John Hultberg 1922 -2005

The commission came about after years of study and poverty (he worked as a security guard at MOMA). From 1938 to 1943 he had been in the US Navy. His career got underway after the Warwith the help of the dealer Martha jackson. A small bequest had allowed him to study in Paris, returning to New York in 1955 when he won the Corcoran Prize for Yellow Sky.The Newport project in April 1957 is typical of FORTUNE's ability to spot young artists on the rise.That year he had begun lecturing at the Brooklyn School in New York.

There is an excellent article by Martin Ries that sets this commission in the context of the artist's career .

His work is described well by his Gallery SULLIVAN GOSS. His papers and a transcription of an interview with the artist are in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. "An interview of John Hultberg conducted 1968 Nov. 11, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art. Hultberg speaks of his family background; his education at the California School of Fine Arts, and some of his teachers; the California art scene in the 1940s; his early paintings; abstract expressionism; landscape painting and other subject matter which interests him; filmmaking; the Club; minimal and pop art."