With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
J.W. Fuller Potter
Painting/Drawing
1910 – 1990
A modernist who gave up life in New York City to live and work in a rural setting, and subsequently exhibited rarely.
- Biography/Description of Work
During the 1940s, Potter’s work was still mostly figurative, but showed deliberate avoidance of ordinary representation. From the early 1950s on, Potter’s style aligned with the early works of Ad Reinhardt and with Jackson Pollock’s 1940s pre-drip works. He painted in the ‘New York School’ style, along with several of his contemporaries, including Franz Kline (1910–1962), Joan Mitchell (1925–1992), and Jackson Pollock (1912–1956). He had a few shows in that style at several New England art venues. The Museum of the City of New York exhibited Potter’s work along with Joan Miró and Georgia O’Keeffe in the main lobby in 1959. In 1950 Potter and his wife Alice Otis Potter, moved to a rural farmhouse in Ledyard, where he painted in a converted chicken coop. They also owned a house in Stonington and spent time in Europe.
- Sources view
- http://www.best-of-fuller-potter-paintings.com/index.html
- Associated Resource(s)