James Childs

The basis of James Childs’ art today is his study with Richard Lack (1971-74) and R.H.Ives Gammell (Summers 1971 -73), an education based in Boston Impressionism and the traditions of the Ecole des Beaux Arts transmitted through Gammell’s master, William McGregor Paxton who studied with Dennis Miller Bunker and the great Gerome in Paris - a tradition transmitted in an unbroken line from the Florentine Renaissance.. Childs amplified these studies by extensive copying of the Masters and comparative research in 19th. Century and Renaisance painting and drawing. The Greek aesthetic informs his personal ideal. He has a B.F.A. from The Minneapolis College of Art and Design and spent a year at Atelier 63 in Haarlem, Holland. His major exhibitions have been two ‘one man ‘ shows at Tatistcheff & Co. on 57th. Street in New York , participation in the " Six Students of R. H. Ives Gammell" at Hammer Galleries, New York, and an exhibition in 1996 at The Leighton House Museum in London in conjunction with the centenary of The death of Frederic, Lord Leighton (another indelible influence.) Since moving to New York in 1987, Childs has mainly supported himself through society portraiture painted in a classical style. He has painted some of the most powerful men and most glamorous women of this era including Christopher Forbes, Carolyne Roehm, Blaine Trump, Elizabeth Ross Johnson, Ursula Corning, and Barbara and Donald Tober.

Childs’ describes his portraits as, "The drama of Sargent, the refinement of Ingres, and a dash of Classic Hollywood glamour."
James Childs teaches in order to pass on the unbroken line of academic/impressionist lineage. He taught nine years at The National Academy of Design and has taught for the past twelve years in his private atelier, The Drawing Academy of the Atlantic. His work is collected by most of the major figurative private collections and is in museum collections from Minnesota to Puerto Rico. One of his murals is a permanent installation in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. His portraits can be seen in castles in Umbria, chateaux in Normandy, and houses on Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue in Manhattan. In September & October of 2002 He was the first ever resident-artist invited to paint in Lord Leighton’s Holland Park studio in London’s Royal Borough of Kensington. Leighton is a hero of James Childs. Events and exhibitions were planned around this event. His quest in all his work is a search for the wellspring of beauty in all nature. His intention is to be neither academic nor impressionist but to use these influences to reanimate the Classic point of view as defined by the artists of the 5th. Century, B.C.E. at Athens.

Childs exhibited his tribute to Greek culture and sport, the five meter frieze, "Ancient Contests: Modern Heroes" in the foyer of the galleries of The Cultural Organization of the City of Athens during the Olympic Games in August of 2004. In October of 2004, the entire frieze project was exhibited in the galleries of Forbes, Inc. on Fifth Avenue in New York.

James Childs work can be described as a modern hybrid of Classical Greek idealism, the influence of the Fifteenth Century Italian "gusto grande’, and the refinement of the great French Academic masters of 19th. Century France. His color is inspired by his personal reaction to nature, to Boston Impressionism and to French Post-Impressionism.v
EDUCATION: New York Academy of Art, NYC, 1988 & 1991-1992
Bottega Boun Fresco, NYC, 1988-1991
Atelier Lack, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1971-1974
The R.H.Ives Gammell Studios, Boston & Williamstowm, Mass., Summers 1971-3
Minneapolis College of Art & Design, BFA 1970
Atelier 63, Haarlem, The Netherlands, 1968-69

TEACHING: The Drawing Academy of the Atlantic, NYC, 1993-2005
The National Academy of Design, NYC, 1987-96
Childs – Mairs Studio, St. Paul, Mn., 1975 – 82
Minneapolis Vocational Institute, 1970 – 80
Minnesota Museum School, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1974 – 76

EXHIBITIONS: James Childs’ "Ancient Contests: Modern Heroes", Forbes Galleries, NYC 2004-5Olympics 2004:"Ancient Contests: Modern Heroes" Athens’ Cultural OrganizationJames Childs at Leighton House Museum, London, 2002
James Childs at Wolffer Estate, Sagaponack,N.Y., 2001
Drawn From Life, Tatistcheff & Co., NYC 1997
James Childs, Leighton House Museum, London, 1996
James Childs, Sundance Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY, 1994
Art & The Environment, National Arts Club, 1993
In The Tradition 0f Madame X, Portraits Inc., NYC, 19
Silverpoint, Leslie Cecil Gallery, NYC, 1987
Six Painters From The R. H. Ives Gammell Studios, Hammer Galleries, NYC, 1986
American Realism, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1985
James Childs: Drawings (one man show), A. J. Walker, Boston, 1985
20th. Century American Drawing – The Figure in Context, International Exhibitions
Foundation Tour (Paul Cummings, Curator), 1994-95
James Childs: New Paintings (one man show), Tatistcheff & Co., NYC, 19
James Childs: Drawings (one man show), Tatistcheff & Co., NYC, 1980
12 Young Americans, Tatistcheff & Co., NYC, 198
MURALS: Ceremonial Court, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, D.C.1989
Chapel of the Glorified Cross, Churdh of St. Odilia, Shoreview, Minn., 1983-86
Venus & Adonis United by Love, Adducci House, 1979
Chapel, Adducci House, Scottsdale, Arizona, 1978
COLLECTIONS: Lehman Bros. 3 M Collection. Museo De Ponce, Puerto Rico
Wadsworth Atheneam, Hartford, Conn; Claude Bernard, Paris; Frederick Koch, NYC; Minneapolis Institute of Art

PORTRAITS: Leonee Ormond, London; Elizabeth Ross Johnson, NYC; Ursula Corning, Civitella Ranieri,Umbria; Mr.& Mrs. Henry Kravis, NYC;
Mr.& Mrs. Robert Trump, NYC; Christopher Forbes, Far Hills, NJ; Mr. & Mrs. Donald Tober