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Michael Culver: Bio |
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Michael Culver is a Kentucky native who received an M.A. in Painting, and a Ph.D. in Art History and Humanities from the University of Louisville. A 1977 Fulbright Grantee, Culver has also studied and painted in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. Since 1977, the painter has had eleven one-man exhibitions. His paintings have also been included in numerous group and invitational shows in the mid-West, South East, and New England. His paintings were also chosen for the U.S. State Department’s “Art in Embassies Program”, exhibited in Santo Domingo and Indonesia. He has been listed in Who’s Who in American Art; American Artists: An Illustrated Survey of Leading Contemporaries; and in Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America; Biographical Encyclopedia of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers: Colonial to 2002. A painter of landscapes and figures, Culver’s acrylics are characterized by solidly constructed compositions rendered in fluid, painterly brushstrokes, employing an expressionistic sense of color. A Maine newspaper reviewer said of Culver’s work, “…it reveals a smoldering intensity that takes full advantage of a latent sensitivity of form and color.” The painter’s figurative work has been described by a Kentucky art critic as…, “a vehicle for the paint, the frame on which a forceful line, or jagged angle can be hung.” The Portsmouth Herald (NH) art critic called Culver “a discriminating colorist”, “…whose works are suffused with an energy that asserts an emotional peak.” Portland’s Maine Sunday Telegram art critic said of Culver’s landscapes, “They are created from fields of complex and intense color. It saturates the work…dominating the senses. Culver’s art is forthright, vigorous and handsome. The complexly achieved lusciousness of the color is irresistible.” Culver's paintings have been exhibited at New York City's National Arts Club Gallery; the Prince Street Gallery; and the Viridian Gallery; the Ogunquit Museum of American Art; the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington, Kentucky; the Floyd County Museum in New Albany, Indiana; the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art in Owensboro, Kentucky; the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, Maine; the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art in Indiana; Unity College Art Gallery, Maine; and at the University of Louisville. His paintings are in numerous public and private collections, including: the Rhode Island School of Design Museum; the Ogunquit Museum of American Art; the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art; the University of Louisville; Humana Corporation; Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company; Kennenbunk (Maine) Savings Bank; and the Communication Workers of America. In 1983, Culver was commissioned by The Louisville Ballet to create a painting used for the poster that accompanied their presentation of Gaite Parisienne. Culver is also an accomplished photographer who has been taking pictures for more than three decades. Most recently Culver's photograph was selected to the 2016 New Hampshire Aviation Museum’s Annual Juried Exhibition. His work has also been shown in the Lagrange (GA) National Exhibit at the Lagrange Art Museum; the 18th and 19th Annual Texas National at Austin University; the 101st National Exhibit at the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts; the Maryland Federation of Art's 12th Annual American Landscape National Exhibition; and FotoFoto Gallery's 8th National Competition Exhibition, Huntington, NY. A well-known New York City photography dealer has described Culver as having, “an educated and refined eye.” His photojournalistic style reflects an imaginative eye, and an elegant and sophisticated sense of composition and light. Culver’s ability to “tell a story” with images is one of his strengths, and has led to his recent venture into commercial work, including weddings. Culver has also had a distinguished career as a museum professional. He served as Director and Chief Curator of the Naples Museum of Art in Naples, Florida, and was Executive Director and Curator at Maine’s Ogunquit Museum of American Art. Culver curated numerous significant exhibitions, including retrospectives of artists such as Wolf Kahn, Janet Fish, Will Barnet, Jamie Wyeth, and William Zorach. In addition, he has curated such important survey exhibitions as: “Latin American Painting Now”, “The Figure in American Painting and Drawing, 1985-2005”; “Painted Air: American Impressionism”, “Florida Contemporary: Paintings and Photographs”, and “Realism in 20th Century American Painting”. Thomas Hoving, the former director of New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, cited Culver’s picture-hanging skills, his “quiet leadership” abilities, and his “impeccable attention to details” as among his professional virtues. Hoving said, “In Ogunquit, he took a small, small museum and gave it a big reputation.” From 2013-2021, Culver was Executive Director at the Wright Museum of WWII in Wolfeboro, NH Culver’s writings on art and literature have been published in both the U.S. and in England, most recently in the August, 2007 issue of American Art Review Magazine. He has recently completed an unpublished biography on the Kentucky painter, Henry Strater. Culver has served as a juror for numerous regional art exhibitions, and is a frequent lecturer on art (previously speaking at The Boston Public Library; the Art Complex Museum, MA.; the University of Kentucky Art Museum; and at the Washington & Lee Art Gallery, VA.). He has conducted painting workshops and critiqued college studio art classes, and has taught on the college and high school levels. Culver is a Trustee of the Rudolph and John Dirks Foundation, and served as a Trustee at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art. He was Chairman of the Maine Art Museum Trail organization, and President of the Kentucky Art Education Association. He served as a consultant to the Maine Humanities Council, and was a member of the Advisory Panel for the Maine Arts Commission. Culver is represented by Mathias Fine Art, Trevett, Maine and Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville, Kentucky. Culver is a member of the New Hampshire Society of Photographic Artist |