RALPH DU CASSE (American, 1916-2003), “Untitled”, 1958, Mixed media on board, 14.75”h x 11.5”w (framed) (More)

RALPH DU CASSE (American, 1916 – 2003), Untitled, 1957, Oil on canvas, 20” x 16”

Ralph Du Casse

Painter, Ralph Du Casse was born in Kentucky. He attended the University of Cincinnati (B.A. 1940) and University of California, Berkeley (M.A. 1948). In addition he studied with Hans Hofmann in New York and attended California College of Arts and Crafts (M.F.A. 1950).

His early paintings ranged from a loose, gestural abstraction to a predominantly linear style rooted in Cubism and resembling the early work of Diebenkorn. His paintings of the 1960s and 1970s were dominated by simpler, thinly stained abstract forms with sources in Oriental philosophy, although some bordered on figuration.

He taught at University of California, Berkeley, California College Arts & Crafts, and California School of Fine Art, and through the 1970s was chairman of the art department at Mills College in Oakland.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

Lucien Labaudt Gallery; Rotunda Gallery; Guggenheim Museum; University of Illinois; Syracuse Museum, New York; 69th Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1950; 71st Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1952; 72nd Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1953; 73rd Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1954; PACIFIC COAST ART, IIIrd Biennial of Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1955; CALIFORNIA PAINTERS, 40 Painters, Municipal Art Center, Long Beach, 1956; Contemporary American Painters, 1950-1955, Stanford Art Gallery 1956; 76th Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1957; 78th Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association at the San Francisco Museum of Art, 1959; The Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Association, 1958, 59, 60, 64, 66; Winter Invitational, California Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1960, 61, 62, 63, 64.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The Oakland Museum; San Francisco Museum of Art.

LITERATURE
Thomas Albright, Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Painting and Sculpture Collection; San Francisco Art Association (Institute) Catalog of the Art Bank