Lucas Johnson (artist)

Lucas Johnson
Lucas Johnson, Houston, Texas, 1990s
Born	Leonard Lucas Johnson Jr. (1940-10-24)October 24, 1940 Hartford, Connecticut
Died	August 31, 2002(2002-08-31) (aged 61) Aransas Pass, Texas
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting, drawing, printmaking
Movement	Social realism, Surrealism
Spouses	Sharon Johnston Helen Bickham ​ (m. 1964⁠–⁠1971)​ Patricia Covo ​ (m. 1971⁠–⁠2002)​

Lucas Johnson (October 24, 1940 – August 31, 2002) was an American artist and major force in the Texas art scene from the late 1960s to the early 2000s.

Johnson left New Orleans for New York, where he met a group of writers that included poet and editor Daniel Halpern, and the poet Joel Cohen. In 1962, at Cohen's invitation, Johnson accompanied the writer to Mexico City. When Cohen returned to the U.S., Johnson cashed in his return ticket and stayed in Mexico. He would live there for the next ten years.^[5]

Career

In Mexico, Johnson immersed himself in the country's humanist and socio-political art traditions, eventually becoming a first-rate artist.

Among the sites showcasing his work were the Galeria Sagitario, a co-op, of sorts, and the Galeria de Arte Misrachi, a venue specializing in Mexican "Old Masters." Initially, Johnson exhibited only drawings, which were lauded as the product of a consummate draftsman. He would start showing his paintings in 1967. They were received with similar enthusiasm.[5]

In the mid-1960s, Johnson made the acquaintance of Dorman and Diane David, a Houston-based brother and sister who owned a rare bookstore and art gallery. Dorman frequently visited Mexico in search of historical documents and Texana. From 1964 until it closed in 1972, David Gallery regularly featured Johnson's paintings and drawings in solo shows.^[5]

In 1972, Johnson and his third wife Patricia Covo, a native Mexican of European heritage, returned to the U.S., first to New Mexico and then to Houston, Texas. In Houston's vibrant art scene of the era, Johnson's reputation grew and he rapidly developed a following.^[6] Covo Johnson founded a gallery, Covo de Iongh, in 1975. She represented her husband's work, and that of Mexican artists, until the gallery ceased operations in 1978. Johnson signed on with Moody Gallery in 1975.^[1] He exhibited there until his death; the gallery still handles his work.^[8]

Work

Johnson's oeuvre has been characterized as "

While the meticulous and frequently delicate drawings are rendered in black and gray tones, Johnson's paintings burst with vivid colors: reds, oranges, blues and greens.[5]

Personal life

Johnson married three times. The marriage to first wife, Sharon Johnston, his high school sweetheart, lasted for less than a year and ended before his cross-country trek. His second wife, artist Helen Bickham, was teaching English at Mexico City's Instituto Politécnico Nacional when she and Johnson met. They married in 1964 and divorced in 1971. He met his third wife, former gallerist and Houston Chronicle art critic, Patricia Covo, while she was managing the Galeria de Arte Misrachi in Mexico City. They wed in November 1971. At the time of his death, they had been married nearly 31 years.^[5]

Johnson maintained studios in Houston's Montrose neighborhood and then on Columbia Street in Houston Heights. In 1997, the Johnsons bought commercial property in Rockport, Texas, where Lucas intended to build a new primary studio.^[5]

He died unexpectedly of heart failure at the age of 61 while fishing with Art Guy Jack Massing at Aransas Pass.^[4]

Johnson's ashes were scattered on Copano Bay. A plaque dedicated to his memory is installed on the observation deck at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. It reads, "Lucas Johnson, October 24, 1940-August 31, 2002. Artist, angler, birder, and friend."^[5]

Achievements and legacy

Collections

Johnson's work is in the permanent collections of many museums, including:^[9]

• Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, Texas
• Houston Airport System, Houston, Texas
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas
• Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
• San Antonio, Texas
• Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas
• Jose Luis Cuevas Museum of Drawings
  , Mexico City, Mexico
• Museum of Modern Art,
  Tel Aviv, Israel
• Toledo Museum,
  Oaxaca, Mexico
• National Museum,
  Warsaw, Poland
• Brooklyn, New York
• Los Angeles, California
• San Francisco, California
• Delgado Museum of Art
  , New Orleans, Louisiana
• Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Smithsonian Institution, American Graphics Collection, Washington, D.C.
• Mexico, D.F.
• Brooklyn Library
  , Brooklyn, New York
• University of Texas, Austin, Texas
• University of Houston Print Collection, Houston, Texas
• Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico
• Mexican Museum, San Francisco, California
• Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, California
• Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, Texas
• Instituto Mexicano-Norteamericano, Mexico, D.F.
• University of Southern Illinois, Carbondale, Illinois
• Wichita Falls Museum, Wichita Falls, Texas
• Museum of Fine Arts at the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Museo Jose Luis Cuevas, Mexico City, Mexico
• Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee
• Fibracel de Mexico, Mexico, D.F.
• Malone and Hyde, Memphis, Tennessee
• General Motors Foundation Permanent Traveling Collection
• Bank of the Southwest, Houston, Texas
• Wilson Industries, Houston, Texas
• Andrews and Kurth, Houston, Texas

Solo exhibitions

Johnson's solo exhibitions include the following.^[9]

Selected group exhibitions

Notable group exhibitions that featured Johnson's work include:^[9]

Awards

In 1996, The Art League of Houston named Johnson Artist of the Year. Concurrent with this celebration were three solo exhibitions of his work:^[9]

• "Texas Artist of the Year", Art League of Houston, Houston, Texas
• "Lucas Johnson: A Survey", University of Texas at San Antonio, Division of Art & Architecture Art-Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
• "Drawings from the Underworld", Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas

Publications

Lucas Johnson has been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, including a rave posthumous review in the international arts monthly Artforum.^[10] In 2006, Houston Artists Fund published a 183-page hardbound book, The Art and Life of Lucas Johnson, with a preface by acclaimed museum director Walter Hopps and an illustrated chronology by Patricia Covo Johnson.^[11]

In the book's opening essay, former

External links

• Catalog from Perspectives 88: Lucas Johnson: Drawings from the Underworld/Dibujos del Bajomundo, Contemporary Arts Museum - Houston
• Lucas Johnson, Moody Gallery
• The Art and Life of Lucas Johnson, Houston Artists Fund (2006)