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{{Short description|American artist}}
[[File:John Pitre American Artist.jpg|alt=John Pitre, American Visionary, Artist and Humanitarian|thumb|John Pitre, American Visionary, Artist and Humanitarian]]
{{Cleanup press release|1=article|date=October 2024}}
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{{Short description|American Visionary, Artist and Humanitarian}}
'''John Pitre''' (born 1942 in [[New York City]]) is an American [[visionary art|visionary artist,]] aviator, diver and inventor of advanced renewable energy systems based in [[Hawaii]]. He has been called the most bankable living American [[Surrealism|surrealist]].<ref name="BankableManchester"/>
'''John Pitre''' (born 1942 in [[New York City]]) is an American [[visionary art]] painter based in [[Hawaii]].


One of John Pitre's best known paintings is ''A New Dawn,'' a 1965 work which shows a modern human reduced to the status of a [[caveman]] in the midst of smoldering urban ruins. This painting, in the weeks after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]], was seen by some as a foreshadowing of what came to be known as the [[World Trade Center site|Ground Zero]] of those events.<ref name="AuerGroundZero"/> In 2004, the owner of the original painting, which was valued in 1997 at [[United States dollar|$]]1.7 million, offered ''A New Dawn'' in trade for a [[Pound sterling|£]]1 million house on the London real estate market.<ref name="BankableManchester"/>
One of Pitre's best known paintings is ''A New Dawn,'' a 1965 work which shows a modern human reduced to the status of a [[caveman]] in the midst of smoldering urban ruins. This painting, in the weeks after the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] more than thirty five years later, was seen by one family as a foreshadowing of what came to be known as the [[World Trade Center site|Ground Zero]] of those events,<ref name="AuerGroundZero"/> despite the painting being conceived as a statement on the escalation of nuclear weapons.<ref name="BankableManchester"/> In 2004, the owner of the original painting, which was valued in 1997 at [[United States dollar|$]]1.7 million, offered ''A New Dawn'' in trade for a [[Pound sterling|£]]1 million house on the London real estate market.<ref name="BankableManchester"/>


John Pitre's art addresses issues such as ecology, overpopulation, responsibility for stewardship of the Earth, the quest to understand the mysteries of the universe, and the fragility of life and of relationships.<ref name="PitreTheQ"/> Posters of his paintings were very popular in the 1960s and 1970s<ref name="WylandBio"/> and one of them, a print of his painting ''Restrictions,''<ref name="RestrictionsImage"/> has sold several million copies.
Pitre's art addresses issues such as ecology, overpopulation, responsibility for stewardship of the Earth, the quest to understand the mysteries of the universe, and the fragility of life and of relationships.<ref name="PitreTheQ"/> Posters of his paintings were very popular in the 1960s and 1970s<ref name="WylandBio"/>{{better source needed|date=January 2024|reason=Art dealer website doesn't seem like a reliable source for this claim}} and one of them, a print of his painting ''Restrictions,'' has sold several million copies.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}


John Pitre studied at the [[Art Students League of New York]]<ref name="ArtBrokerage"/> and has lived and worked in Hawaii for over 40 years. With his wife Patricia, his ex-wife Ginette and their artist daughters Dawn and Tanya, he is the proprietor of Pitre Fine Arts in [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]].
Pitre studied at the [[Art Students League of New York]].<ref name="ArtBrokerage"/>


