ACA Galleries mourns the passing of John Dobbs on August 9, 2011. 

Born in Nutley, New Jersey, John Dobbs won scholarships to attend the Brooklyn Museum Art School and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture from 1950-52.  He began teaching in 1956 at his alma mater, the Brooklyn Museum Art School where he was an instructor until 1959. He continued teaching art at the New School for Social Research from 1964 – 1972 and then at John Jay College from 1972 – 1996, with year long appointments at the National Academy of Design in 1978 and the Art Students League in 1982. Since his 1959 debut exhibition he has continued to exhibit regularly throughout the United States.

An accomplished draftsman, Dobbs’ paintings depict a wide range of subjects from contemporary politics, urban landscapes and portraits to interior scenes. His recent show at ACA ( Seeking Equilibrium/Disequilibrium on view December 11, 2010-January 29, 2011) featured his series on “balance and imbalance, equilibrium and disequilibrium; moving between the one and the other, trying not to fall”. Inspired by observations and experiences from his own life, he drew on his memories and impressions as a source for his work.

His work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; Canton Museum of Art, Canton, OH and Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, MA.

He is the recipient of many grants and awards including the Emily Lowe Award from the Audubon Artists (1965); the Louis Comfort Tiffany Grant (1967), the Childe Hassam Purchase prize (1972) and the Art Award (1994) from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1976 and has been awarded the Benjamin Altman Prize (1978), the Ranger Fund Purchase Prize (1980); the Leila Gardin Sawyer Prize (1983); the Grumbacher Gold Medal (1989), and Edwin Palmer Award (1991).