James Denmark © Artist

James Denmark's Bio
James Denmark was born in Winter Haven, Florida on March 23, 1936 into a family of Artists. He was exposed to color and form at an early age by his grandmother, a wire sculptor and quilt artist, by his grandfather, a bricklayer noted for his unique custom design molds and his mother who was gifted with an intuitive feeling for design and a fastidiousness for detail which she expressed in all aspects of her daily life. This rich beginning is the root of James Denmark's creative expression.
He attended Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida on a sports scholarship. While pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Art at FAMU, Denmark came under the tutelage of the artist and acclaimed African-American art historian, Dr. Samella Lewis, who exposed him to great traditions and accomplishments of the African -American art movement. After graduating from FAMU Denmark moved to Brooklyn, New York and began a career as an art teacher in the public school system.
From 1973 to 1976, Denmark earned his Master of Fine Art Degree at the prestigious Pratt Institute of Fine Art in New York. While at Pratt, Denmark met and was nurtured by an immensely talented community of artists. During this period he was heavily influenced by such abstract expressionists as Jackson Pollack, Clifford Still, William DeKooning. The African-American masters Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Ernest Crichlow instilled in him an appreciation of his African-American artistic heritage. He began experimenting with collage. Prior to this period, he worked primarily in watercolors and charcoal.
Denmark has a natural affinity for the difficult and largely improvisational medium of collage and quickly developed his own unique and easily identifiable style. With brightly hand colored papers, found papers, fabric and objects, Denmark creates compositions that go beyond the superficial and transitory and focuses, instead, on what is eternal and universal.
Denmark's collages, watercolors, woodcuts and reproductions are consistently and eagerly sought after by galleries and collectors worldwide. His level of acclaim is reflected in the number of prestigious collections in which is works are represented most notable that of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
James and his wife, Ethel now enjoy living in rural Yemassee, South Carolina.

The use of images on this website
James Denmark artist is the owner of all artwork on this website and cannot be use by anyone without his permission. The photo of James Denmark has been copyrighted. Please ask for permission for the use of this photo. The photo was taken by:
Karen C. Holmes © she is the owner of the photograph.