Ward Jackson, Painter And Guggenheim Archivist, 75

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Ward Jackson, a New York, New York, abstract painter and a longtime
archivist at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, died on February 3,
2004, in Manhattan, New York, from congestive heart disease, according
to his nephew, Julian Jackson, at the age of 75.

Inspired by painters like Piet Mondrian and Josef Albers, Mr. Jackson
made austere, hard-edged geometric compositions, typically on
diamond-shaped canvases.

He first exhibited professionally in 1949, as a 21-year-old college
student, and was invited by the painter and art critic George L. K.
Morris to contribute to the American Abstract Artists annual
exhibition. He was later included in historical surveys of American
abstract painting.

He had his first solo exhibition in New York at Fleischman Gallery in
1956, and exhibited regularly after that, but he had his greatest
success in Germany in the 1990's.

William Ward Jackson was born on Sept. 10, 1928, in Petersburg,
Virginia. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts from
the Richmond [Virginia] Professional Institute of the College of
William and Mary. After graduating in 1952, he studied with Hans
Hofmann.

While still in college, Mr. Jackson started a correspondence with the
Guggenheim Museum's director, Hilla Rebay, who offered him a job. He
worked at the museum from 1955 until his retirement in 1994. In 1969,
Mr. Jackson, who was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of
contemporary art and artists, was a co-founder and editor of a
periodical called Art Now New York, which became the Art Now Gallery
Guide.