John McLaughlin
- Also known as
- John D. McLaughlin
- John K. McLaughlin
- Born
- Sharon, Massachusetts, United States
- Died
- Dana Point, California, United States
- Active in
- Japan
- Biography
John McLaughlin attended the University of Hawaii, but was largely self-taught as an artist. In 1935, McLaughlin traveled to Japan to study the language in order to gain a greater understanding of Japanese wood block prints. He remained in Japan for several years before returning to the United States. In 1941, he resumed his study of the Japanese language while serving in the United States Army. In 1943 he was stationed as a major in the Japanese language section in the China-Burma-India theater.
McLaughlin started painting in his spare time in 1938; in 1946 he was able to devote all of his time to painting. His first solo exhibition took place at the Landau Gallery in Los Angeles in 1953. McLaughlin is associated with fellow artists Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, and Frederick Hammersley; the four artists called themselves "Abstract Classicists" in a 1959 exhibition organized by the San Francisco Museum of Art. McLaughlin died in Dana, California, in 1976.
National Museum of American Art (CD-ROM) (New York and Washington D.C.: MacMillan Digital in cooperation with the National Museum of American Art, 1996)
- Luce Artist Biography
John McLaughlin was passionate about Japanese art from an early age and longed to live in East Asia. His parents encouraged this enthusiasm by frequently taking him on trips to the Asian art collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. As an adult, McLaughlin held various roles, from serving in the U.S. Navy to selling real estate, but he fulfilled his lifelong dream in 1935 when he moved to Japan and immersed himself in the culture. A few years later, he returned to Boston and began painting while also running an Asian art gallery. McLaughlin later devoted himself exclusively to painting, and he had his first solo exhibition in 1953 at the age of fifty-five. His work is associated with the California Hard-edge style, paintings characterized by geometric compositions, straight edges, and rich, solid colors. Never formally trained, McLaughlin experienced great success on the commercial art market and had regular solo exhibitions that continued after his death in 1976. (Figoten, Sheldon. "An Appreciation of John McLaughlin." Archives of American Art Journal 20, no. 4 (1980): 10-16)