Macgregor
Artist
James Nawara
(American, born 1945)
Date1986
MediumOil on linen canvas
DimensionsFrame Size: 56 × 64 in. (142.2 × 162.6 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of the artist, 2022
Object numberUAC6047
DescriptionBorn in Chicago, Illinois, in 1945, artist James Nawara received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as a Master of Fine Arts Degree in painting and Printmaking at the University of Illinois. He was a professor at Wayne State for forty-six years , starting in 1969. His works have been put on display in both interstate and international art Museums, including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Cleveland Museum of Art, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Museum of Warsaw, just to name a few. This piece, Macgregor is emblematic of many of his aerial and horizontal paintings – brightly lit, highly detailed scenes of the natural environment that create a sense of serenity within the viewer. Photographs of this painting do not do it justice at all. The colors look subdued, and the texture is muted and fuzzy. When standing in front of this piece, it is breathtaking. From a distance, the painting looks abstract, but when moving closer, the landscape reveals itself to be a familiar scene of a stone path. The painting itself is quite large, allowing the intricate and life-like details to really breathe. It is as if someone had cut out a square slab of a garden pathway and put it on the wall. The way the textured details from the paint application catch the light act in the same way actual stone would, and for a split second you almost wonder if you are indeed looking at stone and brick and not oil paint on linen. The little dots of greenery here and there are perfectly rendered and absolutely charming. Throughout the whole painting, there is a balance between perfection in the artist’s rendering of the subject, and a chaos brought on by both nature and time, and they work in tandem to create a sublime piece of art that does seem as if it is breathing right in front of you. Author Ron Scott of the Detroit Art Review, called this collision of abstract and realism “Magical Realism,” in an interview of the artist and his art works for a solo exhibition at the Wayne State University Art Department Gallery in 2017. When looking at this piece, I think there definitely is some sort of magic at play.
Much of Nawara’s work focused on the relationship between humans and the environment, and the momentary equilibrium that can be achieved by these often-contradictory forces. Many of his earlier works employed an aerial perspective, which can abstract mundane concepts such as courtyard stones, transforming them into foreign and unrecognizable landscapes. The inspiration for many of his subjects was based on his interests in archaeology, geology, cartography, and observations from planes. Most of these aerials were done in the seventies and eighties, and by the nineties he had made the switch to horizon-based oil and watercolor landscapes, some of which were inspired by the black and white photographs he had taken around the same time as his aerial paintings. Many of these black and white photographs, and subsequent landscape paintings, were taken in Detroit, as he was attracted to the urban landscape and humanity’s effect on the environment. Even his paintings that feature a natural subject often show the effects of human activity in some way.
Written by Kayla Plenda
1) “Jim Nawara @ WSU Art Department Gallery, Detroit Art Review, Nov. 15, 2017, https://detroitartreview.com/2017/11/jim-nawara-wsu-art-department-gallery/
2) “Jim Nawara,” Steward & Stewart, 2026, https://www.stewartstewart.com/jim-nawara
3) “James Nawara,” College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts: Department of Art, Art History and Design, Wayne State University, 4) https://cfpca.wayne.edu/art/profile/aa4779
5) https://cfpca.wayne.edu/art/profile/aa4779
6) https://www.stewartstewart.com/jim-nawara
“Jim Nawara @ WSU Art Department Gallery, Detroit Art Review, Nov. 15, 2017, https://detroitartreview.com/2017/11/jim-nawara-wsu-art-department-gallery/
