Collection: John C. Menihan
A native of Rochester New York, John Menihan graduated from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Over his six-decade career he embraced a variety of mediums in his exploration of the everyday world around him. Watercolor, a style handled with abandon and control, fully captivated him.
For two decades John produced over 100 stone lithographs in the tradition of the regionalist and American Scene printmakers. His technical knowledge was gleaned from his mentor and master lithographer, Bolton Brown, who was a founder of Byrdcliffe Colony, Woodstock, NY.
As a leading portrait artist, he painted oil, tempera and acrylic portraits of Rochester’s distinguished citizens. He executed many significant large-scale public works. These included a 110-foot-long abstract relief mural for the Security Trust Company, two and three-dimensional works for area churches and a major stained-glass window for Nazareth College.
John was a recipient of awards from the Memorial Art Gallery and the University of Rochester. His works appear in the permanent collections of the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; Library of Congress, Washington DC; Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester; The British Museum; the New York Public Library and the Boston Athenaeum. It is in private collections throughout the United States and Canada. The Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art holds his papers.
He was an instructor and Board Member of the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester; Assistant Professor of Drawing and Painting at the University of Rochester; member of the National Academy of Design; American Society of Graphic Artists; American Watercolor Society and a fellow of the Rochester Museum and Science Center.
