Joseph McGurl
Joseph
Cataumet, MA
Joseph McGurl
Joseph McGurl graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a dual major in fine art and education. After a short period in his twenties as a yacht captain sailing from Maine to the Caribbean, he has devoted his life to landscape painting. He is one of America’s most prominent contemporary landscape painters, and his work is exhibited from coast to coast. He is a devoted plein air painter who regularly travels and paints throughout the American West inspired by its natural beauty and history.
Joseph has had retrospective shows at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, The Cahoon Museum of American Art, and the Saint Botolph Club of Boston. The Arnot Art Museum’s Representing Representation exhibitions included his work as an example of contemporary landscape painting. In 2024 he was selected as the featured artist for the Coors Western Art Show in Denver. He is in the collections of the New Britain Museum of American Art, The Cape Cod Museum of Art, The Cahoon Museum of American Art, the Mellon Collection, The Art Renewal Center, the Tweed Museum of Art, the Forbes Collection, and the Westmoreland Museum of Art. He has been designated a Living Master by the Art Renewal Center, elected to the Guild of Boston Artists, was a Copley Master with the Copley Society of Boston, was a fellow with the American Society of Marine Artists and is a signature member of the Plein Air Painters of America.
Among his many awards are from the Art Renewal Center International Salon: two First Place in Landscape awards, the Plein Air Magazine award, the American Fine Art Magazine Award of Excellence, the Rehs Award, Best marine themed work, and a Purchase Award; Best of Show and Patron’s Choice at the Laguna Plein Air Painting Invitational; Three Patron’s Choice Awards and the Western Art Collector Magazine Award at the Coors Western Art Exhibitions; two Guild of Boston Artists First Place Gold Medallions; Best Group of Paintings at the Salmagundi Club American Masters Show; First Place at the Salmagundi Club’s Members’ Show; the Boldbrush Award, and the Copley Society’s John Singleton Copley Award given for Artistic Achievement.
Education:
Massahusette College of Art, BFA dual major painting and education 1980; University of London, 1978; Boston University summer program in Florence, Italy, 1979; Fenway Studios, Robert Cormier Sight- size figure drawing 1986- 1987
Awards and Honors:
- Living Master, Art Renewal Center
- Elected member, Plein Air Painters of America
- Elected Member, Guild of Boston Artists
- Elected Fellow, American Society of Marine Artists
- Copley Master, Copley Society of Boston
- Elected member, Saint Botolph Club
- Elected member, Salmagundi Club of New York
- 2020 and 2018 Coors Western Art Show; Patron’s Choice Award
- 2018 Art Renewal Center International Fine Art Salon; First Place in Landscape, Plein Air Magazine Award, Second Place in Plein Air Painting
- 2017 Guild of Boston Artists; Frank Benson Award
- 2016 FASO Boldbrush; Best in Show Award
- 2015 Art Renewal Center International Fine Art Salon; American Fine Art Magazine Award of Excellence, and the Rehs Award
- 2014 America Masters at the Salmagundi Club, New York; Best Display of a Group of Artworks
- 2014 Art Renewal Center International Fine Art Salon; First Place Landscape, Purchase Award, and Plein Air Magazine Award
- 2009 Guild of Boston Artists; Alden Bryan Award for Excellence in Landscape
- 2006 Laguna Plein Air Painters Association; Best in Show Award and Patrons’ Choice Award
- 1993 Guild of Boston Artists; Grumbacher Gold Medallion Award for Artistic Excellence
- 1990 Copley Society of Boston, John Singleton Copley Award for Artistic Achievement
Selected Publications:
- Plein Air Magazine, August 2021
- Western Art and Architecture April 2020
- Representational Art Conference Magazine—2019
- Fine Art Connoisseur—2013, 2008, 2006
- Plein Air Magazine—2013, 2011, 2018
- Underpaintings Magazine—2017
- Art of the West—2014
- The Outdoor Painter, McGurl on Past Masters 2015
- The Outdoor Painter—2013
- American Artist—2009, 2005, 2007, 2002, 1999, 1998
- American Artist Workshop—2007
- American Art Collector—2020, 2013, 2010, 2009, 2006,
- Sea History—2000
- Art Ideas: American Renaissance for the Twenty First Century—1998
- Boston Globe—1991
- Cape Cod View—2006
- The Review—1989
Selected Museum Exhibitions:
- Museu Europeu d’Art Modern, Barcelona, Spain, Sotheby’s Los Angeles—Art Renewal Center International Salon 2015, 2018
- New Britain Museum of American Art, CT—Hamm Collection 2015
- Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, IN—Quest for the West annually 2014- 2020
- The Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN, Plein Air Painters of America, 2018
- Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO Plein Air Painters of America, 2017
- Coors Western Art Show Denver, CO 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
- California Center for the Arts Escondido, CA- Legacy of the Land, 2015
- Cape Cod Museum of Art—Plein Air Painters of America 2015
- Evolutionary Realism: Landscapes by Joseph McGurl 1997
- St. Botolph Club of Boston—Joseph McGurl Solo Show 2015
- Joseph McGurl Retrospective: Paintings from the Past Decade 1999
- Salmagundi Club of NY—American Masters annually 2010- 2019
- The Cahoon Museum of American Art, MA—A Sense of Place: Location Studies
- By Joseph McGurl 2004
- Vose Galleries, Boston, MA—Realism Now 2004
- Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, MA—Changing Prospects: The View from Mount Holyoke 2002
- Arnot Art Museum, NY—Representing Representation V 2002
- Rockwell Museum of Western Art, NY—Representing Representation West 2002
- Haggin Museum, CA—Contemporary Artists Paint Yosemite and the Eastern Sierra 2001
- Haggin Museum, California Art Club Invitational Show 2001
- Haggin Museum, Sea to Shining Sea: A Reflection of America 2004 to 2007
- Forbes Gallery, NY—Sovenir de Normandie 1998
- Newport Art Museum, RI—Lost Landscapes 1991
- Fitchburg Art Museum, MA—Copley Masters 1991
- New England Realist Artists 1989
Solo and Small Group Gallery Shows :
- Cavalier Galleries, NY, NY solo show— 2020
- Salmagindi Club, NY, NY -2018
- Rehs Galleries NY, NY 2017
- Hammer Galleries, NY, NY solo shows—2008, 2006, 2005, 2002
- Collins Galleries, Orleans, MA solo show 2016
- John Pence Gallery, San Francisco—2013 solo show, 2005, 2002, 2000
- The Guild of Boston Artists- solo show 2011
- Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA—2010, 2005, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1995, 1990, 1989
- Hollis Taggart Galleries, NY, NY, and Washington, DC—1997 solo show, 1996, 1995
Selected Collections:
- Forbes Collection, New York, NY
- New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
- Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, MA
- Art Renewal Center, New York, NY
- Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA
- Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greenburg, PA
- Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN
- Christopher Forbes
- Sen. John F. Kerry
- Richard Mellon Scaife
- David Croll
Representation:
- Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY
- Collins Galleries, Orleans MA
- Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA
- Palm Avenue Fine Art, Sarasota, FL
- Joseph McGurl Studio Gallery, Cataumet, MA
