If Max Beckmann's American students were numerous and dedicated in the immediate post-WWII years, it was because artists were feeling the great intensity of the moment when the Nazis had been defeated and Max Beckmann, a main target of Hitler's ruthlessness, had been brought to the United States by Morton May and other enthusiastic sponsors.  Having returned at the time from combat in Germany, I, as a young graduate student, was personally overwhelmed by Max Beckmann's vigorous philosophy, his iconography, grand scope and lush paint.
    Max Beckmann, speaking little English, didn't converse much with students.  ("Black!" was a common word, referring to drawing techniques.)  But Beckmann's wife, Quappi, spoke some English, and I had learned a bit of German during the War.  One brief, surprisingly nostalgic exchange started me thinking about what I had read of their years in Holland.  This homage painting (top right) resulted.  It is newly resurrected - after more than fifty years - from my closet.  (The distant mesa is decidedly not Holland as I remembered it, but no doubt an image from my own origins in the U.S. West.)  - jack bice

Max Beckmann painted details on the arm in this painting (middle right).  The painting was sent to the Boulder city dump in 1963 as we were moving to Buffalo, N.Y. - jb

Max Beckmann reshaped the bow in this painting (bottom right).  I obviously had little knowledge of ancient weapon forms.  The new shape and red accent were minor expressive revelations to me. - jb

I see a slight Max Beckmann influence in the mythical pageantry in this painting (lower left) - but I was more interested in emulating Goya's loose brush strokes in the background figures.  This was an early experiment with a "parade" theme, which appears later in my paintings as well as my music. - jb

Jack Bice was a graduate painting student of  Max Beckmann, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still.  Jack Bice: contemporary American painter, video artist, musician, composer, stereographic artist, combat photographer, computer animator, film animator, director, actor, poet, architect, computer graphics designer, muralist, computer color-cycle artist, draughtsman, inventor, writer, humanist, philosopher is presented by the Virtual Gallery.

Jack Bice was a graduate painting student of  Max Beckmann, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still.  Jack Bice: contemporary American painter, video artist, musician, composer, stereographic artist, combat photographer, computer animator, film animator, director, actor, poet, architect, computer graphics designer, muralist, computer color-cycle artist, draughtsman, inventor, writer, humanist, philosopher is presented by the Virtual Gallery.  Jack Bice was a graduate painting student of  Max Beckmann, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still.  A young combat photographer in World War II and later a painter in the heady, American post-war art movement, Jack Bice's vigorous career now spans over half-a-century.  A master innovator in music, video art and an array of imaging and audio modes, he is in the international vanguard of experimental artists.  Jack Bice: contemporary American painter, video artist, musician, composer, stereographic artist, combat photographer, computer animator, film animator, director, actor, poet, architect, computer graphics designer, muralist, computer color-cycle artist, draughtsman, inventor, writer, humanist, philosopher is presented by the Virtual Gallery.  Max Beckmann, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still were painting masters who taught in American universities after World War II and had great influence on the American painting scene. Max Beckmann, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still were master painters in the last half of the Twentieth Century.  Max Beckmann, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still influenced students and the contemporary, modern art of the late 20th Century in America and worldwide.  Max Beckmann, Ben Shahn, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still are featured in this tribute to great art teachers.  Jack Bice taught as Professor of Art at SUNY College at Buffalo. Among his art students were Robert Longo and Cindy Sherman.  Robert Longo and Cindy Sherman are widely recognized contemporary artists particularly in film and photography.  Cindy Sherman is a leading, world-class photographer.

I responded to Clyfford Still's request for slides of, and my personal comments upon, an invitational exhibition of my paintings and drawings at Colorado State University, in 1960.  The following personal letter from Clyfford Still was insightful and far more reflective that I had expected.  (The letter survived a flood.) -jb