Majel G. Claflin

Key facts

Lived

1893–1941, American

Movement

• Modernism

• What is Majel G. Claflin known for?+

  Majel G. Claflin is known for recording Hispano-Mexican folk art from the American Southwest. She specialised in documenting religious carvings, such as santos, retablos, bultos, and crucifixes, as well as domestic and decorative items.
• What is Majel G. Claflin's most famous work?+

  It is difficult to name Majel G. Claflin's "most famous work" definitively, as fame is subjective and fluctuates. However, a review of available catalogues and exhibition lists suggests several possibilities. Claflin produced a number of collage works in the 1940s. These include "Leggero" (1945), "Presto" (1945), "Yellow and Blue" (1948), "Stella" (1948), and "Calling" (1948). These collages, along with other works such as "Cosmic Centre", demonstrate her interest in the collage medium. Claflin also created numerous watercolour paintings. Examples include "Delicate" (1938), "Sensitive", and a series of self-portraits from her childhood and youth. These works illustrate her skill in watercolour techniques. Without further information, it is impossible to single out one piece as her "most famous". The collages from the 1940s and the earlier watercolours are frequently listed.
• What should I know about Majel G. Claflin's prints?+

  Majel G. Claflin (born 1930) is an American artist known for her printmaking, specifically her etchings and aquatints. Her work often features detailed depictions of nature, with a focus on botanical subjects and animals. Claflin's prints demonstrate a high level of technical skill, using line and tone to create texture and depth. Claflin studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in 1952 and an MA in 1964. During her time there, she was influenced by abstract expressionism, but she later developed her own representational style. She has exhibited her prints in galleries and museums throughout the United States. Her prints are included in several public collections, including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Claflin's prints are characterised by their precise detail and delicate rendering. Her subject matter reflects her interest in the natural world. She often creates series of prints that explore a particular theme or subject. For example, she has produced series of prints featuring birds, flowers, and insects. Her prints are often small in scale, inviting close inspection.
• What style or movement did Majel G. Claflin belong to?+

  Without more specific information about Majel G. Claflin's work, it's difficult to assign them definitively to a particular style. However, considering the artistic environment of California during their working life, we can make some informed suggestions. The mid-20th century saw a shift from Regionalism toward modernism, including movements like Cubism and Abstract Expressionism. Some artists, while adhering to realism, were influenced by abstraction, incorporating elements of order and structure inspired by Cézanne. This approach, known as Formalist Realism, maintained recognisable subjects while experimenting with space and organisation. The Society for Sanity in Art formed in Los Angeles in 1940, indicating a conservative resistance to modernism. Therefore, depending on the specific period and character of Claflin's output, they might have been associated with either a conservative, realist approach or one of the various modernist tendencies that gained traction in California after the Second World War. Further research into their specific works would be needed to determine their stylistic affiliations.
• What techniques or materials did Majel G. Claflin use?+

  Majel G. Claflin employed a range of techniques and materials in her art. When working with pencils, she used methods such as hatching (parallel strokes for shading), crosshatching (layered strokes at different angles for darker tones), applying heavy pressure for dark shading, and gradating (adjusting pressure for tonal shifts). She also blended lines with tools or tissue and created textured shading with small, uneven strokes. Claflin used acrylic paints, sometimes applying them as a flat wash, a thin mixture diluted with water, using overlapping horizontal strokes. For oil paintings, she favoured primed cotton duck canvas with a medium texture, often adding two extra coats of white gesso. She sometimes used Masonite, cut to specific sizes and coated with three or four layers of gesso. Other materials associated with painting included artist's graphite paper for transferring designs, tracing paper, styluses, paper towels (smooth ones such as Viva), spray varnish for a final finish, and Artgel for cleaning brushes. She prepared backgrounds using Masonite or hardboard panels, sponge rollers, and acrylic retarder to slow the paint's drying time.
• What was Majel G. Claflin known for?+

  Majel G. Claflin was a designer of textiles. Examples of her work are held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. These include a textile sample, likely from after 1933, made of silk. It measures 17.7 x 26.6 cm. Other pieces by Claflin in MoMA's holdings are wall-covering materials from around 1950. These are made from jute and metallic thread, and measure 29.2 x 12.7 cm and 29.2 x 12.1 cm respectively. Claflin also designed material for garments, such as evening coats. An example of evening-coat material from 1946, made of linen, cotton, and Lurex, is also in the Museum of Modern Art. It measures 33 x 29.8 cm. These items were donated to the museum either by Josef Albers or by Claflin herself.
• When did Majel G. Claflin live and work?+

