Patrick Nagel
Patrick Nagel was born in 1945 in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Orange County, California. Following his return from his stint in Vietnam, he studied fine art at Chouinard Art Institute and California State University, Fullerton, where he earned a BA in painting and graphic design in 1969. He then taught at Art Center College of Design while also working as a freelance designer and artist, creating notable commercials for Ballantine Scotch, IBM, and Harper’s magazine covers.
His bright career as one of America’s most influential modern artists ended in February 1984 when he died at the age of 38. His method was one of simplification, of stripping away in order to achieve a stronger impact with fewer elements. His images are formal yet decorative. His women are the quintessential women of the ’80s. A so-called popular artist, he became a creator of fine art. –excerpts from Nagel – the Art of Patrick Nagel.
Nagel had several one-man gallery shows of paintings and graphics: a retrospective at the prestigious Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts at UCLA; inclusions in exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institute and the Library of Congress; and numerous painting commissions, from the White House, IBM, MGM, United Artists, Universal Studies, Harpers, and Psychology Today, among others. Nagel’s artistic legacy is vast.
Museum Collections (several)
- Library of Congress, Washington, DC
- Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
- Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris
- Musee de L’Affiche, Paris