The Way - JE Knauf

“The Way”  J.E. Knauf  48” x 40” oil on panel © 1996
Signed by the artist - original documented value $3,500

Arizona Republic’s art critic, Kyle Lawson, recently said “…Knauf's painted faces are inescapable…Like
John Singer Sargent, Knauf sees beyond the skin and sinew.”

J.E. “ Jim” Knauf left California in 1966 to attend art school at Northern Arizona University. While studying the technical aspects of drawing and painting he traveled the back roads of the Navajo, Hopi and Apache reservations and explored Arizona’s rural mining and ranching communities gathering personal impressions of the West. While traveling he gathered personal impressions and developed an eye for the scenes and subject matter that would later fill his canvases. On his journey to become a fine artist, Knauf found himself engaged in a remarkable number of occupations including for many years a successful landscape architect and contractor. His techniques and materials are memorable. He cuts hollow-core doors to size and fills the edges, creating a wooden surface that is resilient and able to support multiple layers of paint. He covers the surface with an aqueous ground, consisting of swirls of water-thinned gray or golden-tan pigment. Next, he uses a fast-drying translucent oil medium to paint the central figure and other elements, applying it in layers. Between layers, he applies glazes that achieve a glassy, mirrored effect, making it appear as though the paint is suspended in the glaze. In some ways, his paintings resemble those of the old masters, yet his bright colors and loose brush strokes make them unmistakably modern. Knauf is a founding member of THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WEST, a distinguished group of contemporary Southwestern artists currently exhibiting paintings at museums around the country. He was the cover artist for Southwest Art Magazine and U.S. Art Gallery, is represented in major private and corporate collections, and has exhibited in art galleries in Scottsdale, Jackson, Santa Fe, Palm Desert, Las Vegas, and Cody.

For more background information, go to to https://www.dflt.org/art-for-lands-sake. Click on the image of "The Way" and  then click "go to link" at the bottom.

• Company Name : Desert Foothills Land Trust