== Inventions ==
== Inventions ==
Pitre is also an [[inventor]].<ref name="WylandBio"/> Pitre invented the [[Range of Motion (exercise machine)|Range of Motion]] (ROM) and Time Works [[exercise equipment]]<ref name="TimeWorksACE"/><ref name="TimeWorksCTI"/><ref name="RangeOfMotion"/> which was rated the "Best of What's New in 1993" by ''[[Popular Science]]'' magazine. With [[Tile#Decorative tilework|decorative tile]] artist Thomas Deir,<ref name="AcuamanTile"/> who was his [[Apprenticeship|apprentice]] at the time, Pitre co-invented Genesis Artist Colors,<ref name="GenesisArtTalk"/><ref name="GenesisPaint"/> a [[Chemical synthesis|synthetic]] [[oil paint]] which remains wet and malleable until it is [[Curing (chemistry)|heat cured]].
Pitre is also an [[inventor]].<ref name="WylandBio"/> Pitre invented the [[Range of Motion (exercise machine)|Range of Motion]] (ROM) and Time Works [[exercise equipment]].<ref name="TimeWorksCTI"/><ref name="RangeOfMotion"/> The American Council on Exercise debunked Pitre's claims of the machine's efficacy.<ref name="TimeWorksACE"/> With [[Tile#Decorative tilework|decorative tile]] artist Thomas Deir,<ref name="AcuamanTile"/> who was his [[Apprenticeship|apprentice]] at the time, Pitre co-invented Genesis Artist Colors,<ref name="GenesisArtTalk"/><ref name="GenesisPaint"/> a [[Chemical synthesis|synthetic]] [[oil paint]] which remains wet and malleable until it is [[Curing (chemistry)|heat cured]].


Pitre is also a [[Underwater diving|diver]],<ref name="ArtSpotBio"/><ref name="DolphinsDeMares"/> an [[Environmentalism|environmentalist]],<ref name="KimballWelcome"/> the founder and director of [http://www.naturalpowerconcepts.com Natural Power Concepts],<ref name="NaturalPower"/> and pilots [[helicopter]]s<ref name="HollierHanaHou"/> and [[Ultralight aviation|ultralight]] [[seaplane]]s.<ref name="GenesisDeirBio"/>
Pitre is also a [[Underwater diving|diver]],<ref name="ArtSpotBio"/><ref name="DolphinsDeMares"/>{{failed verification|date=January 2024|reason=No mention of Pitre being involved in diving}} an [[Environmentalism|environmentalist]],<ref name="KimballWelcome"/> the founder and director of [http://www.naturalpowerconcepts.com Natural Power Concepts],<ref name="NaturalPower"/> and pilots [[helicopter]]s.<ref name="HollierHanaHou"/>

==Patents==
A few of John Pitre's [[patent]]s:
* 2021: Folding Blade Wind Turbine<ref>{{Cite web |author-link=United States Patent and Trademark Office |orig-date=27 July 2021 |title=Folding Blade Wind Turbine, United States Patent #11073131-B2 |url=https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/11073131 |url-status=live |website=United States Patent and Trademark Office |format=PDF}}</ref>
* 2019: Folding Blade Wind Turbine<ref>{{Cite web |author-link=United States Patent and Trademark Office |date=26 February 2019 |title=Folding Blade Wind Turbine, US Patent #10215158 |url=https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/10215158 |url-status=live |website=United States Patent and Trademark Office |format=PDF}}</ref>
* 2019: Floating Energy Generating Platform with Horizontal Lift<ref>{{Cite web |author-link=United States Patent and Trademark Office |date=8 January 2019 |title=Floating Energy Generating Platform with Horizontal Lift, US Patent #10174739 |url=https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/10174739 |url-status=live |website=United States Patent and Trademark Office |format=PDF}}</ref>
* 2018: Wind Turbine with Automatic Tilting Frame for Unloading Damaging Winds Encountered by Wind Turbines<ref>{{Cite web |author-link=United States Patent and Trademark Office |date=28 August 2018 |title=Wind Turbine with Automatic Tilting Frame for Unloading Damaging Winds Encountered by Wind Turbines, US Patent #10060413 |url=https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/10060413 |url-status=live |website=United States Patent and Trademark Office |type=PDF}}</ref>
* 1988: variable resistance exercise apparatus<ref name="PatentVariableResist" />
* 1997: plastisol paint, with Thomas Deir<ref name="PatentPlastisol"/>
* 1999: full body exercise apparatus<ref name="PatentFullBody"/>


==Books==
==Books==
* ''John Pitre: The Art and Works of a Visionary.'' Barbara T. Erskine and Roger Jellinek, eds. [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]]: Pitre Fine Arts, 1996. {{ISBN|0-9648183-0-2}}.
* ''John Pitre: The Art and Works of a Visionary.'' Barbara T. Erskine and Roger Jellinek, eds. [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]]: Pitre Fine Arts, 1996. {{ISBN|0-9648183-0-2}}.{{self-published inline|certain=yes|date=January 2024}}


==References==
==References==
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<ref name="BankableManchester">{{cite web |url= http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/80/80429_art_of_swapping_your_way_to_a_1m_home.html |title=The art of swapping your way to a £1m home |author= Paul Taylor |work= [[Manchester Evening News]] |date= 5 February 2004 }}</ref>
<ref name="BankableManchester">{{cite web |url= http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/80/80429_art_of_swapping_your_way_to_a_1m_home.html |title=The art of swapping your way to a £1m home |author= Paul Taylor |work= [[Manchester Evening News]] |date= 5 February 2004 }}</ref>


<ref name="AuerGroundZero">{{cite web |url= http://www2.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/oct01/auercol10100901a.asp |title= Painting foreshadows ground zero images |author= James Auer |work= [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] |date= October 10, 2001 |quote= It was titled, "A New Dawn," and it showed a human being - now reduced, in the words of the artist, John Pitre, "to the status of a [[caveman]]" - standing in front of a pile of smoldering ruins, all that remained of a fallen New York skyscraper <nowiki>[</nowiki>[http://www.johnpitre.com/JP/ANDfull.htm image]<nowiki>]</nowiki>. In the accompanying text Pitre noted that he had made the oil painting in 1965 as he watched the [[United States|U.S.]] and the [[Soviet Union|U.S.S.R.]] build their nuclear arsenals. |access-date= December 10, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050223070247/http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/oct01/auercol10100901a.asp |archive-date= February 23, 2005 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>
<ref name="AuerGroundZero">{{cite web |url= http://www2.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/oct01/auercol10100901a.asp |title= Painting foreshadows ground zero images |author= James Auer |work= [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] |date= October 10, 2001 |quote= It was titled, "A New Dawn," and it showed a human being - now reduced, in the words of the artist, John Pitre, "to the status of a [[caveman]]" - standing in front of a pile of smoldering ruins, all that remained of a fallen New York skyscraper. In the accompanying text Pitre noted that he had made the oil painting in 1965 as he watched the [[United States|U.S.]] and the [[Soviet Union|U.S.S.R.]] build their nuclear arsenals. |access-date= December 10, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050223070247/http://www.jsonline.com/onwisconsin/arts/oct01/auercol10100901a.asp |archive-date= February 23, 2005 |url-status= dead |df= mdy-all }}</ref>


<ref name="PitreTheQ">{{cite web | url=http://www.theqmagazine.com/qv2/01_issues/Qmag04.pdf | title=Living the Fantasy | work=The Q (vol. 01, no. 4, p. 16), the Arts Magazine of the Qbix Gallery, [[Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] | date=Spring 2007 | author=George Filip | quote=Because [[surrealism]] can evoke emotion and stimulate thought, it can also serve as a forceful vehicle for social commentary… Water, light and circles play symbolic roles in Pitre’s art. Water is symbolic of birth, and cleansing of consciousness. Light represents enlightenment and divine understanding. The circle signifies the cycle of Life, unity with nature, and eternity.}}</ref>
<ref name="PitreTheQ">{{cite web | url=http://www.theqmagazine.com/qv2/01_issues/Qmag04.pdf | title=Living the Fantasy | work=The Q (vol. 01, no. 4, p. 16), the Arts Magazine of the Qbix Gallery, [[Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] | date=Spring 2007 | author=George Filip | quote=Because [[surrealism]] can evoke emotion and stimulate thought, it can also serve as a forceful vehicle for social commentary… Water, light and circles play symbolic roles in Pitre's art. Water is symbolic of birth, and cleansing of consciousness. Light represents enlightenment and divine understanding. The circle signifies the cycle of Life, unity with nature, and eternity. }}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>


⚫
<ref name="ArtBrokerage">{{cite web |url= https://www.artbrokerage.com/John-Pitre |accessdate=2024-01-17|title= John Pitre |author= The Art Brokerage |work= ArtBrokerage.com }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2024|reason=Certainly this information is available at another source than a commercial art dealer website}}
<ref name="RestrictionsImage">John Pitre painting, ''[http://www.johnpitre.com/JP/RSTsplash.htm Restrictions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814070949/http://www.johnpitre.com/JP/RSTsplash.htm |date=2007-08-14 }}''.</ref>


<ref name="WylandBio">{{cite web |url= http://www.wylandgalleries.com/index.cfm?CFID=604566&CFTOKEN=74827&do=featuredartists&artist=4 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030818082557/http://www.wylandgalleries.com/index.cfm?CFID=582054&CFTOKEN=87955786&do=featuredartists&artist=4 |url-status= dead |archive-date= August 18, 2003 |title= John Pitre |author= Robert Wyland |work= Wyland Fine Art |quote= Today, many of his paintings are considered modern classics... Other creations from Pitre's imaginative mind include devices for generating electricity from the movement of ocean waves and currents... and aircraft designs he has personally built and flown. |authorlink= Robert Wyland }}</ref>
⚫
<ref name="ArtBrokerage">{{cite web |url= http://www.artbrokerage.com/art/pitre/ |title= John Pitre |author= The Art Brokerage |work= ArtBrokerage.com }}</ref>


<ref name="WylandBio">{{cite web |url= http://www.wylandgalleries.com/index.cfm?CFID=604566&CFTOKEN=74827&do=featuredartists&artist=4 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20030818082557/http://www.wylandgalleries.com/index.cfm?CFID=582054&CFTOKEN=87955786&do=featuredartists&artist=4 |url-status= dead |archive-date= August 18, 2003 |title= John Pitre |author= Robert Wyland |work= Wyland Fine Art |quote= Today, many of his paintings are considered modern classics… Other creations from Pitre’s imaginative mind include devices for generating electricity from the movement of ocean waves and currents… and aircraft designs he has personally built and flown. |authorlink= Robert Wyland }}</ref>
<ref name="TimeWorksACE">{{cite web |url= http://www.acefitness.org/media/media_display.aspx?NewsID=67 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614025723/http://www.acefitness.org/media/media_display.aspx?NewsID=67 |archive-date=2006-06-14 |title= 'Four Minutes To Fitness' Claim Is No Exercise Shortcut |work= [[American Council on Exercise]] study |date= March 23, 1999 |quote= While it does appear to offer some benefit, particularly to the lower-level exerciser, the manufacturer's claim of a four-minute workout should be modified to reflect what can be realistically expected from exercising on this machine. |url-status=dead }}</ref>

<ref name="TimeWorksACE">{{cite web |url= http://www.acefitness.org/media/media_display.aspx?NewsID=67 |title= 'Four Minutes To Fitness' Claim Is No Exercise Shortcut |work= [[American Council on Exercise]] study |date= March 23, 1999 |quote= Time Works, according to ACE’s results, appears to be best suited to the beginning exerciser. While it does appear to offer some benefit, particularly to the lower-level exerciser, the manufacturer's claim of a four-minute workout should be modified to reflect what can be realistically expected from exercising on this machine. }}</ref>


<ref name="TimeWorksCTI">{{cite web |url= http://www.creativetrendsinc.com/projects.htm |title= Projects |author= Mark Hinrichs |work= Creative Trends Inc |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050204202838/http://www.creativetrendsinc.com/projects.htm |archive-date= 2005-02-04 }}</ref>
<ref name="TimeWorksCTI">{{cite web |url= http://www.creativetrendsinc.com/projects.htm |title= Projects |author= Mark Hinrichs |work= Creative Trends Inc |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050204202838/http://www.creativetrendsinc.com/projects.htm |archive-date= 2005-02-04 }}</ref>
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<ref name="GenesisArtTalk">{{cite web |url= http://www.arttalk.com/Genesis/index.htm |title= Genesis Paint Page |author= Art Talk |work= The Artisan, the quarterly newsletter of Genesis Artist Colors International |access-date= 2007-12-10 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071216072933/http://www.arttalk.com/Genesis/index.htm |archive-date= 2007-12-16 |url-status= dead }}</ref>
<ref name="GenesisArtTalk">{{cite web |url= http://www.arttalk.com/Genesis/index.htm |title= Genesis Paint Page |author= Art Talk |work= The Artisan, the quarterly newsletter of Genesis Artist Colors International |access-date= 2007-12-10 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071216072933/http://www.arttalk.com/Genesis/index.htm |archive-date= 2007-12-16 |url-status= dead }}</ref>


<ref name="GenesisPaint">{{cite web |url= http://www.thomasdeir.com/genesis.html |title= Brilliant Color: The problems associated with acrylic and oil paints simply don't exist any more |author= Joanne Hayes-Rines |work= Inventors' Digest |date= January–February 2003 }}</ref>
<ref name="GenesisPaint">{{cite web |url= http://www.thomasdeir.com/genesis.html |title= Brilliant Color: The problems associated with acrylic and oil paints simply don't exist any more |author= Joanne Hayes-Rines |work= Inventors' Digest |date= January–February 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050528073333/http://www.thomasdeir.com/genesis.html |archive-date=2005-05-28}} {{dead link|date=January 2024}}</ref>


<ref name="ArtSpotBio">{{cite web |url= http://www.fineartspot.com/artists/p/john_pitre-biography.php |title= John Pitre |author= Fine Art Enterprises |work= FineArtSpot.com }}</ref>
<ref name="ArtSpotBio">{{cite web |url= http://www.fineartspot.com/artists/p/john_pitre-biography.php |title= John Pitre |author= Fine Art Enterprises |work= FineArtSpot.com |url-status= dead |access-date= 2007-12-10 |archive-date= 2008-06-18 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080618174237/http://www.fineartspot.com/artists/p/john_pitre-biography.php }}</ref>


<ref name="DolphinsDeMares">{{cite web |url= http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/sep3/demares.htm |title= Communing with Dolphins with Ryan DeMares |author= Celeste Adams |work= The Spirit of Ma‘at, vol. 3 no. 2 |date= September 2002 |quote= My icon for this transformation is an image created by the visionary artist John Pitre. The painting hangs in a gallery in [[Kailua-Kona, Hawaii|Kailua-Kona]] on the Big Island, Hawaii. Every time I lead a dolphin encounter group on the Kona Coast, I stop by the gallery to view that painting… a tropical ocean filled with dolphins who are ascending from the sea to the sky through a circular rainbow… }}</ref>
<ref name="DolphinsDeMares">{{cite web |url= http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/sep3/demares.htm |title= Communing with Dolphins with Ryan DeMares |author= Celeste Adams |work= The Spirit of Ma‘at, vol. 3 no. 2 |date= September 2002 |quote= My icon for this transformation is an image created by the visionary artist John Pitre. The painting hangs in a gallery in [[Kailua-Kona, Hawaii|Kailua-Kona]] on the Big Island, Hawaii. Every time I lead a dolphin encounter group on the Kona Coast, I stop by the gallery to view that painting ... a tropical ocean filled with dolphins who are ascending from the sea to the sky through a circular rainbow...|url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726101621/http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/sep3/demares.htm |archive-date=2010-07-26}}</ref>


<ref name="KimballWelcome">{{cite web |url= http://www.totonetwork.com/node/203481 |title= Welcome John Pitre |author= [[Bobby Kimball]] |work= [[Toto (band)|Toto]] Network |date= February 20, 2007 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110717075916/http://totonetwork.com/node/203481 |archive-date= July 17, 2011 }}</ref>
<ref name="KimballWelcome">{{cite web |url= http://www.totonetwork.com/node/203481 |title= Welcome John Pitre |author= [[Bobby Kimball]] |work= [[Toto (band)|Toto]] Network |date= February 20, 2007 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110717075916/http://totonetwork.com/node/203481 |archive-date= July 17, 2011 }}</ref>


<ref name="NaturalPower">{{cite web |url= http://naturalpowerconcepts.com/ |title= Natural Power Concepts website }}</ref>
<ref name="NaturalPower">{{cite web |url= https://naturalpowerconcepts.com/team3 |title= Team &mdash; Natural Power Concepts }}</ref>

<ref name="HollierHanaHou">{{cite web |url= http://www.hanahou.com/pages/Magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=606&MagazineID=38 |title= Birds of Steel |author1=Dennis Hollier |author2=photos by Sergio Goes |work= [[Hana Hou!]] Vol. 10, No. 4, August/September 2007 }}</ref>

<ref name="GenesisDeirBio">{{cite web |url= http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/thomas-deir.html?viewcomplete=true |title= Thomas Deir |author= Biography |work= Fine Art America }}</ref>

<ref name="PatentVariableResist">{{cite web |url= http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/4728099-description.html |title= Variable resistance exercise apparatus |author= U.S. Patent No. 4,728,099 issued March 1, 1988 to John Pitre |work= Patent Storm |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130421175237/http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/4728099-description.html |archive-date= April 21, 2013 }}</ref>

<ref name="PatentPlastisol">{{cite web |url= http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5700858-description.html |title= Plastisol paint and method of use |author= U.S. Patent No. 5,700,858 issued December 23, 1997 to Thomas Deir and John Pitre |work= Patent Storm |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130421181304/http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5700858-description.html |archive-date= April 21, 2013 }}</ref>


<ref name="PatentFullBody">{{cite web |url= http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5908373-description.html |title= Full body exercise apparatus |author= U.S. Patent No. 5,908,373 issued June 1, 1999 to John Pitre |work= Patent Storm |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071021131650/http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5908373-description.html |archive-date= October 21, 2007 }}</ref>
<ref name="HollierHanaHou">{{cite web |url= http://www.hanahou.com/pages/Magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=606&MagazineID=38 |title= Birds of Steel |author1= Dennis Hollier |author2= photos by Sergio Goes |work= [[Hana Hou!]] Vol. 10, No. 4, August/September 2007 |access-date= 2007-12-10 |archive-date= 2007-10-11 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071011125930/http://www.hanahou.com/pages/magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=606&MagazineID=38 |url-status= dead }} {{dead link|date=January 2024}}</ref>


}}
}}


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.johnpitre.com/ The Official Website of John Pitre]
* [https://www.johnpitre.com/ The Official Website of John Pitre]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}

Latest revision as of 02:08, 12 October 2024

John Pitre (born 1942 in New York City) is an American visionary art painter based in Hawaii.

One of Pitre's best known paintings is A New Dawn, a 1965 work which shows a modern human reduced to the status of a caveman in the midst of smoldering urban ruins. This painting, in the weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks more than thirty five years later, was seen by one family as a foreshadowing of what came to be known as the Ground Zero of those events,[1] despite the painting being conceived as a statement on the escalation of nuclear weapons.[2] In 2004, the owner of the original painting, which was valued in 1997 at $1.7 million, offered A New Dawn in trade for a £1 million house on the London real estate market.[2]

Pitre's art addresses issues such as ecology, overpopulation, responsibility for stewardship of the Earth, the quest to understand the mysteries of the universe, and the fragility of life and of relationships.[3] Posters of his paintings were very popular in the 1960s and 1970s[4][better source needed] and one of them, a print of his painting Restrictions, has sold several million copies.[citation needed]

Pitre studied at the Art Students League of New York.[5]

Inventions

[edit]

Pitre is also an inventor.[4] Pitre invented the Range of Motion (ROM) and Time Works exercise equipment.[6][7] The American Council on Exercise debunked Pitre's claims of the machine's efficacy.[8] With decorative tile artist Thomas Deir,[9] who was his apprentice at the time, Pitre co-invented Genesis Artist Colors,[10][11] a synthetic oil paint which remains wet and malleable until it is heat cured.

Pitre is also a diver,[12][13][failed verification] an environmentalist,[14] the founder and director of Natural Power Concepts,[15] and pilots helicopters.[16]

Books

[edit]
  • John Pitre: The Art and Works of a Visionary. Barbara T. Erskine and Roger Jellinek, eds. Honolulu: Pitre Fine Arts, 1996. ISBN 0-9648183-0-2.[self-published source]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ James Auer (October 10, 2001). "Painting foreshadows ground zero images". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on February 23, 2005. Retrieved December 10, 2007. It was titled, "A New Dawn," and it showed a human being - now reduced, in the words of the artist, John Pitre, "to the status of a caveman" - standing in front of a pile of smoldering ruins, all that remained of a fallen New York skyscraper. In the accompanying text Pitre noted that he had made the oil painting in 1965 as he watched the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. build their nuclear arsenals.
  2. ^ a b Paul Taylor (5 February 2004). "The art of swapping your way to a £1m home". Manchester Evening News.
  3. ^ George Filip (Spring 2007). "Living the Fantasy" (PDF). The Q (vol. 01, no. 4, p. 16), the Arts Magazine of the Qbix Gallery, Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Because surrealism can evoke emotion and stimulate thought, it can also serve as a forceful vehicle for social commentary… Water, light and circles play symbolic roles in Pitre's art. Water is symbolic of birth, and cleansing of consciousness. Light represents enlightenment and divine understanding. The circle signifies the cycle of Life, unity with nature, and eternity.[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ a b Robert Wyland. "John Pitre". Wyland Fine Art. Archived from the original on August 18, 2003. Today, many of his paintings are considered modern classics... Other creations from Pitre's imaginative mind include devices for generating electricity from the movement of ocean waves and currents... and aircraft designs he has personally built and flown.
  5. ^ The Art Brokerage. "John Pitre". ArtBrokerage.com. Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  6. ^ Mark Hinrichs. "Projects". Creative Trends Inc. Archived from the original on 2005-02-04.
  7. ^ "ROM (Range of Motion)". John Pitre official website. Archived from the original on 2007-08-17. (Featured in Vogue in 1995.)[dead link‍]
  8. ^ "'Four Minutes To Fitness' Claim Is No Exercise Shortcut". American Council on Exercise study. March 23, 1999. Archived from the original on 2006-06-14. While it does appear to offer some benefit, particularly to the lower-level exerciser, the manufacturer's claim of a four-minute workout should be modified to reflect what can be realistically expected from exercising on this machine.
  9. ^ Don Acuaman (August 24, 2007). "Hawaiians' Tile". Hawaiian Style Magazine. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008.
  10. ^ Art Talk. "Genesis Paint Page". The Artisan, the quarterly newsletter of Genesis Artist Colors International. Archived from the original on 2007-12-16. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  11. ^ Joanne Hayes-Rines (January–February 2003). "Brilliant Color: The problems associated with acrylic and oil paints simply don't exist any more". Inventors' Digest. Archived from the original on 2005-05-28. [dead link‍]
  12. ^ Fine Art Enterprises. "John Pitre". FineArtSpot.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-18. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  13. ^ Celeste Adams (September 2002). "Communing with Dolphins with Ryan DeMares". The Spirit of Ma‘at, vol. 3 no. 2. Archived from the original on 2010-07-26. My icon for this transformation is an image created by the visionary artist John Pitre. The painting hangs in a gallery in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island, Hawaii. Every time I lead a dolphin encounter group on the Kona Coast, I stop by the gallery to view that painting ... a tropical ocean filled with dolphins who are ascending from the sea to the sky through a circular rainbow...{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. ^ Bobby Kimball (February 20, 2007). "Welcome John Pitre". Toto Network. Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.
  15. ^ "Team — Natural Power Concepts".
  16. ^ Dennis Hollier; photos by Sergio Goes. "Birds of Steel". Hana Hou! Vol. 10, No. 4, August/September 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-12-10. [dead link‍]
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