Joseph McCullough (b. 1923)

What a change it must have seemed like when Joseph McCullough came to the scene in the 1950s to teach Drawing, Color and Composition and then to head the Cleveland Institute of Art replacing theories of color that had been taught for many years. His training was grounded at the school with Rolf Stoll, William Eastman and Paul Travis. His work with Josef Albers at Yale had solidified the groundwork for his innovative “Color and Light” course. Arts schools everywhere were trying to balance tradition and new concepts. He selected one his favorite paintings for this publication. It is abstract, it moves rhythmically, and shows how the sensation of sound can be translated to painting. He was a civic presence as head of the Fine Arts Advisory Committee of Cleveland's City Planning Commission for twenty years. The Institute's extension, the renovated old Ford Factory building near the main building, is named the McCullough Center for the Visual Arts. McCullough won the Cleveland Arts Prize for the Visual Arts in 1970.