The Art of Bruce McIntyre

Bruce McIntyre created art in multiple mediums for over five decades, adapting the size and scale of his work to the resources he had available. Nearly all of the work accounted for here was created in California from the 1960s through the 90s, Bruce’s most prolific years. Among mediums, he favored watercolors for their spontaneity, grace, complexity and accessibility. His drawings, both figurative and abstract, pursued his love for flowing, idiosyncratic detail, while his oils drew upon his intrinsic sensitivity to light, depth and form. But whatever the medium, Bruce saw every blank canvas, sketchpad, tube of paint or mound of clay as a present to be opened. And he relished it accordingly.

For all the ways McIntyre expressed himself through his art, his dreamlike, intricately layered watercolors may be the most profound. Inspired by the first- and second-generation abstract expressionists [William DeKooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell and others], he would say he was just “bringing it all together.” Looking at these ethereal compositions, still lifes and landscapes, in their form, color, line and depth, it’s obvious he did just that.

McIntyre’s drawings reveal his appreciation for both “needle sharp” intricacy and inherent spontaneity; at once the world’s most cerebral doodler, fantastical naturalist and inspired draftsman. These works render painstaking precision for their size–as small as 4×6”–as they flow with the wind, tangle in loops, bloom into landscapes and feather into air. Easily accessible, forgiving and expressive, the medium was clearly Bruce’s most joyful. 

Working in oils on canvas was a costly luxury for McIntyre and, not surprisingly, he embraced the medium to revel in his love of impressionism. In the natural world, inspired by Van Gogh and Derain among others, he saw dancing trees [“Welcoming Party”], formalist serenity [“Japanese Elm”], and wildly electric landscapes [“Breaking Out #2]. To look at this work is to see the idea of nature at its most magical, vibrant and indisputably beautiful. In other words, nature according to Bruce.

How many artists make their own luggage? Or craft swatches of fabric into pouches perfectly sized to carry a sketchbook? McIntyre was fascinated by the patterns, colors and cultural significance of embroidery, carefully stitching together textiles he found or somehow acquired. Both an accessory and trademark, they served him well.

McIntyre enjoyed referencing quotations from artists and writers in conversation, usually to make a point or lighten the mood. He also wrote quotes on the reverse of his drawings and paintings to hint at the thoughts behind them. These voices of inspiration, perhaps given his struggle for recognition, no doubt encouraged Bruce to embrace his path and, in the words of Kurt Vonnegut, celebrate his art for “making life more bearable.”

June 17, 1940: Bruce Ralph McIntyre is born in Evanston, Illinois as the only child to Daisy McIntyre and her then-estranged husband.

1940s-50s: Daisy remarries, stepfather moves the family to Atlanta, Georgia where southern Jim Crow segregation laws remain in place.

1953: Begins high school and studies art. White teachers and students mock his appearance as a “negro” or “mulatto.” He is bullied and shunned, but attends classes.

1956: Wins a place in a group exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, his first major public showing of an artwork.

1957: Social pressure continues, alcoholic stepfather turns abusive, family deteriorates. Returns to Evanston to live with his birth father and stepmother.

1957: Enrolls in art studies at Evanston High School, remains marginalized as “half negro.” Racist faculty members block him from senior art classes and refuse to submit his college scholarship applications, denying him a formal art education and path to artistic recognition.

1958-59: Stigmatized at school, facing more abuse at home, he moves to Chicago where he meets, lives and works with Bauhaus master Daniel Massen. Introduced to abstract art.

1960: Leaves Chicago for Stony Brook, New York to study further after Massen, a profoundly important mentor, returns to Europe. Moves to Berkley, California shortly thereafter at the urging of a cousin.

1960-64: Enters of-the-moment Bay Area bohemian circles, meets “beat” writers Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, artists Clyfford Still, Richard Diebenkorn and others. Joins the seminal “Free Speech” demonstrations at U.C. Berkeley.

1964-66: Attends CCAC [California College of Arts and Crafts] in Oakland; studies under Peter Shoemaker and Katherine Bareau. Hones aesthetics and techniques influenced by New York and early West Coast abstract expressionists.

1966: Travels to an artists’ colony in Mexico with Village Voice writer Ann Mayo, begins long-term association with Oakland Museum curator Hazel Bray, a noted figure in California’s art scene.

1966-74: Unable to secure gallery representation, lives very modestly in Berkeley, embraces the counter culture, sells paintings to friends and patrons, earns a small income as a house painter.

1974-1978: Suffers a “nervous breakdown” and is granted a monthly government disability payment. Moves to Santa Cruz where he enrolls in art classes at local Cabrillo College. Finds relative stability and enjoys an especially prolific period.

1979-1980: Moves from Santa Cruz to Oakland, sets up a studio/gallery space with two other artists in a warehouse on San Pablo Avenue where they live, work and host events.

1981: Oakland studio disbands. Lives in multiple, temporary locations in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, where he meets curator and supporter James Byrnes, the first modern art curator at LACMA. Byrnes offers financial support through artwork purchases and odd jobs.

1982: Moves suddenly to Naples, Florida to care for his mother, Daisy. Featured in a group exhibition at the [then] DeLand Museum.

1983: Returns to California with Daisy to live in Benicia. Relative financial security and rural surroundings inspire a new body of work.

1985: Daisy dies tragically in a fire in their apartment in Benicia.

1985-90: Moves to Antioch, recovers and settles comfortably. New paintings draw notice. Interviewed by the Daily Ledger, a local newspaper, but sees little income selling his artwork. 

1990: Spends down a modest inheritance from Daisy. Unable to afford his Antioch apartment, he moves to a mobile home on a friend’s property in Windsor.

1994: Lives frugally on his government stipend, buys a small car, drives cross-country. Visits friends in Florida and New York. Returns to Windsor.

2003: Living situation in Windsor turns unwelcome, moves to Forestville. Shelters there alone in an abandoned “cabana” adjacent to an empty swimming pool.

2005: Suffers a stroke in Forestville affecting his mobility and speech. Disability and limited finances keep him from making art.

2007: Moves to Santa Rosa after a close friend and patron helps him secure publicly subsidized housing there.

2009: Suffers injuries from a fall in his Santa Rosa apartment, returns to former home in Windsor to be near friends. Paints and draws when possible, health deteriorates.

2012: Relocated by friends to an assisted-care facility in Petaluma. Unable to make art, he gifts printed cards of his artwork to the staff.

2014: Suffers a second stroke.

March 17, 2015: Dies in Petaluma, California at 75 years of age.