Biography

Christopher Campbell received his B.A. at Yale University in 1979, and studied with Ansel Adams in Yosemite in 1981. After completing his M.A. in art history at Brown University, Campbell received a Fulbright dissertation grant to France where he explored the artistic relationship between Cézanne and Pissarro. In 1990, he met Joan Mitchell in Paris. The encounter was transformative. Campbell shifted his focus from art history to painting, and moved to Vétheuil, France, where he lived and worked with Mitchell.

Returning to the United States in 1992 after Mitchell’s death, Campbell began the studio practice now drawing international attention. He has also taught art history, as well as painting, at the College of the Holy Cross, the University of Michigan, and the Pennsylvania State University. Campbell is often in demand as a consultant and a lecturer on color and fine art reproduction, and his paintings are increasingly sought after on the Asian art market. His work has been exhibited in China, Ireland, Spain, and the United States, including New York. He lives and works in Pennsylvania with his spouse, Nancy Locke, a professor of art history at the Pennsylvania State University.

Curriculum Vitae

2003–present   Lives and works in Pennsylvania.
1992–2003   Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1990–1992   New Haven, Connecticut (studio in Branford).
1989–1990   Paris, France (studio in Vétheuil).
1983–1989   Providence, Rhode Island.
1957   Born in Columbus, Ohio.

Education

1990–1992   Studied painting with Joan Mitchell, Vétheuil, France.
1986–1992   Ph.D. candidate in History of Art, Brown University, Providence,
Rhode Island.
Dissertation title: Pissarro and Cézanne: Theory, Practice and Ideology,
1872–1882. Adviser: Kermit S. Champa.
1987   M.A., History of Art, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
Thesis: The Relative Scale and Sequence of Michelangelo’s Drawings for the Medici Chapel. Adviser: Juergen Schulz.
1984   Summer Language Institute (German), Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
1983   Special Student (History of Art), Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
1981   Ansel Adams Summer Workshop, Yosemite National Park, California.
1979   B.A. magna cum laude, with Distinction in American Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Exhibitions

2023    “Undifferentiated,” CJ Gallery, Shanghai, China, April 28–June 6 (with Wu Lintian).
2019 "Christopher Campbell," 2nd China International Import Expo, Shanghai, China, November 4–10, 2019.
"Christopher Campbell," Art Beijing, Beijing, China, April 30–May 3, 2019.
Classic Gallery, Shanghai, China. "Christopher Campbell," January 8–February 19 (solo).
2018 "Christopher Campbell," Art Canton: Contemporary Art Fair, Guangzhou, China, November 30–December 3, 2018.
Classic Gallery, Shanghai, China. "The Courage and Madness of Painting After Pollock," January 1–January 31 (solo).
2017    Classic Gallery, Shanghai, China. "The 22nd GuangZhou International Art Fair," December 1–December 31.
2009 “Gala 2009,” auction for Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, May 8.
2006   “Kite Project: Uttarayan,” The Dock, Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland, June 30–July 29 (with Helen O’Leary & Sarah Schwartz).
2003   “Frames of Identity: Versions of the Self-Portrait,” University of Michigan Residential College, Ann Arbor, March 7–April 5, 2003.
1999   “Seeing it Through: Faculty Artists from the School of Art and Design,” University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, April 10–July 3, 1999.
1998   Tabor Academy, Braitmayer Art Center, Marion, Massachusetts. February 16–March 7 (solo).
1997   University of Michigan, School of Art & Design, Ann Arbor, Michigan. “By-work,” January 2–February 2 (solo).
1996   “Gallery Artists: Recent Painting and Sculpture,” Alexa Lee Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 21, 1996–August 1, 1996.
1995   “A Day Without Art,” Alexa Lee Gallery (Project Room), Ann Arbor, Michigan, December 1–January 6, 1996 (with Tyree Guyton, Cynthia Nartonis et al.).
Alexa Lee Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan. “A Gap in Nature,” October 20 –November 25 (solo).
“Look with Care,” Alexa Lee Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 28–September 2 (with Eric Fischl, Tyree Guyton, Laurie Halbritter, Jennifer Reeves et al.).
“Land,” Alexa Lee Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 9–July 22 (with Larry Cressman, Nancy Mitchnick, Stephen Magsig, Robert Wilbert et al.).
“Small Talk,” Alexa Lee Gallery (Project Room), Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 8–July 22 (with Laurie Halbritter, Jennifer Reeves, Sharon Que, Tyree Guyton et al.).
“Small Works,” Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, June 3–June 30 (with Power Boothe, Linda Stojak, Judith Streeter, Hiro Yokose et al.).
1994   Alexa Lee Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan. “New Paintings and Drawings,” March 7–April 12 (with Martha Keller).
1993   Centro Cultural “Villa de Boltaña,” Huesca, Spain. “Los Matoralles,” July 17–31 (with David Campbell).

