Alan Magee

Painter, sculptor, illustrator and printmaker Alan Magee began his career as an award-winning illustrator in the New York publishing world, with clients including Time Magazine, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Playboy, and several book publishers for whom he created many book covers.

In the late 1970s, Magee began to concentrate exclusively on painting. By the early 1980s, he was creating exquisitely detailed canvases that soon earned him critical acclaim prompting The Saturday Review to name him, “a dazzling New Realist painter.”

Intense observation and introspection have been hallmarks of Magee's art throughout his career. No longer solely a painter, Magee works with a variety of materials and methods including computer-generated collages, sculptures, tapestries, and animated videos. Through a wide selection of media, Magee's dedication to reality is now primarily concerned with psychological truths. His subject matter is varied and complicated and delves into issues such as childhood violence, isolation, and the continuation of life on earth through cycles of growth and destruction.

Magee has exhibited work at the Michener Art Museum on several occasions, notably including, Alan Magee: Retrospective in 1991 and Alan Magee: Three Decades of Paintings, Sculptures and Graphics in 2003.

Education and Training
Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Ambler, Pennsylvania, 1965-1966
Bucks County Community College, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 1966-1967
Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1967-1969

Teachers and Influences
Hannah Höch
Berlin Dada
The 1920s

Connection to Bucks County
Alan Magee was born in Newtown, Pennsylvania in 1947. He lived and worked in the greater Newtown area until 1976 when he moved to Maine, where he still resides today. Additionally, Magee was both an instructor and a student at the Bucks County Community College in Newtown.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Insight, Forum Gallery, New York, NY, 2010
Alan Magee: Paintings and Tapestries, Forum Gallery, New York, NY, 2007
Sordoni Art Museum, Wilkes-Barre, PA, 2006
Luxembourg Embassy, Berlin, Germany, by invitation, Spectrum Concerts, Berlin, 2005
Thingpoems: New Paintings and Tapestries, Elan Fine Arts, Rockland, ME, 2004
Parables, Forum Gallery, New York, NY, 2003
Alan Magee: Three Decades of Paintings, Sculptures and Graphics, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA, 2003
Forum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2002
Undercurrents, Atrium Gallery, University of Southern Maine, Lewiston, ME, 2001
Alan Magee, Monotypes, Berlin Edith Caldwell Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1992-1998
Carnegie Hall, University of Maine at Orono, 1994
Cheekwood Center for the Arts, Nashville, TN, 1992
Kodak’s Center for Creative Imaging, Camden, ME, 1992
Selby Gallery, Ringling School of Art & Design, Sarasota, FL, 1992
A Ten Year Survey, Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME, 1991
A Ten Year Survey, Michener Art Center, Doylestown, PA, 1991
Staempfi Gallery, New York, New York, 1980, 1982, 1990
Alan Magee, Paintings and Drawings, Allport Associates Gallery, Larkspur, California, 1981
FIAC Grand Palais, Paris, France, 1983
Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, 1983
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California, 1983
Newport Art Museum, Newport, Rhode Island, 1984
Allport Gallery, San Francisco, California, 1984, 1986, 1989
Fresno Art Center, Fresno, California, 1985
University of Maine, Orono, Maine, 1985
Meckler Gallery, Los Angeles, Califonia, 1986
Schmidt Bingham Gallery, New York, New York, 1986, 1989
Alan Magee, Stones and Other Works, Pennswood Art Gallery, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 1987
Gallerie Gérard Gustau, Paris, Fance, 1988
Schmidt Bingham Gallery, NY, NY, 1986
Fresno Art Center, Fresno, CA, 1985
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME, 1984
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, 1983
Staempfli Gallery, NY, NY, 1982
Allport Gallery, San Francisco, CA, 1981
Staempfli Gallery, NY, NY, 1980

