An easel painter of landscapes and figures, muralist, sculptor and teacher, Xavier Gonzalez was born in Almeria, Spain and was active in Provincetown, Massachusetts from 1947. He also lived in Argentina and Mexico, where he was planning on becoming a mining engineer, but in 1925, he immigrated to the United States, and in 1931, he became a U.S. citizen.

He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1921 to 1923 and with his uncle, Jose Arpa. He also studied at the San Carlos Academy in Mexico City, and in Paris and in the Far East. He was a teacher at Tulane University, Brooklyn Museum, Sul Ross State Teachers College, Case Western Reserve University and in New Orleans at Newcomb Memorial School of Art. There he often worked with fellow artist Julius Woeltz and commandeered the canteen wall for exhibition use of his art students, including Ethel Edwards, seventeen years, whom he married in 1935.

Stylistically Gonzalez became one of the early action painters, beginning in the 1930s, which was many years before Jackson Pollock made this style so famous. But he was reluctant to exhibit that kind of work because he didn't want these experiments to be regarded as his final painting. He also illustrated a children's book called He Who Saw Everything, The Epic of Gilgamesh by Anita Feagles (1966).

Gonzalez' artwork has been widely exhibited throughout the United States including Corcoran Gallery of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was also well known in Paris, Venice, Brussels and Tokyo. In 1953, he was elected to the National Academy of Design in New York City as an Associate member and became a full Academician in 1955.

Xavier Gonzalez died of leukemia in 1993, at the age of 94, at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York City.

Murals
Covington, Louisiana, Tung Oil Industry, 1939, oil on canvas
Hammond, Louisiana, Strawberry Farming, 1937, oil on canvas
Huntsville, Alabama, Tennessee Valley Authority, Federal Courthouse, oil on canvas
Kilgore, Texas, Pioneer Saga, 1941, oil on canvas
Kilgore, Texas, Drilling for Oil, 1941, oil on canvas
Kilgore, Texas, Music of Plains, 1941. oil on canvas
Kilgore, Texas, Contemporary Youth, 1941. oil on canvas

His wife, Ethel Edwards painted two murals; one titled Life on the Lake in 1942 at the Lake Providence, Louisiana post office and the other, titled Afternoon on a Texas Ranch, completed in 1941 at the Lampasas, Texas post office.

Sources:

Peter Hastings Falk, Editor, Who Was Who in American Art
"Xavier Gozalez," Wikipedia, Dec. 2018

Born February 15, 1898 in Almeria Spain. Education: Art Institute of Chicago 1921 - 1923 and with his uncle Jose Ara; San Carlos Academy in Mexico City; Paris; Far East.

Exhibits: Los Angeles 1930 (prize); Art and Crafts Exhibition in New Orleans 1937 (prize);

Holdings: War and Peace Auditorium; San Antonio Museum of Fine Art; Dallas Museum of Fine Art; State Teachers College in Alpine, TX; United States Post Office in Hammond, LA; Court House in Huntsville, AL

Position: Teacher Newcomb Memorial College School of Art; Director Art School at Sul Ros State Teachers College in Alpine, TX