A new exhibition of paintings by Jack Boul (b. 1927) tells the story of his prolific career as an artist and his legacy as a generous and beloved teacher. Following the exhibition, a gift of Boul’s artwork will enhance the AU Museum at the Katzen Arts Center’s permanent collection. Boul is based in Washington, DC, and has close ties to American University as a student and professor in the Department of Art. His solo exhibition, Perceptual Painting, will open at the AU Museum on June 15 and run through August 11. Learn more and plan your visit.

Jack Boul, C&O Canal II, 1972. Oil on canvas, 14.25 x 11.25 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Transcending the Ordinary

Working in a style reminiscent of the late 19th century post-impressionists, Boul’s paintings rely on momentary glimpses of everyday life, capturing the essence of a subject rather than focusing on the details. “I’m interested in the first impressions. The large masses you see when your eyes are half open before the details get in the way,” he says. “I am interested in the way shapes merge and what information you take from life. . .and how you translate it in classic terms on a flat surface.”

 The exhibition’s title, Perceptual Painting, refers to Boul’s unique perspective of a scene, ultimately one that relies on his own senses. In the foreword to the exhibition catalog, Jack Rasmussen, AU Museum director and exhibition curator (CAS/MFA ’75, MA ’83, PhD ’94) writes that “[Boul] charges us with the responsibility to transcend the appearance of things, to search for more universal truths.”

Jack Boul, Cows, n.d. Oil on canvas, 13.5 x 5 in. Courtesy of Tom O’Briant and David Boul.

Boul’s paintings feature everyday subjects. Some appear universal, including cows in a pasture, landscapes with rolling hills, nude figures, and diners in a café, while others are distinctly local, including views of Washington’s C&O canal, a guard stationed at The Phillips Collection, and Boul’s own artist studio. Rebecca Carr, lecturer in philosophy at George Washington University, writes on Boul’s elevation of seemingly ordinary subject matter. “For Jack, there seem to be endless essences, endless poetic qualities, endless emotional resonances to be elicited from a scene that looks much the same to the uninterested eye.”

Jack Boul, Artists Studio, 1965. Oil on canvas, 20.5 x 16.5. Courtesy of the artist.

Teaching by Example

When Boul arrived in DC, AU’s Department of Art was teaching classes at The Phillips Collection while the American Red Cross occupied the on-campus arts building during World War II. Rasmussen notes that the artworks at The Phillips Collection—revered as America’s first museum of modern art—influenced the work of both the faculty and students at the time. “Their presence at The Phillips stamped their style, whether post-expressionist or expressionist; they shared a love of color and gesture,” he says. Rasmussen, once a student of Boul’s, recalls that he urged his pupils to prioritize painting what they observed above all. “We started with visible data and then he encouraged us to paint our own perceptions,” he says.

Former student Sharon Wolpoff recalls taking Boul’s class in “Materials & Techniques,” where students learned how to make their own oil paint, how canvases were made, how to varnish finished paintings, and other important skills for artmaking. “We learned how to utilize the art supplies at our fingertips to better express ourselves,” Wolpoff says. “Carefully selecting and preparing the materials prior to beginning to paint helps to provide the groundwork for the burst of creative freedom that will follow.”

In addition to practical advice, Boul showed his students how to use different types of paint and brushes to create the desired effect in their paintings. “Jack illustrated the language of how to make a painting,” says former student Jo Weiss (CAS ‘86). By using his own paintings as examples, Boul helped his students “draw the most from an arrangement and expand students’ awareness of expression through structure.”

Jack Boul, Beach Waves, 2005. Oil on canvas, 8.5 x 5.5 in. Courtesy of Tom O’Briant and David Boul.

A Lasting Gift to AU

Following the exhibition, a large gift of works by Jack Boul will be donated to the AU Museum by Boul’s son, David Boul, and his spouse, Thomas O’Briant. This gift will include oil paintings, monotypes, and sculptures. “The gift fills out an important part of the history of AU’s Department of Art and art in our nation’s capital in our permanent collection,” says Rasmussen. “The works trace a legacy back to The Phillips, the foundation out of which AU’s MFA program was formed. It’s important to remember that foundation.”   

Jack Boul, Reflections, 1998. Oil on canvas, 19.25 x 13 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Born in the South Bronx, Boul attended New York City’s American Artist’s School before serving in World War II. After the war, Boul graduated from the Cornish School of Art in Seattle, Washington, and then moved across the country to take additional art courses at AU. Then, Boul began teaching in the Department of Art’s newly formed MFA program. After 15 years as a professor at AU, Boul became one of the first teachers at the Washington Studio School, which offers art classes for all ages. Although he retired from teaching in 1994, Boul continues to make and exhibit his art to this day.

Boul’s work was first exhibited in AU’s first campus art museum, The Watkins Gallery, in 1960 and again in 1971, 1972, 1983, and 1984. After the AU Museum at the Katzen Arts Center opened in its current location, he held solo exhibitions there in 2008 and 2015. Boul’s works are included in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, and the AU Museum.

See Perceptual Painting at the AU Museum at the Katzen Arts Center on June 15 through August 11. Learn more and plan your visit. Opening reception: June 15, 6-9 p.m.