The Life and Art of John Payne

By Xlibris US

Frances Payne writes a brief biography of her older brother, John, who fulfilled a lifelong dream to become a painter. The book traces his childhood In Detroit, Michigan, and his introduction to photography and art. Finally, she describes his life as a painter in San Francisco, California. Bohemian, activist, and a decent human being, John Payne created art as delightful and uncomplicated as was the man he grew to be.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499061543

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Copyright © 2014 by Frances Payne, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 08/27/2014

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CONTENTS

Part I Biographical Notes

Chapter 1 Family

Chapter 2 Pre-Depression Detroit

Chapter 3 Depression Years

Chapter 4 Congress Street

Chapter 5 Bewick Street

Chapter 6 Rising Out Of Sadness

Chapter 7 The War Years

Chapter 8 In Between Wars

Chapter 9 Korean War And Europe

Chapter 10 Detroit And Los Angeles

Chapter 11 Settling In The City By The Bay

Part II Photography And Painting

DEDICATION

In loving memory of my parents.

A country erodes and dust blows away, the people all die and none of them were of any importance permanently, except those who practiced the arts… . A thousand years makes economics silly, but a work of art endures forever.

Ernest Hemingway.

PART I

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

John Payne was an accomplished painter, an artist in every cell of his body. About that, there is no room for debate. He copied the Hemingway quotation cited at the beginning of this book and tacked it to his studio wall. Dusty and yellowed, it was there for who knows how many years as a constant reminder of what he aspired to be and of what, in fact, he became.

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Valeria Opalewski and William Henry Payne - 1919

CHAPTER 1

FAMILY

The Payne Opalewski Family

My brother, John J. Payne was born on Friday the 13th in June of 1928 to Valeria Opalewski, the daughter of Polish immigrants, and William Henry Payne, a third generation American of English-Irish descent.

Our maternal grandparents, Francis and Anna Opalewski, came to Detroit from Poland in the 1880’s drawn by the great opportunity for construction work in the growing city. They settled in Hamtramck, a city of Poles with its own mayor and municipal government and peculiarly located in the heart of Detroit. A city within a city. We called them Busha and Jaja, Polish for Grandma and Grandpa. They spoke no English and confined themselves to the Polish Hamtramck community.

Jaja worked on the crew that built the beautiful iconic Fisher building in Detroit, a landmark often pointed out to us with pride when we drove nearby. Busha tended to the cooking, laundry, her garden and raising seven children, Leo, Francis, Jr., Michael, Dominic, Anna, Anastasia and Valeria. Her sons grew up and young Francis became too friendly with alcohol but Busha found an ingenious way to turn his youthful excesses to her advantage. She buried the empty beer bottles top down in the dirt and designed a beautifully patterned glass walkway through her vegetable patch and flower beds.

Our paternal grandparents, Ernest Payne and Catherine McGurn, met in Rochester, New York. After marrying, they lived for a short time in Canada and then Cleveland, Ohio before finally settling in Detroit where, they were advised, the clean air out West, would be better for Ernest’s ever worsening asthma.

Grandpa Payne was of English descent and a Baptist. He boasted of coming from a long line of well-educated professional ancestors in London. He supported his family by working as a photographer’s assistant.

Grandma Payne’s origins were humble. A red-headed shanty Irish girl from County Mayo, who sold newspapers on the street when she was only eight years old; she surely knew few of life’s comforts. Her support and strength came from her Catholic religion which was heavily weighted with superstition and old country tales. She always had a joke handy and with stranger and friend alike, she was known to place her hand on one’s forearm and begin with an impish grin, Now did you hear the story …?

She tended to the family and worked as a housekeeper for a wealthy family in one of the city’s elegant old mansions on Jefferson Ave. Frequently the boys would accompany her and help out, especially with the fancy parties. Because they were excellent readers, the hostess placed them at the ballroom door where they announced the names of the visitors as they arrived. Occasionally, Henry was even asked to entertain by singing Irish ballads.

Howard was especially bright and shared his learning with his younger brother. And, in fact, taught him to read by the time he was three years old. He finished secondary school and college in record time and by the time he was twenty, he was already a lawyer. Henry, however, had to leave school and go to work after the 9th grade in order to help support the family. He worked at a variety of trades, among them, tailor’s apprentice and roofer. Henry did not go to college, but it wasn’t because of lack of interest or ability. In fact, books were a passion with him his entire life and he harbored a desire to become a doctor. From Grandpa Payne, he inherited a reserved gentlemanly manner and from his mother, an elfish Irish wit but none of the superstitions.

Mom was the youngest of eight children and was notorious for her tomboy reputation. One of her early childhood friends remembered, Your mother was happiest when climbing trees. She was a good student and excelled in her classes. Her quieter moments were spent in her favorite pastime, painting with watercolor. Whether true or not, it was said that she once entered a citywide contest and her painting was displayed in the Chicago Art Museum.

As a teenager, she begged her father to let her enter a convent of Franciscan sisters in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Although Jaja was a devout Catholic, he firmly denied the request. She resigned herself to his authority and shortly after high school graduation, she went to work as a receptionist for Bell Telephone Company.

It was there that she met a young lawyer, John Howard Payne and the two became friends. This was 1917 close to the end of World War I and the two Payne brothers decided to enlist in the army. Howard invited Henry to accompany him when he paid Valeria a visit before leaving for training. In the fervor of political sentiment, Valeria promised to write to both of them while they were away. Mom’s brothers were on the battlefront in Europe and she understood the importance of a letter from home.

The war ended after several months and neither Howard nor Henry saw active duty. Henry, however, was blessed with a natural immunity to influenza and was stationed in a hospital where he tended to the victims of the great epidemic. From their different posts in the army, each sent letters to the girl they left behind. Evidently, our father was better with a pen, for his letters sparked a budding romance and soon after the war, he and Valeria were married. She was 19 and he was 22.

Mom and Pop, as we called them, came from very different ethnic backgrounds. Mom’s parents spoke only Polish and Pop’s parents spoke only English, leaving little possibility for genuine communication between the in-laws. However, both families did share significant characteristics that were passed on to the newlyweds: honesty, a belief in hard work and a deep religious faith.

CHAPTER 2

PRE-DEPRESSION DETROIT

John was born into our strict Catholic family in pre-depression Detroit, where words from the pulpit guided daily life and no one dared doubt their authority. The automobile industry was defining the city and providing a comfortable standard