Jon Imber (1950–2014)

Jon Imber (1950–2014) Biography

Jon Imber (1950–2014) was best known for his plein air landscape paintings. Although Imber found early success with figurative paintings, he experimented with different influences, styles, and subject matter all his life. He transitioned from figures, to portraits, to large studio landscapes, then figures in landscapes and plein air landscapes, and finally landscapes on the edge of abstraction. Throughout these changes Imber maintained a unique style of gestural brush strokes and an intimate sense of knowing his subject that goes beyond observation. The former director of the Danforth Museum called him one of the most important painters of his generation and placed him in the lineage of Boston Expressionists.  Imber’s work has been included in many publications including Paintings of Maine: A New Selection by Carl Little, Boston Modern, Figurative Expressionism As Alternative Modernism by Judith Bookbinder, and 100 Boston Painters by Chawkey Frenn. Imber split his time between Stonington, Maine, and Somerville, Massachusetts, where he taught at Harvard for many years.