Jack Youngerman was born in Saint Louis, Missouri. He studied at the Academie des Beaux-Arts, Paris, from 1947 to 1948, and after traveling and working in Europe and the Near East, he settled in New York City in 1956. In the 1960s, his work advanced from constructivist to hard-edge abstraction painted in flat, brilliant colors, with compositions that seemed to reverse out from each other like stencils. Known for their explosive imagery and brilliant color, Youngerman's abstract works are derived from plants, leaves, and other organic forms. He described his drawings as starting points for his paintings and sculpture. Youngerman taught at Hunter College, Yale University, and the School of Visual Arts in New York.
[This is an excerpt from the interactive companion program to the videodisc American Art from the National Gallery of Art. Produced by the Department of Education Resources, this teaching resource is one of the Gallery's free-loan educational programs.]