Vickrey - "Lines, Lines" Realistic tempera painting of a young man drawing with chalk on cement

Robert Vickrey • American (1926-2011)

Lines, Lines • Tempera on Board 30 3/4" x 40"

Robert Vickrey looked at himself as the Rodney Dangerfield of the modern art world. He didn’t get no respect. He was the a Realist in a world of Abstract Expressionists, Photo Realists, Surrealists, Pop Artists, Conceptual Artists, Kinetic Artists and assorted other Masters of the Realm. He was a classic square peg in a round hole, even during his student days when he snuck into the Yale art building through a small unlocked bathroom window because he preferred to work at night, while the university preferred to lock the doors at 5:00. “They said it was to prevent orgies,” Vickrey reported.

“I will always be an outsider, in my opinion, because my work is certainly outside the current mode.” His ultra-realistic style of painting may have fallen out of favor, shortly after the Renaissance ended in the late 1600s, but it would be wrong to think of his work as dated. His art had a captivating air of mystery brought about by off-beat viewing angles, dramatic shadows and culturally-significant symbols to create what Is regularly described as Magical Realism.

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According to Philip Eliasoph, author of Robert Vickrey, the Magic of Realism, “Here was an artist who, in the words of poet Robert Frost, walked the ‘road less traveled.’” The art world was searching for cool, unemotional art, and Robert Vickrey wore his heart on his sleeve. “Well, I like to be emotional and that’s what I would like to be remembered for.”

Vickrey should not have feared insignificance. Shortly after leaving Yale, his painting, Labrynth, was chosen for a show a “Year’s Best” exhibition at the Whitney, the grand church of American modernism, From that time forward, Vickrey served as a balancing outrigger to modern arts’ wilder tendencies. As Eliasophe wrote: “Vickrey’s illusions demand our attention with the understanding that the more we look the greater the complexity. Our release begins only by ceasing our search for answers. A rewarding strategy is to merely submit to their radiance.”

Come to the Canton Museum of Art and “submit to the radiance” of Robert Vickrey, a man stuck on a window ledge, with his head in the Renaissance while his bare feet kicked against the grip of modernism.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • Gift of the Hoover Foundation, 86.8

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

1.
“His ultra-realistic style clashed with the abstract direction of modern art, but there was a deep mystery in all his paintings, so they were classified as ‘Magic Realism.’”

2.
“He was probably the only Realist to appear 9 times in the Whitney’s yearly exhibition of the best new contemporary art, but still felt like he got no respect.”

3.
“He was a master of egg tempura painting, a lost art from Renaissance times that mixed pigments with egg yolks. Would you like that painting sunny-side-up?”

4.
“The nuns of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul were frequent subjects of his work. They represented purity and he liked their hats.”

Vickrey Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1926

Born Robert Remsen Vickrey in New York City.

1944

Studied art at the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Connecticut before enlisting in the Navy’s V-12 officer’s training program. As part of the program he was sent to study at Wesleyan University and Yale. During his Yale career he was known for sneaking into the building at night to work due to the school’s policy of closing the building at 5:00 PM to, supposedly, avoid orgies.

Late 1949

While studying at Yale School of Art with Lewis York, he began to learn the Renaissance art of egg tempera where pigments are mixed with egg yolk, vinegar and water. Over the course of his long career, Vickrey became the undisputed master of this painting technique.

1950

Earned his BFA from Yale, studying with famed German Bauhaus artist, Josef Albers. It is to Albers great credit that he was able to nurture a talent whose stylistic tastes were so different than his own.

1950

1952

His painting, Labrynth, depicting a nun caught in a bleak labyrinth of corridors, was selected for the Whitney Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art. In total, he had work selected for nine of these Whitney exhibitions during his career. The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, with their distinctive outfits, became frequent subjects of his paintings.

1954

Painted his first cover for Time Magazine. Over the next decade he painted over 75 cover illustrations for the magazine, including a portrait of John F. Kennedy. The 1950s and 60s were really his heyday as a popular painter.

1962

As a fellow at Yale, he received a grant from the Graham Foundation for an exhibit and lecture on his work.

1964

He was selected to paint Martin Luther King for the cover of Time Magazine’s Man Of The Year issue. By the end of the 1960s, he had fallen out of favor with the art world and was often viewed more as an illustrator than fine artist.

1973

Wrote the first of two books with Diane Cochrane, titled: New Techniques in Egg Tempera. The second book, Robert Vickrey: Artist at Work, was published in 1979.

1980s

As the art world began to reassess Magic Realists like Paul Cadmus, Jared French and George Tooker, there was renewed interest in Vickrey’s work leading to a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Art, Science and Industry in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1982.

1997

First wife, Marjorie, died. She was the mother of his son, Scott and Daughters, Elizabeth and Nicole. He later married his second wife, Beverly Bowen Rumage.

2008

A comprehensive biography, Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism was written by Philip Eliasoph, art history professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Fairfield College. The publisher was Hudson Hills.

2011

Died at his home in Naples, Florida at the age of 84. He was a working artist and always looking for new ideas and techniques until the day he died.