Julie Macdonald

American, 1926 - 1982

BiographyBorn in Pasadena, CA, Julie Macdonald came from a prominent family who supported her artistic interests. Her father Alexander Macdonald was a partner at the law firm Macdonald & Halstead but had a strong interest in writing. Her mother Aileen Macdonald had artistic proclivities in varying capacities before becoming an artist, an impressionist painter, later in life. Julie Macdonald first began taking art classes while a student at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York. She continued to study art at Stanford University, Art Center School in Los Angeles, and attended the Chouinard Art Institute (now part of CalArts) alongside her mother.

During the height of her career, Macdonald was part of the avant-garde artistic scenes around Pasadena and Los Angeles in the mid 20th century. Several writers of her day called her a “socialite” or “debutante,” so her status likely afforded her access to many these social circles. She took classes with artists such as Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) to whom she apparently suggested that he take up photography. Macdonald was a frequent guest at Zorthian Ranch, a convening spot for culture-makers and intellectuals like artist John Outterbridge and Nobel-prize winning physicist Richard Phillips Feyman. Additionally, the Pasadena Art Museum, now the Norton Simon Museum, had a radically forward-thinking program at the time, which included the first retrospective of Marcel Duchamp as well as major early exhibitions of Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Joseph Cornell. So, Macdonald was fully ensconced in the rich artistic and cultural experimentation of this period particularly in southern California to inspire her own practice.

She executed more than 400 works in stone, with her sculptures exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Pasadena Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum, and the National Academy of Design. Macdonald is in several collections such as the Hirshhorn, Washington D.C. Major commissioned pieces can be seen at Randhurst Regional Center in Chicago and Adams Plaza in L.A.

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