Works by Jim Dine at Sotheby's
Jim Dine Biography
Multimedia artist Jim Dine was born as James Dine in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1935. Following high school, Dine attended evening classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, where Abstract Expressionism was primarily taught at the time. Though he later expressly rejected the mode, his early training in the painterly style had a profound effect on his art and later considerations of technical skill. He ultimately graduated from Ohio University in 1957 with his BFA, and the following year, after marrying Nancy Minto, moved to New York City.
In New York, Dine became well acquainted with the artists John Cage, Allan Kaprow and Claes Oldenburg, among others. Bolstered by his new artistic circle, he and his friends endeavored on experimental projects, such as the development and staging of Happenings. Dine and Oldenburg became very close friends, and the friendship was partially responsible for the short-lived, but still influential, Judson Gallery in Greenwich Village, where Dine, Oldenburg and other experimental artists exhibited.
In 1960, Dine had his first solo show at the Reuben Gallery, and in 1962 he was asked by curator Walter Hopps to participate along such artists as Roy Lichtenstein and Ed Ruscha in the exhibition New Paintings of Common Objects at the Pasadena Art Museum — an exhibition that would later be cited as the first institutional surveys of American Pop Art. Moving forward from this influential show, Dine was often considered within the scope of Pop Art, but the artist never considered himself to be a Pop artist, instead, seeing his work in line with his contemporaries Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
Following a four year stay in London, England, in the early 1970s Dine began to focus more closely on his technique and style, aiming to achieve a more nuanced and refined approach to his work — a number of the developments from this period, such as the recurring motif of hearts and palettes, have come to be recognized as indicative of the artist’s mature period. He also began expanding in his choice of medium, completing sculpture and drawings in addition to painting. His medium-based explorations have extended to his current practice, which has come to be predominantly photographic in nature. Today, Dine maintains studios in both Walla Walla, Washington, and New York, New York, and his work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
