Paul E. Lancaster (August 31, 1930 – June 18, 2019) was an American

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

framer A framer is someone who builds or creates frames. In construction work, Framing (construction), frames may be built from wood or metal and provide support and shape to a structure. In a related sense, framers may create Picture frame, frames for ...

known for his self-taught

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

Early life

Lancaster was born in

Lobelville, Tennessee Lobelville is a city in Perry County, Tennessee, United States that was established as a trading post on the Buffalo River in 1854. The population was 897 at the 2010 census. History Lobelville was established in 1854 by French trader Henri d ...

. He claimed

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

ancestry through a grandfather. At one point he made a living working at various grocery stores and markets. He later joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

where he claimed he was offered a position as a medical illustrator, but he declined this role as he felt it would be a waste of his artistic talent.

Painting

Lancaster received no formal art education and was self-taught. Accounts vary on when Lancaster first took up painting and illustration, including while hospitalized for tuberculosis in 1953, as a child in the 1930s and 1940s, or while in the Army in 1959. His art is in the permanent collection of a number of museums and galleries, including the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

and the galleries of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. Additionally, Lancaster's art was the focus and subject of exhibitions at the Reece Museum and the

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

. He was a framer at the Lyzon Gallery in Nashville for nearly 30 years. The gallery's owner, Myron King, did not promote Lancaster's more complicated and unique paintings, instead he encouraged the artist to make simple etchings that could be sold to locals. Following Lancaster's retirement from the Lyzon Gallery in 1995, Lancaster continued to paint as an independent artist. According to a profile in British art magazine

Raw Vision ''Raw Vision'' is a British journal devoted to outsider art and edited by John Maizels. It features content about the subject worldwide. Raw Vision celebrates the art of “unknown geniuses” who are untrained, unschooled and uninfluenced by the ...

, his style was said to incorporate floral, human figure, and fantasy elements. Many of the landscapes and settings of his paintings were inspired middle and west Tennessee, where he was raised. Lancaster died in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancaster, Paul 1930 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American male artists People from Perry County, Tennessee