Mark Adams (American, 1925-2006)
Adams attended Syracuse University and left to study art in New York with Abstract Expressionist Hans Hoffman. He was also a tapestry and stained-glass designer. He designed the windows for Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco’s largest synagogue, as well as has textiles featured in the de Young Museum and San Francisco International Airport. Later in life, Adams transitioned to watercolors, employing everyday objects–such as a flag, a bowl of fruit, and ballet shoes–as his subjects and creating pristine and almost hyper-real images. Through Adams’s vivid, delicate, and translucent colors, these mundane items take on deeper meanings. The artist was married to Beth Van Hoesen, who has portrayed him in an interior scene surrounded by objects he might have also portrayed.
