O'Sickey - "Maine Porch" Oil painting of a porch with a chair, rug, tables and many plants

Joseph O’Sickey • American (1918-2013)

Maine Porch • Oil Painting 69" x 83.75"

The great artist with sparkling eyes peers from the cover of the Canton Museum of Art’s exhibition catalog. Around his neck is a twisted scarf, once colorful, now faded and carelessly tied. For the last seven years of his life, Joseph O’Sickey was seldom seen without a colorful scarf around his neck. They had been owned by his deceased wife, Algesa, the girl he met in the gallery. You don’t have to be a hopeless romantic to appreciate the life of Joseph O’Sickey. But, it helps. After all, this is an artist who viewed painting as “a process of controlled rapture.”

To Joseph O’Sickey art was about relationships. “Things have their meaning only in relationship to other things,” He could easily have been talking about his marriage to Algesa or a fundamental principle of art: Neither (figure nor ground) can be viewed except in relation to each other, and changing one is impossible without changing the other, as well.

In rebellion against Abstract Expressionism, O’Sickey sought spontaneity, “as long as I did sketches in reaction to what I saw, I wasn’t reacting to anybody else’s work.”

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However, it was a tedious journey to spontaneity. For 6 months O’Sickey sketched objects using only a #6 brush and black ink, learning to capture the essence of a subject quickly and simply. “I felt that as long as I went through my process of drawing, there was no way my drawings could be like anybody else’s.”

And so O’Sickey went about building an enviable art career and life. While his last show at the Canton Museum of Art was still running, he sat for a final interview with Cleveland writer, Steven Litt. “I’ve had a wonderful life, and I had Algesa. No matter how successful another artist might be, he didn’t have Algesa.”

Two days after the exhibition closed the old artist died, still wearing the scarf of the girl he met in the art gallery so many years before. The art world mourned. Obituaries noted his many honors, including the Governor’s Award for the Arts. Former students recalled his lessons on perspective, in art and life. Stacks of sketch journals were found in his home, containing images from his travels, homes, gardens, war and loves.

In the end, his drawings were his life.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Gift of the Artist, 995.2

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“While a soldier in World War II he drew over 750 sketches of North Africa, India and Burma. Too bad the war had to end.”

2.
“His first art show was a 2-man show at The Ohio State University. The other artist was famed Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.”

3.
“Rebelling against Abstract Expressionism, he and Lichtenstein developed very different styles. O’Sickey sought spontaneity.”

4.
“He felt the key to great art was great relationships between objects. Works in life, too.”

O’Sickey Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1918

Born in Detroit to a Polish family whose name appeared Irish since an apostrophe had been added by an Ellis Island clerk. By the age of 4 the family had moved to Cleveland’s ethnic southeast side where he attended a grade school with a special focus on the arts.

1936

Graduated from East Technical High School. Throughout his school career he took weekend classes at The Cleveland School Art (Cleveland Institute of Art).

1940

Earned a BFA degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art where he studied under legendary artists Henry Keller and Viktor Schreckengost. Began service in the U.S. Army shortly before Pearl Harbor in 1941.

1945

Finally left the service at the end of World War II. He served in Africa, India and Burma. Returning home with him were over 750 drawings made during the war.

1946

While visiting the renowned 1030 Art Gallery in downtown Cleveland, he met the assistant manager, Algesa D’Agostino. He claimed love at first sight, but soon embarked on a trip through western states with fellow artists,

1947

Returned to Ohio and a teaching position at The Ohio State University. Married Algesa and returned to Cleveland where he made a living as a commercial artist and design director.

1948

The Ohio State University staged a 2-person show, pairing O’Sickey with famed Pop Artist Ray Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein became a lifelong friend.

1956

Began teaching beginning design at Western Reserve University’s School of Architecture. He and Algesa, an artist in her own right, formed a design partnership with architect Robert Little and his wife Anne, an interior designer.

1962

He and Algesa bought a house on Deer Isle, Maine. This summer home becomes a frequent subject of his art, including Maine Porch, now at the Canton Museum of Art.

1963

Began a long relationship with the Jacques Seligmann Galleries in New York City. At the time it was one of the most prestigious galleries in the world.

1968

Family, including son Joseph, moved from Cleveland Heights to Twin Lakes, near Kent, Ohio. They built an idyllic garden behind their home that became the subject of many O’Sickey paintings.

1968-1987

Taught art at Kent State University where he became a popular and highly-respected professor.

1987

An interview with O’Sickey appeared in Golden Anniversary issue of American Artist Magazine, testimony to his spreading reputation.

2006

Algesa died at the age of 89. From that day forward Joseph was seldom seen without one of her brightly colored scarves around his neck.

2007

Cleveland Artists Foundation mounted a 7 decade retrospective of his work titled, Menageries and Other Worlds.

2009

Designed and underwrote a program for high school students in Portage County providing them with sketchbooks and instruction on how to “see better” by understanding how the meaning of everything is found in relationships.

2013

Awarded prestigious Ohio Governor’s Award for the Arts in the individual artist category.

Canton Museum of Art stages Joseph O’Sickey: Unifying Art, Life and Love. He died of Lymphoma two days after the show closed.