Phil Paradise
1905–1997
Nationality: American
Phil Paradise was born in Ontario, Oregon and raised in Bakersfield, California. In the 1920s, he studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, worked for Paramount Studios, and taught art at Chouinard and Scripps College.
He had a well-developed ability to sketch from memory and he produced a book containing hundreds of India ink sketches from travel experiences that inspired his painting for many years. Paradise’s early works were city and desert landscapes in a representational style. His work became more stylized during the 1940s. He is known as a landscape painter, art educator, printmaker (especially serigraphs), and muralist.
In 1941, the Inland Empire Art Association, Spokane, commissioned Phil Paradise to execute an original lithograph called “Black Stallion” as the first in a series of limited edition prints designed especially for the private collections of Inland Empire Art Association members. The Inland Empire Art Association provided local support to secure funding for the Works Progress Administration’s Spokane Art Center.
Sources: Phil Paradise [electronic document] (Ask Art The American Artists Blue Book™, accessed 16 July 2006); Internet. Manuscript Collections, Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives, Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane.
Black Stallion
Date: 1938-1941
Image Dimensions: 8 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches (image)
Medium: Lithograph
Inscription: “34/200,” lower left margin; ‘Black Stallion,” lower center margin; “Phil Paradise,” lower right margin and on image
Curator Notes: The Inland Empire Art Association commissioned Phil Paradise to execute this original lithograph called “Black Stallion” in 1941 as the first in a series of limited edition prints designed especially for the private collections of Inland Empire Art Association members. The Association had ambitious plans to establish a permanent art collection and a permanent building for Association activities in addition to its annual support of the Spokane Art Center. The Association’s $3,000 contribution for annual rents and utilities for the Spokane Art Center secured $15,000 per year from the Works Progress Administration for staff salaries and regular exhibition expenses.
Subjects: horse and figurative
Provenance: Gift of Mrs. David Guilbert, 1960
Collection Number: 1701.20