Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
5 Sunflowers 3 Blue Jays, 2004
Oil on canvas
48" x 72"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Four White Horses, 2001
Oil on canvas
22" x 30"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Wild Horses #2, 1996
Oil on canvas
24-1/2" x 30-1/2"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Thanksgiving Visit, Family Farm, 1986
Oil on canvas
32" x 42"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
West View from Greenhead, 1981
Oil on canvas
28" x 36"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Untitled, 74-9, 1974
Oil on canvas
50" x 85"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Self Portrait, Stonington, 1972
Oil on canvas
44" x 36"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Untitled, 1965
Oil on canvas
16-1/4" x 24"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Reclining Woman with Black Cat, 1965
Oil on canvas
16-1/2" x 23-3/8"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Pink Nude with Blue Cat, 1963
Oil on canvas
26" x 43"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Untitled, 63-11, 1963
Oil on canvas
53-1/2" x 67-1/2"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Untitled, 62-4, 1962
Oil on canvas
64" x 50"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
White Sun at Sand Beach, 1982
Oil on canvas
40" x 66"
SP051
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Lobster Boat at Dawn, 1982
Oil on canvas
42" x 70"
Stephen Pace (1918-2010)
Woman in Yellow Jacket, 1964
Oil on canvas
24" x 30"
Throughout his long and productive career, Stephen Pace (1918-2010) made significant contributions to American painting as a prominent member of the New York School, known for his forceful abstract expressionist paintings and later luminous representational paintings and watercolors, which were inspired in large part by his home and surroundings in Stonington, Maine. As art critic and writer Carl Little notes in the exhibition catalog, "From humble beginnings in the Midwest to the artistic hotbed of Abstract Expressionism in New York City to the working waterfront of his Maine home, this artist carried a lifetime's worth of commitment to paint."
Born in Charleston, Missouri, in 1918, Pace began his art studies at age 17 with WPA artist Robert Lahr in Evansville, Indiana. After serving in World War II, he continued his studies on the GI Bill at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he met Milton Avery, who became a lifelong friend and mentor. The two artists shared a kinship in outlook, an economy of color, line, and form, as well as an involvement in art as a way of life.
In 1953, Pace made his first trip to Maine, traveling down the coast to the small fishing village of Stonington on Deer Isle, which would become his longtime summer home. In 2007, Pace bequeathed his house and studio in Stonington to the Maine College of Art & Design as an artist residency to ensure its continued use as an artistic haven and inspiration for future generations.
Featuring more than two dozen oil paintings and watercolors, Stephen Pace: A Lifetime in Paint includes prime examples of the artist's abstract expressionist canvases and favorite recurring motifs—sunflowers, the working waterfront, horses, the figure in the landscape, and the lily pond near his Stonington home.
Celebrated for his radiant use of color and agility in distilling the essence of a subject in succinct and telling strokes, Stephen Pace's work has been the subject of over 85 solo exhibitions at galleries and museums throughout the United States. It is represented in over 50 museum collections, and the subject of the monograph Stephen Pace (Hudson Hills, 2004), with text by art historian Martica Sawin.