John Altoon met the actress Fay Spain (1932–1983) in 1958, and they were married in January 1959. Over the course of their teetering marriage, which lasted three years, they separated and reconciled several times. But one must assume that early in their relationship, when this work was painted, the artist was smitten with this glamorous starlet. The painting would be donated just six years later to the Pasadena Art Museum (now The Norton Simon Museum).
Details
- Artist Name: John Altoon (American, 1925-1969)
- Title: Fay's Christmas Painting
- Date: 1958
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 72 x 64-5/8 in. (182.9 x 164.1 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of Mr. William C. Janss
- Accession Number: P.1964.05.01
- Copyright: © 2022 The Estate of John Altoon and Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
Object Information
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1964-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, 1975.
Landscape Painting - Past and Present
- Riverside, University of California Riverside, 1964-10-01 to 1964-10-21
- Pasadena, Pasadena Art Museum, 1964-09-06 to 1964-12-10
Paintings and Works on Paper by John Altoon
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-03-18 to 1993-09-18
- , to
Ferus, 1957-1959
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1968-11-11 to 1968-12-17
A Salute to the Ferus Gallery
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-09-23 to 1994-03-20
John Altoon
- La Jolla, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, 1997-12-07 to 1998-03-11
West Coast Art
- Pasadena Art Museum, 1972-06-20 to 1972-09-03
Permanent and Loan Collection, 1974
- Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1974-03-16 to 1974-06-06
Pasadena to Santa Barbara: A Selected History of Art in Southern California, 1951-1969
- Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 2012-02-11 to 2012-05-06
Alternate Realities: Altoon, Diebenkorn, Lobdell, Woelffer
- Norton Simon Museum, 2022-05-13 to 2022-08-22
- Hales, Andrea, John Altoon, 1967, pp. 7, 20
- Knight, Christopher, Art Review, 1998, p. F10
- Joyce, Julie et al., Pasadena to Santa Barbara: A Selected History of Art in Southern California, 1951-1969, 2012, p. 106
Additional Artwork by Artist
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