Jean Lightman

Jean Lightman is best known for her vibrant and luminous floral still life paintings.  Working in the Boston School tradition, her work combines the color and light of the French Impressionists with the accurate drawings of the 19^th Century European Academies.  She delights in arranging dynamic compositions that suggest movement in the flowers in order to capture the delicate forms and subtle color shifts in the petals.  This creates a finished painting in which all of the parts relate to the whole, giving her work unity and breadth.

 In 2014 Ms. Lightman was elected President of the Guild of Boston Artists, the first woman to hold that office in the Guild's 105 year history. She has given numerous public lectures about the Boston School painting tradition and how she incorporates the key elements into her own work. The most notable of these was at the offices of Google and has been viewed by over 2,400 people on YouTube. She was featured on WCVB's Chronicle, 10/12/15.  She curated a major historical exhibition, A Woman's Perspective: Founding and Early Women Members of the Guild of Boston Artists, 1914-1945. Hydrangeas, Pincushion Flowers and Berries won the Benson Award in the Guild’s 2018 Member’s Juried Exhibition. Arrangement on a Mantel won the Benson Award in the Guild's 2015 Annual Awards Exhibit and was a finalist in the Art Renewal Center's 12th Annual Salon.  September Morning, was chosen to hang for six months in Congresswoman Niki Tsongas’s Washington office.  Lavender and Cream was an “Editor’s Pick” at the 2009 Boston International Fine Arts Show.  Tango Dancers was used on the set of the film Bride Wars. Pedestal Bowl was awarded the Tarbell Award in the 2006 Guild’s Annual Awards Exhibit.  Qi, received the North Shore Arts Association Award in the 2010 Guild Annual Awards Exhibit and was exhibited at the Massachusetts State House. The Fisherman won the Gammell Award in the Guild's 2002 Annual Awards Exhibit. 

Ms. Lightman was featured in Southwest Art Magazine, October, 2017 and American Art Collector, March, 2013. Her artwork was included in The Perfect Palette, by Bonnie Rosser Krims (Warner Books, 1998).  She holds a Distinguished Artist membership at the Concord Art Association and became a “Copley Artist” member of the Copley Society in 2004. In addition to the Guild of Boston Artists, Ms. Lightman is represented by Powers Gallery in Acton, MA. and The Lily Pad Gallery in Watch Hill, R.I. Her work can be found in private collections across the U.S. and abroad.

 "The challenge of reducing a subject or scene to its poetic essence without compromising its beauty, that elusive goal is what lures me day after day back to my easel."

 

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 14^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.