June Wayne (U.S.A. 1918 - )

June Claire Wayne is a vastly under-rated printmaker based in the USA.  She was born in Chicago and left school at the age of fifteen to become an artist.  She had her first American solo exhibition in 1935 and the following year, her first international solo exhibition.  She was engaged in the WPA project in Chicago and by the 40's was a designer, illustrator, writer and of course an outstanding artist.  After the end of the second World War she was collaborating with Durassier in France and with some encouragement, she developed the Tamarind Lithography Works.  Although Wayne has shown her expertise in virtually every area of the arts and design, it is her lithographic works that are a highly distinguished affair. 

Logic, and imagination, technical expertness and artistic tact are all in force in the varying works of Wayne.  In some ways, Wayne's works are not just art, they are social commentary.  She is, in many ways, like the city New York, where she resided for so long..unabashed and unself-conscious.  There is also a distinct literary appeal in the works of Wayne, and this connection is not a mere nod or anecdotal interpretation.  Wayne's works have such atmospheric quality, and such breadth and depth of line that they defy the use of colour, so much so that in many of her works it would seem that colour would be an intrusion.  Much of her design shows such a French feeling that she also seems to almost defy her American upbrining and there is a transformation there that is apparent in the frank interpretation that she uses when composing her works.  There is an understanding, especially with her Kafka works, where she observes the absurdity of life with both an accurate and sympathetic vision. 

In her lithographic works, Wayne reached her highwater mark of technique and quality of delicate precision that is hard to compare to many other modernist Americans working on paper.  Ultimately, Wayne's works demonstrate the classic school of American modernism.  Certainly all the very best of all modern American prints, and those on which many Americans pride themselves on, are their realistic works that capture the lives of real people.  However, modernist and abstract works require a particular and exceptional method of treatment and accordingly many people fail to understand the richs within.  Ms. Wayne's works can be compared to the best of those modernists