ARTIS LANE: Portrait Biography by Diana McClure Although Artis Lane’s trajectory as an artist has been threefold throughout her life, encompassing portraiture, social injustice and metaphysical concepts, the vitality of her artistic creation always represents a reflection of spiritual essence within human form. In the artist’s words, “There is just one Truth, one Mind, one God, and everything good is a reflection and an expression of that highest idea.” Lane’s movement as an artist has always flowed between the general and the particular via her skill as a sculptor and a portrait artist. As a sculptor, working in bronze, she addresses broad metaphysical human and spiritual ideas that are embodied in her concept of “generic” man/woman. Likewise, Lane’s unique portrait work, in pastels and/or oils, is devoted to not only capturing a specific physical likeness to her subject, but to bestowing that physical form with an essence that emphasizes each individual’s spiritual potential. As the recipient of the O’Keefe Painting Award, Lane pursued formal training as an artist at Cranbrooke Art Academy in the early stages of her career. Auspiciously, the school’s founders, the Boothe family, played a pivotal role in Lane’s move to the west coast where her portrait painting began to flourish. Lane credits her introduction to Cary Grant, by a mutual friend, and his subsequent portrait commission as central to her introduction and exposure to Los Angeles’ elite and influential social scene. By the late 1960’s after painting young entertainers such as Diahann Carroll, Audrey Hepburn and Barbara Streisand, Lane’s portrait work had gained prominence and recognition. During this time and into the mid seventies she also completed work for dignitaries such as Jaqueline Kennedy, Gordon Getty, the Ford Family, the Annenbergs, the Firestones and Claire Boothe Luce. On the international front Lane experienced extended and adventurous stays in Mexico City and Puerto Rico during the 1970’s where she completed portrait commissions for the Latino elite. In addition, Lane completed work for internationally recognized Persian dignitaries such as the sisters of the Shah of Iran. As Lane’s portrait base moved beyond entertainment into political and philanthropic arena’s she developed a dedication to producing “social injustice” work. Well into the 1980’s, alongside commissioned work of Quincy Jones and Magic Johnson, Lane completed work for Nelson Mandela, Barbara Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Honored with the commissions for bronze portrait busts of Mary McLeod Bethune, Dr. Frederick Patterson and Rosa Parks (a piece which now resides in the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery), Lane had unquestionably established herself as an internationally recognized portrait artist by the nineties. After residing and completing a series of portrait commissions in Texas followed by a few years of artistic bliss in New Mexico, Lane returned to southern California in 1999 where she currently continues to work on both sculpture and portrait work in her Los Angeles studio. |
| Copyright 2008 Diana McClure / All Rights Reserved |
| Artis Lane at her foundry, Los Angeles 2003, photo by Diana McClure |
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