1964-02 Jarvaise Paintings Reflect Haunting Influence of Spain

BY HENRY J. SELDIS, Times Art Editor, in Los Angeles Times, Feb 28, 1964

The somber beauty and haunting mystery of pain haye greatly influenced the recent works of Los Angeles painter Jam e s Jarvaise who recently enjoyed a year's sojourn on the Iberian Peninsula. Though his bold handling of paint, carried over from his very own tangent of action painting, still marks his canvases, the shadowy figures that appear on them are ghostly echoes of Goya and Velasquez (and of Bacon and Jones as well).

Superficially, Jar v a i s e has now drawn closer to the Bay Area figurative painter! but his poetry is alternately brooding and exuberant. The present .Felix Landau Gallery exhibition, though it contains a number of outstanding works, seems to represent a transitional state in this gifted painter's development. There is much evidence that; 'he is on the threshold of important self.-discoveries.

Among the paintings shown, "Girl," "The Cardinal of. Tavera," "The Fountain." "Man From Toledo, 'l :' ~T .. 'J3eggar" and "Vie1{ ot ~edo" are most memorable.