Bibliography: Reviews, Interviews

Sherburne, Cary. "Art, Photography and Print: A Winning Combination for Christopher Campbell." 13 February 2018. 
whattheythink.com/video/88685-art-photography-print-winning-combination-christopher-campbell/
Aitken, Erica and O'Connor, Kevin. "When you're trying this at home: Christopher Campbell." Rods and Cones: Out of Chaos, Fall 2017.
rodsandcones.com/outofchaos/fall2017/WChristopherCampbell_1.html
Locke, Nancy. “Some Possibilities for Painting’s New Topographies.” Sulfur 43, Fall 1998: 151–156, ill.
Biro, Matthew. “Christopher Campbell: Alexa Lee Gallery.” The New Art Examiner 23, no. 6 (February 1996): 51–52, ill.
Cantu, John Carlos. “A natural sort of abstract.” The Ann Arbor News, 19 November 1995: E12, ill.
“Sunday Best: Art.” The Ann Arbor News, 12 November 1995: F1, ill.
“Art that rewards a 2nd glance.” The Ann Arbor News, 13 August 1995: E1.
“There’s not enough land in ‘Land’ exhibition.” The Ann Arbor News, 25 June 1995: F6.
“Aesthetic mix provided at Alexa Lee Gallery.” The Ann Arbor News, 20 March 1994: F5, ill.
Colby, Joy Hakanson. “Earthy theme show lands a top cast of artists.” The Detroit News, 7 July 1995: 12C.
Guíu, Miguel. “Pintura figurativa y abstracta en Boltaña.” Heraldo de Huesca, Huesca, Spain, 24 July 1993, ill.
Martin, Bruce. “Hometown brings out best in Sparling’s company.” The Ann Arbor News, 23 June 1996: E1.
Olivera, Pilar Sampietro. Interview, Radio Sobrarbe (FM 92.2), Labuerda, Huesca, Spain, 20 July 1993.

Publications by the Artist

2020   “Work, Labor, Matter: Warren Rohrer’s Abstraction,” (coauthored with Nancy Locke) in Field Language: The Art and Poetry of Warren and Jane Rohrer, ed. Julia Spicher Kasdorf, Christopher Reed, and Joyce Henri Robinson, exhibition catalogue, Palmer Museum of Art (distributed by The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2020), 127–147.
1992   “Pissarro and the Palette Knife: Two Pictures from 1867.” Apollo CXXXVI, no. 369 (November 1992): 311–314.
1991   Review, Richard R. Brettell, “Pissarro and Pontoise.” The Burlington Magazine 133, no. 1057 (April 1991): 264–265.
1986   “Art of the Sixties: Soliloquies and Conversations,” catalogue essay and entries on Carl Andre, Larry Bell, Anthony Caro, Mark di Suvero, Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Jules Olitski, and David von Schlegell in Definitive Statements, American Art: 1964–66. Providence: Brown University, 1986.

