McGaw, Bruce (b1935)

Bruce Alanson McGaw was born on April 5, 1935 in Berkeley, California, and was raised in Albany, California.

In 1955, at age 18, McGaw attended classes at California College of Arts and Crafts (now the California College of the Arts) in Oakland, and was in the institution’s first class taught by Richard Diebenkorn after Diebenkorn’s return to California from the East Coast. At the age of 22, his painting(s) were included in the seminal exhibiton held at the Oakland Museum of Art in 1957. Titled Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting, the exhibition was the first which referred to this group, now known as the Bay Area Figurative Movement.

McGaw’s paintings during the mid-1950s reflect an interest in later Abstract Expressionist styles, with lush colors and loose, spirited forms. By 1957, McGaw had moved more deeply into representational work and the handling of the human figure that would come to drive his work for the next half-century. This energetic observational direction drew from the energy of the other Bay Area figurative artists active at the time including David Park and Elmer Bischoff.