Tag: Harry Jackson

A Lax Exhibit at St. Bonaventure University Features Harry Jackson’s Life-Size Portrait

A couple of months ago, I made a post about the life-size painting of Lax done by Harry Jackson back in 1962 (see the original post).  I said in my post that I didn’t know where the painting is now.  Well, at this moment, it is in an exhibit of Lax’s writings and photographs at the Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University, thanks to the generosity of Lax’s niece Marcia Kelly and her husband Jack.  You can read about the exhibit here.  Normally, it hangs in the Harry Jackson Institute in Cody, Wyoming.  Here’s the title card:

For those of you going to the International Thomas Merton Society conference at St. Bonaventure this June, be sure to stop by the Center for a look.  The exhibit just opened this month, so I’m sure it will still be around then.  Here are a couple more looks:

A Photograph of the Portrait of Lax Painted by Harry Jackson is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum

In 1961, artist Harry Jackson, who would become known as one of the major sculptors of the American West, painted the life-size painting of Lax shown here.  As mentioned on page 238 of my book Pure Act, the painting, titled “Portrait of the Poet Robert Lax,” appeared in an exhibition called The Continuing Tradition of Realism in American Art.  I don’t know what became of the painting but this photograph of it is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.  It was taken by the wonderful photographer Walter Rosenblum, a sampling of whose work appears here.

For more about Harry Jackson and his work in bronze, go to the home page for the Harry Jackson Studios.  Here’s one of his bronze sculptures from the Smithsonian’s collection–Trail Boss, cast in 1958: