Maker/Artist
Whitten, Jack
American painter and sculptor, 1939-2018
Whitten initially studied medicine at the Tuskegee Institute, but moved to Louisiana to begin studying art. He became involved in the Civil Rights movement there, and subsequently moved to New York in 1960 to study at Cooper Union. His mature works were made employing combs, laminations, rakes, and squeegees to apply acrylic paint to canvas. His late works were made using chips of acrylic paint to build mosaic-like surfaces. Whitten's sculptures which he first created in New York and later at his summer home on Crete, consist of carved wood, found objects and materials including bone, marble, paper, glass, nails, and fishing line.