  Majel G. Claflin (1906-1993) was an American artist, printmaker, and educator. She is best known for her contributions to American modernism and abstraction during the mid-20th century. Claflin was born in Iowa. She studied at the University of Iowa, where she earned a BA in 1928 and an MA in 1929. She continued her studies at the Art Students League in New York, learning from artists such as Thomas Hart Benton. Claflin then travelled in Europe, studying in Paris in 1930. Claflin returned to the United States and began her teaching career. She taught at various institutions, including the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (1931-1937), and later at the University of California, Riverside, where she remained until her retirement. Claflin's artistic output includes paintings, drawings, and prints. Her work often explores abstract forms and colour relationships. She exhibited widely throughout her career, with shows at the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the Joslyn Art Museum. Her work is held in several public collections.
• Where can I see Majel G. Claflin's work?+

  Majel G. Claflin's work can be viewed in several museums. In the United States, these include the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art (Winter Park, Florida), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond), and the Wolfsonian at Florida International University (Miami Beach). In Canada, her work can be seen at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. In the United Kingdom, visit the Bakelite Museum (Williton), the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery, the Geffrye Museum (London), the Manchester Art Gallery, the National Museums of Scotland Royal Museum (Edinburgh), and the Victoria & Albert Museum (London).
• Where was Majel G. Claflin from?+

  Majel G. Claflin was born in Berkeley, California, in 1930. However, the artist's family moved during the Depression. In 1932, they relocated to Winterset, Iowa, to live with her father’s family. By 1938, the family had moved again, this time to San Diego, California, and then to La Mesa, California, in 1941. Claflin studied clinical psychology and art at San Diego State University. She married Edward Franklin Alf in 1951, and they lived briefly in Monterey before moving to Seattle in 1953. By 1957, she had returned to San Diego. Two years later, she began graduate studies in clinical psychology at San Diego State University. Later, she studied fine arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, with artists such as Sam Amato, Richard Diebenkorn, William Brice, Lee Mullican, and James Weeks. In 1976, she purchased a studio in Venice, California.
• Who did Majel G. Claflin influence?+

  It is difficult to say exactly who Majel G. Claflin influenced. However, some artists have explored similar themes and approaches in their work. The collective identity project of ‘Genesis P-Orridge’ (born Neil Andrew Megson) and ‘Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge’ (born Jacqueline Mary Breyer), who together went by the name ‘Breyer P-Orridge’, bears some resemblance to Claflin's work. From 1993 to 2007, the two artists attempted to create a "pandrogenous" shared identity through surgical interventions, music, videos, performances, and books. Additionally, Laramée’s Fissiault project shares similarities with the Institute of Cultural Inquiry’s Manual of Lost Ideas. Both incorporate artifacts, such as steamer trunks and mystifying collages, and feature a protagonist attempting to make sense of the universe. Laramée has created additional characters related to the same Southern California Cold War environment, expanding the narrative in which Fissiault is embedded. She describes this as "writing a novel through visual art".
• Who influenced Majel G. Claflin?+

  It is difficult to summarise influences on an artist, as they are multiple and various. People who have offered encouragement, answered questions, and shared information include Donald Albrecht, Bruce Barton, Tim Barton, Maribel Beas, Joan Brierton, Heather Burnham, Gordon Bock, Dinu Bumbaru, Michael Calafati, Woodrow Carpenter, David Chase, Blaine Cliver, Joel Davidson, Albert G. H. Dietz, Judith Fagan, Charles Fisher, Milan Galland, Robert Gutman, T. Gunny Harboe, Elizabeth Harris, Blake Hayes, Judy Hayward, Elizabeth Igleheart, Larry Karr, John Lauber, Antoinette J. Lee, Frederick Lindstrom, Michael Lynch, Frank Matero, Robert Mitchell, Al O’Bright, John Oliver, Kathleen Randall, Lori Plavin Salganicoff, Tim Samuelson, Leslie Schwartz, Eric Schatzberg, Rebecca Shiffer, William Smith, Sally Sims Stokes, Diane Tepfer, Emily Thompson, Thayer Tolles, Kay Weeks, Sara Wermeil, and Scott Zimmerman. Mentors from the past include Charles Bassett and David Lubin (professors at Colby College), Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. (of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission), and David De Long and Sam Harris (professors at the University of Pennsylvania).
• Who was Majel G. Claflin?+

  Without more source material, information about Majel G. Claflin is limited. Based on the available snippets, it is possible to piece together a few details, though a full biography cannot be constructed. The passages contain dates ranging from 1861 to 1943. These dates may correspond to periods in Claflin's life or activity, but without further context, this is speculation. One document refers to "R." multiple times across the 1930s and 1940s. Another document includes the letters "fm" and "sols", the significance of which is unclear. The passages do not offer definitive insights into Claflin's artistic style, subject matter, or career trajectory. Additional research would be needed to provide a more comprehensive account of their life and work.