JAMES AUGUSTUS MCLEAN American, 1904–1989 Kure Beach Pier, North Carolina, 1974 Oil on board. Signed and dated lower right. Framed. 16 x 21 inches (excluding frame) $250-350
ARTIST PROFILE: James Augustus McLean (1904–1989) was a vital figure in the development of 20th-century art and education in North Carolina. Born in Lincolnton and trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts—where he won the prestigious Cresson Traveling Scholarship to study in Europe—McLean famously turned down a faculty position in Philadelphia to return to his home state and champion the arts. In 1929, he founded the Southern School of Creative Arts in Raleigh, and throughout the 1930s, he served as a key administrator and muralist for the WPA’s Federal Art Project, notably completing a controversial series of murals for North Carolina State University. His diverse body of work spanned from traditional realism and impressionist landscapes to modern abstraction, often focusing on regional subjects like the North Carolina coast and the rural Piedmont. Beyond painting, he was a founding member and first president of the Raleigh Little Theatre, cementing his legacy as a polymath who helped build the cultural infrastructure of the Mid-Atlantic.
