Jonathan Winters

The Umbrella Dancers

2003

Jonathan Winters (1925-2013) was an American Postwar Contemporary Artist and Comedian. Winters studied art at Kenyon College and the Dayton Art Institute and evolved a highly personal style. His work recalls surrealist Miro, Ernst, and Klee. Artist, Dong Kingman says of Jonathan Winters ; "he is widely known as a comedian. Everybody thinks of him as a funny man who does funny things. He talks softly at first. Then, all of a sudden, his humor hits you like an ax. But I know Jonathan better. I respect him and his work as a painter. I have visited his home and gone down to his nine-feet-below-ground studio in a four-by-four-foot room just big enough to hold a drawing table and a couple of chairs. We often sit there and talk about life, about art, and exchange ideas. His style of painting is abstract, reminding me of that of Wassily Kandinsky or Paul Klee at first sight. But his use of design, pattern, and calligraphy to express his feelings goes much deeper beneath the surface. To understand his wonderful ability to tell funny stories as a performer, one must also see him as a painter and analyze his artwork."