Institute
| occupation = Visual artist, printmaker, educator, painter
| known_for = Etching, lithography
| field =
| website = {{URL|http://johndowell.com/}}
}}
John Edward Dowell Jr. (born 1941) is an American printmaker,{{cite book|title=St. James Guide to Black Artists |editor=Thomas Riggs |publisher=St. James Press |year=1997 |isbn=9781558622203}} painter, and educator. He was a professor of printmaking at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia.{{cite web |url=http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/dowell_john_makeitshort.htm |title=John E. Dowell - Make It Short |publisher=Art of the Print |accessdate=January 28, 2017 |archive-date=March 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327110621/http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/dowell_john_makeitshort.htm |url-status=live }}
Life and education
Dowell was born on March 25, 1941, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3d0UfIE7wcC&q |title=Four Artists: Exhibition in Conjunction with "Focus Black America", Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana, April 13–May 11, 1969 |date=1969 |publisher=Indiana University Art Museum |language=en |via=Google Books}} and grew up in a housing project there. As a child, he explored art with his brother by copying the work in Lone Ranger comics.
When he was young he took classes at the Art Students' League of Philadelphia.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dr_pAAAAMAAJ& |title=Philadelphia, Three Centuries of American Art: Selections from the Bicentennial Exhibition Held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art from April 11 to October 10, 1976 |date=1976 |publisher=Philadelphia Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87633-016-6 |pages=624 |language=en}} Dowell studied at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University (now Tyler School of Art and Architecture), where he was mentored by ceramist Rudolf Staffel. He graduated from Tyler School of Art in 1963.{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rk3WAAAAMAAJ |title=Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin |date=1994 |publisher=Philadelphia Museum of Art |pages=42 |language=en |via=Google Books}} He mastered his printmaking skills at the Tamarind Institute in Los Angeles, California, where he worked as a senior printer.
Career
His work is influenced by abstract expressionists Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, and Jackson Pollock and jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Archie Shepp, and Cecil Taylor.{{cite web |date=July 2007 |title=Photographs of the President's House Archeological Site: A joint project of the Office of the Mayor, City of Philadelphia and Independence National Historical Park |url=http://www.phillyarchaeology.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/dowell-71.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161214215741/http://www.phillyarchaeology.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/dowell-71.pdf |archive-date=December 14, 2016 |accessdate=January 28, 2017 |publisher=Philadelphia Archaeological Forum}} While visiting Bahia, Brazil in 1988, Dowell explored interest in traditional African religions. He later converted to the voodoo religion,{{cite magazine |date=Winter 1995 |title=John Edward Dowell, Jr. |magazine=Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin |page= |pages=42–43 |volume=90 |issn=0031-7314}} but later was defrocked from the Voodoo priesthood.National African Religion Congress/NARC World
Dowell is well known for works keyed to music. He often focuses on abstract visual representations of poetry and music, notably jazz. In the late 1980s, he focused on art related to the voodoo religion. These works were inspired by voodoo forces and spirits.
Dowell's first individual exhibition was at the Swope Art Museum in 1968. Dowell's canvas, ceramic, and print works are showcased at over 70 museums worldwide, and he has had more than 50 solo exhibitions. He has also participated in a number of group exhibitions, including in "Philadelphia Teaches Printmaking" at Philadelphia's Print Club in 1978.{{Cite news|last=Forman|first=Nessa|date=1978|title=Philadelphia is Still Print City — Dowell Painting: Read it as Music, Read it as Dance, Read it as Art|work=The Philadelphia Inquirer}} His works are featured in many collections, including the Minneapolis Institute of Art,{{cite web |url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/92373/hat-and-beard-john-dowell |title=Hat and Beard, John Dowell |publisher=MIA |accessdate=January 28, 2017 |archive-date=February 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202200029/https://collections.artsmia.org/art/92373/hat-and-beard-john-dowell |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/92372/the-bridge-john-dowell |title=The Bridge, John Dowell |publisher=MIA |accessdate=January 28, 2017 |archive-date=February 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205034007/https://collections.artsmia.org/art/92372/the-bridge-john-dowell |url-status=live }} the Philadelphia Museum of Art,{{cite web |url=http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?searchTxt=&searchNameID=15509&searchClassID=&searchOrigin=&searchDeptID=&keySearch2=+Search+&accessionID=&page=1 |title=Collections: Search Collections |publisher=Philadelphia Museum of Art |accessdate=January 28, 2017 |archive-date=January 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128212909/http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/results.html?searchTxt=&searchNameID=15509&searchClassID=&searchOrigin=&searchDeptID=&keySearch2=+Search+&accessionID=&page=1 |url-status=live }} and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.{{cite web |url=http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/results/index.cfm?rows=10&q=&page=1&start=0&fq=name:%22Dowell%2C%20John%20E%2E%22 |title=Artworks Search Results / American Art |publisher=Smithsonian American Art Museum Renwick Gallery |accessdate=January 28, 2017 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Dowell also recorded photographic images of the President's House archaeological site.
Dowell's work was featured in the 2015 exhibition We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s at the Woodmere Art Museum.{{cite web |title=We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s |url=https://woodmereartmuseum.org/experience/exhibitions/we-speak-black-artists-in-philadelphia-1920s-1970s-95 |website=Woodmere Art Museum |access-date=4 June 2022 |language=en-gb |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924140042/https://woodmereartmuseum.org/experience/exhibitions/we-speak-black-artists-in-philadelphia-1920s-1970s-95 |url-status=live }}
Dowell has received many awards for his work, including the James Van Der Zee award from the Brandywine Workshop,{{cite web |url=https://brandywineworkshopandarchives.org/ |title=Brandywine Workshop |publisher=Brandywine Workshop |accessdate=November 12, 2020 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033858/https://brandywineworkshopandarchives.org/ |url-status=live }} and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.
References
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Category:20th-century African-American artists
Category:20th-century American artists
Category:21st-century African-American artists
Category:21st-century American artists
Category:African-American painters
Category:African-American printmakers
Category:20th-century American etchers
Category:American lithographers
Category:Artists from Philadelphia
Category:National Endowment for the Arts Fellows