Don Clausen Landscape Paintings
American, 1930-2020
Don was a passionate artist all his life. He started out with his animal drawings for children while attending art school. He then went on to his more abstract “boat paintings” and finally settled on abstract expressionism. His idea of a vacation was carving wood sculptures. He showed his art for many years at the De Tours Gallery and Maiden Lane Gallery in San Francisco, Zantmans in Carmel, Alta Galleria in Berkeley and had art shows in Grand Rapids Michigan in 2016 and 2019, plus various other galleries and shows over the years. One of his paintings is on the label of the 1986 Kenwood “artist series” Cabernet Sauvignon.
Born in 1930, Clausen is a graduate of the California College of Art in Oakland, California. “I always search for new ways of seeing things,” he says. “I’m an incurable experimenter. I live for art.” He uses a palette knife for his oil abstract paintings; in the 1960s and 1970s he also painted seascapes and did some sculpture in wood and metal.
In his luminous abstractions, Clausen employs every color of the rainbow, the strong lines forming geometric shapes that appear to fly through space. Nothing is weighed down in his paintings; it’s as if images came to him from outer space or other realms. He turns the physical world into dabs and streaks of color that convey an engulfing sense of motion.
Whether abstract or representational, his works convey enormous energy and vitality, like masterpieces by Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning. They also are distinctive for their sculptural quality, a result of his thickly layering the paint and then slicing down to the canvas with a palette knife or section of a venetian blind; his choice of tools is as eclectic as his subject matter. “I’ll paint with anything,” he says. “I like sticks because I can carve into the paint with them.”
Few artists demonstrate Clausen’s versatility, proved by his genius for shifting from one artistic form to another. He shows outstanding talent for portraiture, conveying a profound sense of his subjects’ characters, through sensitive detail, such as the tilt of a head, expression of the mouth or smile lines.
A great admirer of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Clausen has learned how to evoke a psychological state from studying those masters. He also paints landscapes and cityscapes, particularly splendid is a golden-brown San Francisco that he did of the city long ago. He has spent a lot of time studying the broad horizons of French painter Vlaminck. “Everything is abstract more or less,” he says, “as it’s fundamentally composed of shapes and lines.”to
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Artist: Don Clausen
Abstract Landscape
, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, Thiebaud
By Don Clausen
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left, 'Clausen' for Don Clausen (American, 1930-2020) and dated 1974.
A self-proclaimed "sculptor of paint," Donald Clausen used tools of his own invention to create co...
Category
1970s Don Clausen Landscape Paintings
Materials
Masonite, Oil
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Don Clausen landscape paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Don Clausen landscape paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Don Clausen in masonite, oil paint, paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 1970s and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Not every interior allows for large Don Clausen landscape paintings, so small editions measuring 14 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Edward Avedisian, Heidi Hybl, and Suzanne Vattier. Don Clausen landscape paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,850 and tops out at $1,850, while the average work can sell for $1,850.