Yvonne Jacquette


Yvonne Helene Jacquette was an American painter, printmaker, and educator. She was known in particular for her depictions of aerial landscapes, especially her low-altitude and oblique aerial views of cities or towns, often painted using a distinctive, pointillistic technique. Through her marriage with Rudy Burckhardt, she was a member of the Burckhardt family by marriage. Her son is Tom Burckhardt.

Early life and education

Yvonne Jacquette was born on December 15, 1934, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to William and Helen Jacquette. Her father was an accountant and management consultant while her mother was a homemaker. Her paternal great-grandfather, Jacques Hubert Jacquot, emigrated from Châlonvillars, France, with the name being changed upon arrival. Her maternal grandparents were both from Palatinate, Germany. She grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. She started studying art at age 10, and by 1947 she attended private instruction by traditionalist painter Robert Roché. Jacquette continued her studies at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Career

Jacquette taught at Moore College of Art and was a visiting artist at the University of Pennsylvania from 1972 to 1976. She taught at Parsons School of Design from 1975 to 1978 and at the University of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1984.
Her three-part mural "Autumn Expression" is in the U.S. Post Office in Bangor, Maine. According to the Smithsonian American Art Museum's online bio, Jacquette held various academic positions and was also honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1990.
In an interview with art critic John Yau in The Brooklyn Rail, Jacquette said of the way she came to begin painting aerial views:
Jacquette married Rudy Burckhardt in 1964. She was a visiting artist at the Siena Art Institute in 2012.
Jacquette lived in New York City, and died on April 23, 2023.

Work

As noted in The Female Gaze, "Jacquette's works began with direct studies made with pastel on paper or photographs taken from airplanes, skyscrapers, or rented single-engine planes. She often took flights primarily to study cloud formations and aerial perspectives. She has been described as the 'Canaletto of the skies.' Her paintings are intensely colored, elaborately detailed panoramas of cities, and the countryside at various day and night. Unique views and radical angles draw attention to the act of perception, anthropomorphizing the buildings that occupy her urbanscapes."

Awards and commissions

2009
  • Eric Isenbeurger Annual Prize + Samuel F. B. Morse Medal, 184th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, NY
2005
  • Benjamin Altman Prize, National Academy Museum, New York, NY
2003
1999
  • Mikhail and Ekaterna Shatalov Prize, National Academy Museum, New York, NY
1998
  • Andrew Carnegie Prize for Painting, National Academy Museum, New York, NY
1998-97
  • Guggenheim Foundation Grant for Painting
1994
  • Print Commission, Business Committee for the Arts
1993
  • Print Commission, Zimmerli Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
1990
1988
1979-82
1976

Solo exhibitions

2010
2009-10
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: The Complete Woodcuts, 1987–2009,” Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY; Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO.
2008
  • “Picturing New York: Nocturnes by Yvonne Jacquette,” Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
  • “Yvonne Jacquette,” DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
2006
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Arrivals and Departures,” DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
2005
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Paintings and Works on Paper,” Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, MO
2003
  • DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
2002–2003
2000
  • “Yvonne Jacquette - Evening: Chicago and New York,” DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
1998
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Maine Aerials,” Art Gallery, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, ME
  • “Paintings and Works on Paper by Yvonne Jacquette,” Hollins Art Gallery, Hollins College, Roanoke, VA
1997
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Vantage on High,” DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
1996
  • “Yvonne Jacquette Frescoes,” Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
1995
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Paintings and Pastels, 1992-1994,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1992
1991
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Aerial Views, Rudy Burckhardt: Photographs,” Jewett Hall Gallery, The University of Maine at Augusta, Augusta, ME
  • “Yvonne Jacquette,” Elizabeth Galasso Fine Art Leasing, Ossining, NY
1990
  • “Drawings and Monotypes,” O’Farrell Gallery, Brunswick, ME
  • “Paintings, Frescoes, Pastels 1988-1990,” John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1988
  • “Looking Down: Prints by Yvonne Jacquette,” Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Paintings and Pastels: New York Triptychs,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1986
  • “Yvonne Jacquette, Tokyo Nightviews,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY; Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Works on Paper,” Barbara Kraków Gallery, Boston, MA
1985
  • “Yvonne Jacquette,” Yurakucho Seibu/Takanawa Art, Tokyo, Japan
1984
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper,” John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1983
  • “Currents 22. Yvonne Jacquette: Recent Drawings and Pastels,” St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Drawings and Pastels 1982-83,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1982
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Paintings and Drawings,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1981
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Paintings and Pastels,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1979
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: The Night Paintings,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1976
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Paintings, Drawings and Monotypes,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
1974
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: 22nd Street,” Brooke Alexander, New York, NY
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Paintings,” Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
1972
  • Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
  • Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
1971
  • “Yvonne Jacquette: Recent Paintings,” Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
1965
  • Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

Public collections

Personal life

In 1961, she married fellow painter Rudy Burckhardt, who was recently divorced and had one son. They had another son, Tom Burckhardt, in 1964. Jacquette died on April 23, 2023, aged 88 in New York City.