Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art

Vance Hall Kirkland (1904–1981)

1201 Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80204

303-832-8576

ABOUT

Vance Kirkland’s historic studio & art school building is a three-room Arts & Crafts structure originally built in 1911 to house Henry Read’s Students’ School of Art. It served as the Kirkland School of Art from 1932 to 1946, and namesake Vance Kirkland’s painting studio until his death in 1981. Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art opened in 2003 and displays Kirkland’s paintings in vignettes composed of artwork by other Colorado artists and a major collection of international decorative art from the modern era, allowing visitors to time travel through 150 years of art and design. Vance Kirkland’s Studio Workroom features the straps he sometimes used to suspend himself above his paintings to create his large oil paint & water compositions, and later his compelling cosmic Dot paintings.

SPECIAL RESOURCES

From the last set of photos taken of Vance Kirkland, April 1981, at his studio. He is working on his last painting completed work, Forces of Energy from a Sun in the Open Star Cluster K 1. Photo by Hugh Grant.

“It has been absolutely necessary for me to change directions in order to avoid repetition. Whenever a cycle of ideas seemed satisfactory, I knew I had done that and needed to move on and develop a greater challenge. Then the paintings remained fresh and were, I hoped, improved, and I avoided boredom.”

— Vance Kirkland

Vance Kirkland (1904–1981)

Vance Kirkland was among the most important Colorado of the 20th century. In addition to his 55-year career as an innovative and successful painter, he was a remarkable educator and collector, advocating for modern art. Kirkland came to Denver in January, 1929, as the Founding Director of the School of Art at the University of Denver (DU) at Chappell House. He left DU in 1932 to establish the Kirkland School of Art (1932–1946) in what became his studio & art school building, now part of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art. After Kirkland returned to DU in 1946, he retained the building as his painting studio until his death in 1981. Kirkland is remarkable for his proficiency as a watercolor surrealist and as an abstract painter in oil. He developed unique resist techniques and is best known for his vibrant dot paintings.

The Energy of Explosions Twenty-Four Billion Years B.C., 1978, by Vance Kirkland (1904–1981), oil paint and water on linen, 65 x 55 inches. An example of Kirkland’s iconic Dot Paintings, his 5th and final period. Collection Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, Denver.
Studio Exhibition Room 14 is the central room of the three-room brick structure that became Kirkland’s studio & art school. Photo by Wes Magyar.
Kirkland Museum Arts & Crafts Vignette featuring the Peacock and Dragon Wall Hanging (c. 1878) designed by William Morris. Photo by Wes Magyar.

LEARN MORE

Vance Kirkland (1904–1981) is among the most important Colorado painters of the 20th century. His work can be divided into five major periods: Designed Realism, Surrealism, Hard Edge Abstraction/Abstractions from Nature, Abstract Expressionism, The Dot Paintings.

Kirkland painted primarily in watercolor for the first half of his career, and oil paint for the second. In the mid-1920s he painted realist watercolor landscapes, which evolved into surrealist deadwood worlds. As he moved into abstraction, Kirkland developed three unique textures, initially mixing watercolor and denatured alcohol together, then subsequently mixing oil paint & water to create another signature technique. His third texture derived from placing thousands of dots, usually on top of the oil paint & water mixtures, for his final vibrant period of dot paintings.

Kirkland was born November 3rd in Convoy, Ohio, a small country town. Kirkland studied at the Cleveland School of Art, receiving a Diploma Degree of Painting (1927) and a Bachelor of Education in Art (BEA, 1928).

In 1929, at age 24, Kirkland moved to Colorado to be the founding director of the University of Denver (DU) School of Art in Denver’s Capitol Hill. In 1932, Kirkland took over the 1911 Arts & Crafts style art school building originally commissioned for artist Henry Read’s school. Kirkland ran the Kirkland School of Art in the building until 1946 when he returned to lead the art school at DU until his retirement in 1969. The University of Colorado Denver accredited classes at the Kirkland School of Art beginning in 1933.

Kirkland eventually made around 1,200 paintings encompassing his five periods, most completed in his studio. He continued to use the art school & studio building as his painting space until he died in 1981.

Kirkland married Anne Fox Oliphant in 1941 and enjoyed traveling and entertaining with her. In addition to his 55-year career as an innovative and successful painter and his work in education, Kirkland was a collector and active part of the local art community working to establish the modern art movement in Denver.

Today the historic studio & art school building is an essential part of Kirkland Museum of Fine & Decorative Art, which includes a large addition and galleries featuring the Museum’s three collections—Vance Kirkland’s paintings, the work of other Colorado artists and international decorative art, all shown together in salon style.