Abstract, 1990

Ellis Jacobson  

Ellis Jacobson (San Diego, 1925 - Palma de Mallorca, August 23, 2013) was an American cartoonist and painter who lived most of his life in Palma de Mallorca (Spain), where he developed his work.  

He studied at The Art Institute in La Jolla and at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. Very attracted to the world of comics, he began as a cartoonist making caricatures of Hollywood actors and actresses. He then traveled to Europe to stop in Paris, where he studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumièr and was able to meet Picasso. He continued training in Rome at the Studio Hinna, and at the beginning of the 1960s he visited Spain and settled in Palma de Mallorca.

A man of stubborn and energetic character, he always wanted to be away from the part that art has in the market. This complex relationship of an artist who lived from his work, led him to deny the sale to those who did not like him. In Mallorca he made friends with other Anglo-Saxons who settled there, such as the writer Robert Graves, and with Spanish artists such as Joan Miró.3 A great draftsman, he dedicated part of his work to capturing the passage of time and suffering in portraiture. Joan Carles Gomis has pointed out about this, «Ellis decided a long time ago that his painting is on the side of those who suffer and the losers». Restless, he worked both figurative painting and abstract expressionism. He maintained in his life the passion for both pictorial techniques and, in addition, he methodically developed each one in separate studies. He has been recognized for his great knowledge of drawing and color in all its manifestations and used all kinds of techniques and materials, feeling a preference, over the years, for paper.13 His work is exhibited in different museums and has toured different countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom or Italy, in addition to the United States and Spain.