Malcolm H. Myers

Malcolm Haynie Myers (June 19, 1917 – March 14, 2002) was an American painter, printmaker and professor known primarily for his Intaglio-style engravings. His work is included in numerous museum collections.

Early life and education

Myers was born on June 19, 1917, in Lucerne, Missouri. He grew up there until his early teen years, when his family moved to West Texas during the Great Depression so his father could work in the oil fields near McCamey, Texas. They stayed there until the mid-1930s when they moved to the Wichita, Kansas area.

With help from a family friend, Myers entered the art program at Wichita State University, where he studied under renowned landscape, seascape, and still-life painter Clayton Staples. He completed a bachelor of fine arts degree from Wichita State University in 1939

After graduation, Myers joined the US Merchant Marine to fight in World War II. He trained at Catalina Island, California, and attended Officers School in Sheepshead Bay, New York. During this time, Myers married his longtime Kansas girlfriend Roberta King.

After the war, they stayed on in New York City, where he explored his interest in jazz and blues, which were influential in his works of art. He enrolled in graduate school at the University of Iowa in Iowa City to study under painter Grant Wood. During his studies at Iowa, he met Argentinean Print Master Mauricio Lasansky—known as “the nation’s most influential printmaker”—who was there on a Guggenheim fellowship. Myers taught with Lasansky for two years and eventually became a master printmaker himself. In 1946, Myers earned a second master of fine arts degree, this time in printmaking. Myers and Lasansky shared a lifelong friendship, with Myers being the godparent to Lasansky's son. There, he started the printmaking department in Jones Hall.

In 1951, Myers received a Guggenheim Fellowship (renewed in 1952) and worked in Stanley William (Bill) Hayter’s iconic printmaking studio, Atelier 17, in Paris. There, he met and collaborated with Jaques Desjobert, 1954 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship 1973 Wichita State University, Alumni Achievement Award

Collections The Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY Cincinnati Art Museum, OH Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR Library of Congress National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN The New York Public Library, New York, NY Newfields (Indianapolis Museum of Art) Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN Weisman Museum, University of Minnesota, MN St. Catherine University