watercolor on wove paper, 1985
Signed and dated in pencil lower right corner
Image/Sheet size: 13 5/8 x 17 inches
From the artist's 1985 sketchbook
Inspired by O'Sickey's love of Japanese and Chinese art and calligraphy.
O'Sickey was represented by Jacque Seligmann and Kennedy Galleries in New York, where he had numerous one man exhibitions.
By: Christine Shearer, Development Director,
The Canton Museum of Art
Described as “the dean of painting in northeast Ohio” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Joseph O’Sickey was an active member of the Ohio artistic community for more than seven decades, as both an artist and a teacher. O’Sickey attended East Technical High School in Cleveland from 1934-1937 while also attending Saturday morning classes at the Cleveland School of Art (now the Cleveland Institute of Art).
In 1946, O’Sickey found employment at The Ohio State University and was influenced by his informal study with Hoyt Sherman. It was also the beginning of a life-long friendship with fellow faculty member Roy Lichtenstein. In 1964, he became an assistant professor of art at Kent State University and continued teaching through his retirement in 1984 (and his final retirement in 1989). Over the decades, as a faculty member of the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Akron Art Institute, The Ohio State University and Kent State University, he instilled his passion for the arts in countless students. He continues to introduce children to the importance of sketching and the arts through his sponsorship of a sketchbook program with the Portage City Schools.
O’Sickey won numerous awards in painting and had more than 50 solo exhibitions. His works can be found in many private and public collections, including the Butler Institute of American Art, Bristol Myers, the Canton Museum of Art, the Cleveland Artists Foundation, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, the Cleveland Public Library, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Columbus Museum of Art (Georgia), Hohn, Loeser + Parks, IBM (New York), National City Bank, the Michener Collection, the Pepsi-Cola Collection (New York), and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art. This year, O’Sickey is the subject of a major life retrospective, “Unifying Art, Life and Love,” at the Canton Museum of Art.
O'Sickey passed away on Monday, July 22, 2013, at 94.
