Jim Dine

was drawing since I was two years o

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.

+X

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 Sachs, Modern Prints and Drawings.

This book changed Mr. Dines 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 grandfathers
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

University

School of the Museum of Fine

Arts in
Boston,
Massachusetts.

Ohio

(Show the next two slides after reading

the paragraphs below. These pictures
are examples of what artist saw and
painted. They were not personal.)

ny 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 Dines 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. Dines 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 Dines 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

1983 Cooper Street Robe

(woodcut)

The Orange Birthday Robe

2010
Lithograph with 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 1960s 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 90s, 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 selfportrait or who he is. When he was
growing up in Cincinnati he spent a
lot of time in his familys 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 couldnt read well, because
Im 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

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. Dines
poetry.

Where do your
images come from?...
They dont 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

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.