Paint Until Dawn:
A Documentary on Art
in the Life of James Gahagan

A painter’s painter whose colour work rivals that of his mentor Hans Hofmann, James Gahagan (1927–1999) was a widely known secret of the art world. He painted until dawn to push the limits of vision.

Son of a labour leader, Gahagan inspired political structures to benefit others: a cooperative gallery, teachers unions, art schools, and an association of artists who took on the Mayor of New York City in 1961 to legalize loft dwelling.

A familiar figure of the 1950s New York Tenth Street scene, Gahagan had been one of the few able to explain Hans Hofmann's painting critiques. Teaching engagements at Columbia University Graduate School, Goddard, Pratt Institute, and the Vermont Studio Center augmented his annual solo exhibitions reviewed in The New York Times and Art News.

Yet the challenge to sustain a creative life amid rising rents and dirty politics convinced him to embrace alternatives. His move north with his wife, the sculptor Patricia de Gogorza Gahagan, would transform the isolation of Vermont.

Paint Until Dawn, produced and directed by Eli Ives, is about art itself through the eyes of artists.

(100 min)