Joseph James Akston (1898 - 1983) Poland / American
Mixed Media on Board
Abstract with Figures
Measure 21 1/4"in H x 17 1/4"in W and 28"in H x 24 1/8"in W with frame

Known for: Surreal, abstract painting
Biography: During the 1960s and '70s the entrepreneur-artist James Joseph Akston adopted a unique Surreal-Expressionist style in order to present his private primordial universe and lampoon its denizens - a ribald cast of animal creatures with human foibles. A successful industrialist, he began his career with General Motors foreign operations and then started his own business. Intermittently he studied painting, first with Jerry Farnsworth in North Truro and then With Orozco in Mexico. In the early 1960s Akston became publisher-editor of a group of art publications which included the magazine Arts. Initially an abstractionist, Akston had one man exhibitions at the New York Convention Center, the Corcoran Museum in Washington, D, C., the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach and in Europe. Akston produced work in several mediums, painting most often with a palette knife, sculpting with both bronze and Plexiglas and supervising the weaving of tapestries made after his designs both in France and Spain. His work may be found in collections in the United States and abroad. His books include Beginning of the Beginning: An Unfolding Story About How Nature and Life Evolved On Our Planet (Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 1970.) Akston was also a noted art collector. The Mr. and Mrs. Joseph James Akston collection contains many important modern paintings; a room at the Whitney Museum of American Art bears their name. He served as a trustee of the Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., was on the Board of Directors of the Council of Friends of the Whitney Museum of American Art, on the Board of the Governors of the New York Cultural Center and the National Committee of the Corcoran Art Gallery.

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