Byron McClintock (March 19, 1930 – March 31, 2022) was an American

Abstract Expressionist Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

painter and printmaker.

Biography

Byron McClintock was born in

Klamath Falls, Oregon Klamath Falls ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Klamath County, Oregon, United States. The city was originally called ''Linkville'' when George Nurse founded the town in 1867. It was named after the Link River, on whose falls the city ...

on March 19, 1930, to and Eletha (Humphrey) McClintock and Robert McClintock. He grew up in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, and joined the Merchant Marine in 1946. Three years later, he settled in San Francisco, where he took art classes at the

California School of Fine Arts San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

(now the San Francisco Art Institute). Among his teachers were

Richard Diebenkorn Richard Diebenkorn (April 22, 1922 – March 30, 1993) was an American painter and printmaker. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the late 1960s he began ...

, Edward Corbett, and

James Budd Dixon James Budd Dixon (November 26, 1900 – December 1, 1967) was an American Abstract Expressionist painter and printmaker. He was a member of the "Sausalito Six" group of San Francisco Bay Area painters. Family and education James Budd Dixon was bor ...

. He developed his skill as a printmaker working as Dixon's assistant. At one point he shared a studio in the city with Ernest Briggs. During the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, McClintock served as an illustrator and instructor in the U.S. Army and was afterwards stationed in Alaska (1953–55). On his return to San Francisco, he became the co-owner of a commercial

photoengraving Photoengraving is a process that uses a light-sensitive photoresist applied to the surface to be engraved to create a mask that protects some areas during a subsequent operation which etches, dissolves, or otherwise removes some or all of the ma ...

business. In the 1980s, he left that business and got a job with the San Francisco Maritime Museum, where he had previously been a volunteer. McClintock moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, in 1997. He died at his home in

Tigard, Oregon Tigard ( ) is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 54,539 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Oregon, 12th most populous city in Oregon. Incorporated in 1961, the city i ...

, on March 31, 2022, at the age of 92.

Artwork

Although he has made a number of paintings, McClintock is best known for his prints, which range from

lithographs Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically iden ...

etchings Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in Intaglio (printmaking), intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may ...

and

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

s. Highly abstract, with an atmospheric use of color, they yet offer "intimations of landscape". His work was included the Museum of Modern Art (New York)'s 1954 survey, "American Prints of the 20th Century," at which time he was credited, along with

Will Barnet Will Barnet (May 25, 1911November 13, 2012) was an American visual artist and teacher, known for his paintings, watercolors, drawings, and prints depicting the human figure and animals, both in casual scenes of daily life and in transcendent d ...

and

Ralston Crawford Ralston Crawford (1906–1978) was a Canadian-born American painter, lithographer, photographer, and teacher. He is best known for his abstract representations of urban life and industry. He taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy (now Art Academy ...

, with helping to bring color lithography in America to a par with work being done in Europe. His work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and the Library of Congress, among others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClintock, Byron 1930 births 2022 deaths American abstract artists Abstract expressionist artists 20th-century American printmakers 20th-century American painters American male painters People from Klamath Falls, Oregon Korean War artists 20th-century American war artists San Francisco Art Institute alumni Artists from Seattle Artists from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American male artists