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Charles Rain

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Rain was an American magic realist painter during the 20th century.[1]

Charles Whedon Rain
Born1911
Died1985
New York
NationalityAmerican
Alma materSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago
StyleMagic realism

Biography

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Charles Whedon Rain was born in 1911 in Knoxville, Tennessee.[2] He grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska and studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1931-1933, with fellow Nebraskan artist and friend Keith Martin.[3] Rain would follow his studies with a year-long trip to Europe in 1934, where he traveled to Berlin, Paris, and Vienna, meeting several artists there, including Max Beckmann and Otto Dix.[3] Rain returned to the United States in 1935, settling in New York.[3]

Charles Rain was a prominent member of the Magic Realists, a movement of American painters influenced by European trompe l'oeil and Surrealism.[1] A 1942 exhibition by the Museum of Modern Art titled American Realists and Magic Realists featured paintings by Charles Rain, amongst other artists such as Andrew Wyeth and Peter Blume.[4] Rain also created costume designs for a ballet performed by the School of American Ballet. He died in New York in 1985.[2]

Legacy

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In 1999, the Sheldon Museum of Art held a Magic Realism exhibition all about Charles Rain's artworks.[5]

In 2019, Charles Rain's costume designs for the ballet Yankee Clipper were featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art about Lincoln Kirstein, a co-founder of the New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet.[4]

The Sheldon Museum of Art has a gallery named after Charles Rain, honoring the artist's large donation of his artworks and the Charles Rain and Charlotte Rain Koch Gallery Fund.[5][6]

Further reading

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  • Rain, Charles, et al. Remembering Charles Rain : Selected Works from 1933-1973. Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University, 2004
  • Watson, Ernest W. “The Magic Realism of Charles Rain ‘(Color) An Interview.’” American Artist, vol. 18, no. 9, Billboard Publications, etc, 1954, pp. 20-

References

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  1. ^ a b Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery (1988). Geske, Norman A. (ed.). The American Painting Collection of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery: publ. on the occasion of the Centennial of the Nebraska Art Association, 1888 - 1988. Nebraska Art Association. Lincoln, Neb.: Univ. of Nebraska Pr. ISBN 978-0-8032-2133-8.
  2. ^ a b "Rain, Charles Whedon". Sheldon Museum of Art. 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  3. ^ a b c Ruud, Brandon K.; Nosan, Gregory (2014). Painting from the collection of the Sheldon Museum of Art. American transnationalism. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-4869-4.
  4. ^ a b "Charles Rain". MoMA. 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  5. ^ a b writer, Josh Krauter / Senior staff (1999-08-24). "'Magic Realism' featured at Sheldon". The Daily Nebraskan. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  6. ^ "Sheldon Museum of Art Strategic Plan (2020-2025)". Sheldon Museum of Art. 2024-04-22. Retrieved 2024-04-22.