Major Group Exhibitions
Allport Associates Gallery, Larkspur, California, 1982
Sols, Peintures, Sculptures, Installations, Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Paris, France, 1984
39th Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1987
165th Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, New York, 1990
Rolywholyover, A Circus, John Cage, Curator, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 1995
The Monotype in America, National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC, 1997
Contemporary American Realist Drawings, Art Institute of Chicago, IL, 1999
2006 Biennial: Contemporary American Realism, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN, 2006
An Evolving Legacy: Twenty Years of Collecting at the James A. Michener Art Museum, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 2009-2010
Reality Check: Contemporary American Trompe l’Oeil, Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, PA, 2010
Parting Gifts: Artists Honor Bruce Katsiff, Director/CEO, 1989-2012, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 2012

Selected Private Collections
Mobil Oil
The Atlantic Richfield Co.
Lucasfilm Inc.
Cargill Corporation
Continental Grain
The Bank of Japan
The Union Trust Bank
The Janss Collection
The Collections of Billy Wilder, Henry Fonda, Chermayeff & Geissmar, Arnold Newman, Johnny Carson, Mike Nichols and Diane Sawyer, Nicolas Cage, Morley Safer, Burton and Deedee McMurtry

Selected Public Collections
Achenbach Foundation, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK
Art Institute of Chicago, Davidson Collection of American Realist Drawings, Chicago, IL
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
De Cordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, ME
Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pittsburgh, PA
Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV
James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA
Jane Vorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NB
Maine State House, Augusta, ME
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ
Norton Gallery & School of Art, W. Palm Beach, FL
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Rutgers Museum of Art, NJ

Selected Commissions
TIME Magazine, covers, 2/20/78, 4/23/79, 3/9/81, 2/15/82, 4/15/85
New York Times Sunday Magazine, cover, 9/16/73
New York Magazine, cover, 12/24/73
Atlantic magazine, article, 5/87
Atlantic magazine, article, 5/90
OMNI magazine, cover, 9/79
Pocketbooks, Avon Books, Ballentine Books, cover art

Publications
Stories and Other Works by Alan Magee, published by Harry N. Abrams, 1987
Alan Magee Inlets, published by Joan Whitney Payson Gallery of Art, 1990
Alan Magee 1981-1991, published by Farnsworth Art Museum, 1991
Archive, Alan Magee Monotypes, published by Darkwood Press and Spectrum Concerts Berlin, 2000
Alan Magee: Paintings, Sculpture, Graphics, Forum Gallery, 2003
Time Pieces by Barry Lopez with monotypes by Alan Magee, published by Knopf, 2004

Major Television Performances
KGO San Francisco, CA Channel 7, interview, 1983
WCBB, PBS Lewiston-Auburn, ME, “Alan Magee, Visions of Darkness and Light,” 1988
Cable TV Bucks County, Pennsylvania, "Alan Magee 1981-1991," 1991
WCBB, "Three Maine Artists," Lewiston, Maine, 1992
MPBN, "Made in Maine, Center for Creative Imaging," Lewiston, Maine, interview, 1993
Maine PBS, “Alan Magee, Maine Master,” 2003

Radio
Maine Public Radio Interview, 1985
Voice of America Interview, 1986
Monitor Radio Interview, National Public Radio, 1987
WHYY, Philadelphia, ARTSCAPE Interview, 1991
KPFA, (Pacifica Radio) Berkeley, CA, Interview, 1993
Voice of America Interview, 1989Utah Public Radio, 2000

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Instructor of Drawing and Illustration, Bucks County Community College, Newtown, Pennsylvania, 1975
Instructor, Maine Photographic Workshop, Rockport, Maine, 1983

Major Awards
Art Directors Club of Los Angeles, client: McCall's Magazine, 1974
New York Art Director's Club Award, 1977
Playboy Magazine, Annual Editorial Award, 1977
Society of Publication Designers, client: Playboy, 1978
Society of Publication Designers, client: Psychology Today, 1978
Artists Guild of Chicago, Chicago 78, Certificate of Excellence, client: Playboy, 1978
Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1981
Communication Arts, Award of Excellence, 1983, 1979, 1978, 1977
The American Book Award, 1982
Society of Illustrators, Certificates of Merit, 1974-1988
Leo Meissner Prize, National Academy of Design, 1990
Maine Arts Commission Fellowship for Film, Media Arts, 1992
Communication Arts, Award of Excellence, 2001