Table Saw Blade, 1987
Watercolor on Paper, 30"x 40"
Mike McDonnell was born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1937 and died in 2010. From 1956 to 1958 he studied with W.H. Moshy at the American Academy of Art in Chicago. He continued his classes from 1958 to 1960 with Sidney E. Dickinson at the Art Students League of New York. In 1959 he also completed a year of study at the National Academy School of Fine Arts in New York with Robert Phillip and Dean Cornwell. He received additional training in portraiture, initially in oil. McDonnell concentrated on painting still lifes and interiors, primarily in watercolor. In his work, he strived to idealize his everyday subjects while emphasizing clean, precise colors and details.
*Excerpted from Tools as Art: The Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.