James McGinley's Biography

James McGinley is a painter of landscape, wildlife, marines, urban scenes, portraits, and western subjects. Born in 1937, McGinley is considered one of the three most important twentieth century artists from New Jersey, along with his teacher John R. Grabach (1882-1984), and another of Grabach's students, the watercolorist Henry Gasser (1909-1981). All depicted landscapes and city life in a painterly mode. McGinley moved to Sullivan County, NY in 1992 and has become known there as a leader of the Delaware River School of Painters.

He is listed in Davenport's Art Reference of 2001, The Artists Bluebook by Lorrie Pierson, and at http://www.AskArt.com.

McGinley studied on scholarship in Madrid at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the prestigious art academy started by the King of Spain, with Goya as the first director. The school had a staggering collection of paintings by Goya, Velasquez, Ribera, Rubens, and also of the artist who would be the biggest influence on James' life, the great Sorolla who is little known in America but was Spain's biggest artist at the turn of the twentieth century. James was impressed by the quality and depth of Sorolla's oeuvre, by his ability to paint any subject, and any size, whether it is a 3x2inches or 20x30 feet. McGinley decided to emulate him and his, "clean, painterly brushstroke dashed off as easy as breathing." Even while unable to speak Spanish, James McGinley was at the top of his class, was chosen to be on television to represent the Academy, and was befriended by cultural leaders and diplomats.

For the next decades, McGinley exhibited and was represented at a number of galleries, including Grand Central in New York City and the Newman Galleries in Philadelphia. He was a master art restorer, a job he appreciated because he could intimately study the techniques of painters such as Degas, Whistler, and Sisley.

Upon moving to the Delaware River area, McGinley drew inspiration not only from the humbling beauty of the region, but also from his seven horses. After a number of extensive journeys through western United States, drawing, painting, and photographing, he was finally able to develop his western paintings series which he had wanted to paint since childhood.

The Water Vision Series, created in 2002, depict direct views into river water streaming over rocks. Nearly abstract, they are meditative, even hypnotic works which are often compared to Monet. Currently producing some which are 4x8 feet, McGinley says he enjoys painting Water Visions so much that he can hardly wait to get out of bed in the morning