Roger Medearis (March 6, 1920 – July 5, 2001) was an American Regionalist painter.[1]

Roger Medearis
Born(1920-03-06)March 6, 1920
DiedJuly 5, 2001(2001-07-05) (aged 81)
NationalityAmerican
EducationKansas City Art Institute
Known foregg tempera painting
Notable workGodly Susan
MovementRegionalist painter

Career

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He was a student of Thomas Hart Benton while at the Kansas City Art Institute in the late 1930s and took up the technique of egg tempera painting, a rediscovered medium popular with Regionalists. Benton introduced Medearis to the Associated American Artists Gallery in New York City, from which he sold a portrait of his grandmother, Godly Susan, now in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.[2]

After World War II, Regionalist art fell out of fashion, replaced by Abstract Expressionism. Unable to sell his works, Medearis stopped painting. In 1966, Philip Desind, a Maryland art dealer, discovered Medearis' work and encouraged him to return to painting. Medearis painted new works until his death in 2001.[2]

Medearis' paintings and lithographs can be found in the collections of the Butler Institute of American Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. He also has a painting hanging next to one of Thomas Hart Benton at the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA.[2] His later years were spent in San Marino with his wife and children.

References

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  1. ^ Roger Medearis; American Artist Los Angeles Times, July 9, 2001.
  2. ^ a b c "Roger Medearis: His Regionalism". The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. June 16 – September 17, 2012. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.