The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

A horizontally oriented pen and black ink drawing on ivory paper features a complex surrealist landscape. To the left, dense, tangled lines form roots around a dark arched opening. A central, bulbous shape defined by intricate hatching rests on a tiered platform. Delicate, arched stems curve across the composition, ending in withered, drooping forms. Fine pen strokes and cross-hatching create deep textures throughout the scene, all framed by a thin double-lined border.

Untitled

c. 1966

James McCracken, Jr.

(American, 1942–2017)
America
Pen and black ink on ivory wove paper
Image: 22.2 x 25 cm (8 3/4 x 9 13/16 in.); Sheet: 23.2 x 26 cm (9 1/8 x 10 1/4 in.)
Gift of John B. Davidson 2024.104
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

James McCracken Jr. is little known today in part because he did not offer his works for sale to the public during his lifetime.

Description

A native of Lakewood, Ohio, the little-known artist James McCracken Jr. worked primarily on paper in a style influenced by the art of the Surrealists. Imaginative compositions such as the one seen here—which presents a monstrous, wilting plant rising out of a dense foreground populated with vines, roots, and biomorphic forms—recall dreams and the subconscious. McCracken worked in a precise, linear style that led Alfred H. Barr Jr.—an esteemed historian of modern art and the founding director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art—to describe him as “the new Dürer.”
  • ?-2024
    John B. Davidson, Chicago, IL, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2024-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled|url=false|author=James McCracken, Jr.|year=c. 1966|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.104