Invited Lectures

2021   “Optimizing the Digitization of Paintings and Drawings,” 2and3D Photography symposium, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, June 2.
“Mark-Making: Warren Rohrer,” talk (with Nancy Locke): Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, March 24.
“See Hear: Revealing the Links between Impressionist Art and Music,” talk (with Boris Berman and Nancy Locke), Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, January 19.
2020 “Sharp, Accurate, Beautiful: Fine Art Digitization without Breaking the Bank!,” Society for Imaging Science and Technology, Springfield, VA, November 17.
Guest lecture, “Techniques of the Impressionists,” Art History 435, Studies in Modern Art, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, October 13.
2019 Guest lecture, “Photography and the Natural Environment from Ansel Adams to the Present,” Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, November 12.
Guest lecture, “Photographic Terms and Techniques,” Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, September 12.
2018 Guest lecture, “Abstract Expressionism,” Art History 112, Introduction to Art History, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, November 28.
Lecture, "A Painter’s Color: Seen, Sampled, Suspended," symposium Color: Pixels, Palettes, and Perception, University of Wisconsin, Madison, March 2. 
2017 Lecture, "From Pigment to Print," Color '18, Printing Industries of America, San Diego, January 15.
2015   Lecture, "Painting from Seeing," Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), The Pennsylvania State University, State College, May 12.
Guest lecture, "Photographic Terms and Techniques," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, September 10.
Guest lecture, "Nature and abstraction," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, November 10.
2014   Guest lecture, "Cézanne and Mont Ste-Victoire," Art History 435, Studies in Modern Art, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, February 13.
2013   Guest lecture, "Caravaggio," Art History 112, Introduction to Art History: The Renaissance to the Present, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, February 13.
2012   Guest lecture, "Photographic Terms and Techniques," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, January 24.
Guest lecture, "Imaging nature: f/64 to the present," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, April 3.
2010   Guest lecture, "Colored Pigments: Personal Work," Photography 405, Creative Projects, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, March 2.
Lecture, "Breakfast Notes," symposium Remembering Joan Mitchell, Tulane University, New Orleans, April 10.
2009   Guest lecture, "Expatriates in Paris," Art History 470, The Cold War and Modern Visual Culture in America, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, September 23.
2008   Lecture and gallery talk with Nancy Locke, "Against Art Photography: P. H. Emerson and Photographic Naturalism," Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, April 2.
Guest lecture, "Photographic Terms and Techniques," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, September 9.
Guest lecture, "Photography and the Natural Environment: from Ansel Adams to the present," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, November 11.
2007   Guest lecture, "Abstract Expressionism," Art History 416, Studies in American Art: 1940s–1960s,The Pennsylvania State University, State College, February 12.
Lecture and photographic workshop, "Get in the Zone," in conjunction with the exhibition, Ansel Adams & Edwin Land: Art, Science and Invention, Photographs from the Polaroid Collection, Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, July 28.
2006   Guest lecture, "Light, Lens, Camera," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, January 24.
Guest lecture, "Painting out of the Other: Pissarro and Cézanne," Art History 350, Landscape Painting in 19th-Century Europe, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, February 27.
Guest lecture, "Imaging landscape: from f/64 to the digital revolution," Art History 450, History of Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, April 6.
Guest lecture, "Coding Light," Art & Architecture 101, Art & Design Theory, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, November 27.
2005   Guest lecture, “Redoing Cézanne after Photography,” Art & Architecture 197, Art & Design Theory, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, November 30.
Lecture, “Pissarro, Cézanne, and the Strangeness of Picture-making,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, in conjunction with the exhibition, Pioneering Modern Painting: Cézanne and Pissarro 1865–1885, July 27.
2002   Lecture, “Painting Lessons: Joan Mitchell and the New York School,” Ann Arbor Women Artists, Ann Arbor Art Center, September 23.
Lecture and studio visit to Ann Arbor studio, docent education program of the Detroit Institute of the Arts, August 22.
Lecture and gallery talk, “1st and 2nd Generations of the New York School,” Detroit Institute of the Arts, June 23.
Lecture, “Painting’s Size and Painted Scale,” program “Exploration in Scale: Size, Measure and Value,” Rackham Summer Interdisciplinary Institute, University of Michigan, May 28.
Lecture, “Thinking, Drawing, Painting,” program “Art in Context,” Detroit Institute of the Arts, February 23.
1998   Lecture, “Recent Work,” Tabor Academy, Marion, Massachusetts, February 19.
1992   Lecture, “Cézanne and Pissarro: Reciprocal Relations,” symposium Cézanne: Art, Modernism and Culture, University of Delaware, Newark, December 4.

