Jim Dine
“I was drawing since I was two years old.
I never thought of anything else.”
Jim Dine is a world-renowned artist. For over
forty years, Dine has produced more than
three thousand paintings, sculptures,
drawings, and prints, as well as performance
works, stage and book designs, poetry, and
even music. His art has been the subject of
numerous individual and group shows and is in
permanent collections of museums around
the world.
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Mr. Dine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on June 11, 1935.
Point to red X where Walla Walla is located and then to red X where Cincinnati is
located. It is located in the Southwest corner of the state of Ohio.
Teacher notes
His mother died when he was 12 years old. When Dine was 14, he and his brother
went to live with his grandparents. He always knew he wanted to be an artist; and
when he was 16, he drove to the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he took adult
education classes in painting.
At 17, he found a book by Paul Sach’s, Modern Prints and Drawings. This book
changed Mr. Dine’s life.
He saw prints by Emile Nolde.
Emile Nolde Self portrait
The Prophet by Emile Nolde
He saw prints by Ernst Kirchner.
Self Portrait ?
Woodcut: Ernst Kirchner, Alpine Shepherd,
1917
And he saw prints by Max Beckman.
Stiff Hat
Self Portrait, Max Beckman
So he went down in his grandfather’s
basement where he had wood working tools.
Dine took an old top of a table and using a
chisel he began to carve. He carved a picture
of an old rabbi, a Jewish minister, that turned
out to look like his grandfather. It was about
12” x 16.” He put ink on the the carved wood
and placed paper over that, rubbed it by hand
and made his first print!
University of Cincinnati
School of the Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston, Massachusetts.
Ohio University
(Show the next two slides after reading
the paragraphs below. These pictures
are examples of what artist “saw” and
painted. They were not personal.)
Rainy Day Taxi, Red Grooms, 2005
Still Life #24 1962 Tom Wesselmann
His reputation in the art world began to grow in 1959 when he met Claes Oldenburg and Allan Kaprow.
They opened a gallery in the Judson Memorial Church (Judson Gallery) in Greenwich Village and staged
a series of theatrical events they called “Happenings.”
Many group Dine in with other Pop Artist. But Jim Dine’s work was more personal. His art came from
deep inside him. His works pertains more to his lifelong search for self and for insights into what it
means to be human.
Throughout his career Jim
Dine
used common objects in
his work
that were meaningful in
his own life
--such as tools, bathrobes,
and hearts. He used
these objects over and
over using many
different media, such as
painting,
printing and sculpting. And
when people
saw a heart, they knew
right away it was created
by Jim Dine.
Lithograph
Woodcut
Draw or Paint
Four Hearts, 1969
Hearts
Mr. Dine began using hearts in the mid-1960s.
It has appeared prominently in his paintings,
drawings and prints as well as in his sculpture.
This heart was created in Mr. Dine’s studio in the foothills of the Blue
Mountains just outside Walla Walla. It is called the Technicolor Heart.
Do you notice how big it is? Can you see tools on the outside of the heart?
Dine is also inspired by ancient art.
His Venus figures are based on
Venus de Milo a statue created
second century BC that was
discovered on the Greek island of
Melos in 1820.
This statue can be found in Walla
Walla! Mr. Dine carved the statue
out of wood with a chain saw and
then had it bronzed at the Walla
Walla Foundry. It is located on
Whitman campus, 380 Boyer
Avenue. Look for it some time!
Bath robes
Jim Dine’s bathrobes are selfportraits. They are a stand-ins
for himself. It is believed he
drew his first bathrobe from
an ad in a newspaper.
Blood's on the River Now, 2005
The Orange Birthday Robe
2010
Lithograph with woodcut
1983 Cooper Street Robe
(woodcut)
His most recent theme is the figure of Pinocchio. Like
many, Dine was introduced to the Pinocchio story
through the Disney film when he was a child. He
states at first, “I identified with the lying boy….”
As an artist he identifies with Geppetto, who brings
the wooden puppet to life, and considers the figure a
metaphor for what all artists do: bring ideas to life.
“I saw the Walt Disney movie when I was six, and I
was very frightened by it and enchanted by it.”
In the 1960’s Mr. Dine found a Pinocchio doll at a junk
store. It was made of paper mache with real clothes
sewn by hand. He kept the doll for 30 years. In the
90’s, Mr. Dine felt he had to do something with it.
Pinocchio, 2008
Screen print, woodblock
Red Pants II, 1999
Etching with hand coloring
Sculpted from wood, about
7 feet tall and 4 feet wide.
White Gloves, 4 Wheels, 2007
Five Paint Brushes
Tools
Tools are very important to Dine because they
are part of his own self-portrait or who he is.
When he was growing up in Cincinnati he
spent a lot of time in his family’s hardware
store, and has said that his earliest memories
are of being around hand tools. Tools are an
extension of himself as he creates.
No title
Big Red Wrench in a
Landscape
Mr. Dine is brilliant. However, he struggled in
school. When he was young, he had a hard
time reading. It took him a long time to read a
sentence. He had to guess a lot. And he tells
us,
“…I was a bad boy in school primarily because I
couldn’t read well, because I’m dyslexic. And
the only thing I could read was poetry till I was
22 and I started to read novels. But you know,
poetry kept me in the world of language.”
Poetry is written a few words or short
sentences. This made it easy for Mr. Dine to
read. Today he is an avid reader and he hads
written numerous poetry and art books.
The first contemporary art project at the
Museum at the Getty Villa, Los Angeles,
California.
This is an example of Mr. Dine combining art
with words.
Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets),
Jim Dine, 2008
Four Greek statuettes of female figures
each 8-feet high, (painted wood)
arranged around a 7-foot high selfportrait head of Jim Dine. The walls are
covered in Mr. Dine’s poetry.
Where do your images
come from?...
“They don’t come from
anywhere. They come
from dreams and they
come from my childhood.”
Dine, renowned for his wit and creativity as a Pop and Happenings artist,
has a restless, searching intellect that leads him to challenge himself
constantly. Over four decades, Dine has produced more than three
thousand paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints, as well as
performance works, stage and book designs, poetry, and even music. His
art has been the subject of numerous individual and group shows and is in
the permanent collections of museums around
the world.
Tool Art Project:
1) Write your name on the back of your
paper.
2) Turn your paper over and draw one line
across (horizontal) on your paper.
3) Trace or draw a tool of your choice. Ask a
neighbor to help hold your tool.
4) Select two colors (compimentary) and color
the background.
5) Color your tool.
6) Write words if you would like.
7) Spray your picture with baby oil and rub
with cotton ball.
8) Clean up your area.