Jan Butterfield (1937-2000) was an American art writer, teacher and critic. She wrote extensively on twentieth century installation and craft artists, focused on those who worked in California and the American West.

Early life and education

Butterfield was born Jan Van Alstine in 1937 in Santa Monica, California. She attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, and graduated with a degree in Theater Arts.

Career

Butterfield worked in public relations at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

from its opening in 1965 until 1970. She then moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where she held a similar position at the

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (widely referred to as The Modern) is an art museum of post-World War II art in Fort Worth, Texas with a collection of international modern and contemporary art. Founded in 1892, The Modern is located in the c ...

. Butterfield also served as the art critic for the '' Fort Worth Star Telegram.'' She began teaching in 1973, and taught at the Northwood Experimental Art Institute in Dallas, Texas, the

San Francisco Art Institute 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 ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

, and

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

. At the San Francisco Art Institute, she was the director of the extension program and the coordinator for the visiting artist program. In 1984, Butterfield and artist Sam Francis co-founded the Lapis Press, a studio and publishing house which focused on the work of psychologist

Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...

, as it related to art theory, and would later be known for its ultraspecialized, limited-edition works. She served as the executive director of Lapis Press from its founding until 1988. In 1993, Butterfield's book ''The Art of Light and Space'' was published by Abbefield Press. Based on more than two decades of research, it focused on the Light and Space art movement. A "profusely illustrated, entrancing survey," it investigated "an art that takes shape through the viewer's directed perception." The book profiled Robert Irwin James Turrell, Larry Bell, Maria Nordman, Douglas Wheeler, Bruce Nauman,

Eric Orr Eric Orr (1939–1998) is an American artist who lived and worked in Venice, California from 1965 to 1998. Before moving to Los Angeles in 1965, Orr was a civil rights worker in Mississippi. A key figure of the Light and Space movement, Orr deve ...

, DeWain Valentine, Susan Kaiser Vogel, and Hap Tivey. Her archives are housed at the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...

at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Personal life

Butterfield was married twice. Her second husband, Henry Hopkins, served as the Museum Director at LACMA, the

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

, and the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...

. She died in 2000 after an extended illness.

Works

*Jan Butterfield, Jim McHugh ''The Art of Light and Space'', Abbeville Press, 1996, *''Robert Hudson'', Allan Frumkin Gallery, 1976 *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfield, Jan American art critics UCLA Film School alumni 1937 births 2000 deaths