Grants, Awards and Fellowships

2016   basICColor Ambassador, basICColor GmbH, Penzberg, Germany.
1998   Tomlinson Fellow in the Visual Arts, Tabor Academy, Marion, Massachusetts.
1990   Departmental Research Grant, History of Art, Brown University.
1989   Fulbright Fellowship, Advanced Student Full Grant to France.
Summer Research Grant, History of Art, Brown University.
1988   Samuel H. Kress Foundation Travel Fellowship, Brown University.

Teaching Experience

2005   Visiting Lecturer, School of Visual Art, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania.
1994–2003   Numerous guest lectures at the University of Michigan (Professors Laura Auerbach, Howard Lay, Marjorie Levinson, Erika Najinski, Thomas Willette), and served on juries for the School of Architecture (Professors Caroline Constant, Robert Levit, Christian Zapatka).
1998–1999   Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Art & Design, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1987–1988   Visiting Lecturer, Dept. of Visual Arts, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts.
1986–1988   Teaching Assistant, Dept. of History of Art and Architecture, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
1985–1986   Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Art and Architectural History, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island.

Works of Art in Public Collections and Commissions

American Express Financial Services, New York
Dance Gallery/Peter Sparling & Co.: New Bach, Ann Arbor
Deloitte & Touche, Minneapolis
Monasterio de Boltaña, Boltaña, Spain
Philadelphia International Airport, "Three Views of a River," Lenticular Ellipse (15.5 x 30'), Philadelphia. Collaboration with Stacy Levy.
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor

Photography of Art, Artists and Architecture

2021   Robert Indiana: The Hartley Elegies, May 29–Jan 2, 2022. Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME (portrait of Robert Indiana, installation in the exhibition).
Christies. Live Auction 19809, 20th Century Evening Sale, 13 May 2021. New York: La Rêverie: The Collection of Sydell Miller, Joan Mitchell, “Rain.” (Portrait of Joan Mitchell).
Sarah Rehm Roberts; Katy Siegel; Baltimore Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Joan Mitchell. San Francisco : San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; New Haven: in association with Yale University Press, p. 312, 376–77.
2016   Christies. Post-War and Contemporary Art Morning Session, Wednesday 11 May 2016. New York: Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd. (Portrait of Joan Mitchell, p. 212).
2010   Marshall, Richard D. Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade. Beverly Hills: Gagosian Gallery. (Portrait of Joan Mitchell, p. 62).
2001   Abt, Jeffrey, ed. Up From the Streets: Detroit Art from the Duffy Collection Warehouse. Detroit: Wayne State University.
1998   Kleinman, Kent, and Van Duzer, Leslie, ed. Rudolf Arnheim: Revealing Vision. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
1997   Marshall, Richard, and Pleynet, Marcelin. Joan Mitchell. Valencia: IVAM.
1995   McDonnell, Patricia, and Plante, Michael. Dictated by Life: Marsden Hartley and Robert Indiana. New York: D.A.P.
1992   Kertess, Klaus. Joan Mitchell: Pastel. New York: Robert Miller Gallery.
1992   Waldberg, Michel. Joan Mitchell. Paris: Éditions de la Différance.
Various: Architectural Record, Metropolitan Home, I.D.

References available upon request