In Joseph Cave’s lush oils, the sun always seems to shine. Whether floral still lifes or American Scene naturalist landscapes, his subjects radiate an enthusiasm for life and for his art. According to him: “The paint must be joyfully applied. The process must be evident in the product. … After sixty years I am still thrilled as the colors are squeezed from the tube.”
Cave was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, the state’s capital. He majored in painting at the University of Georgia, 1964 to 1958. Recalling those years, he explained: “Studying at the University of Georgia in the last half of the 1950s, we were bombarded, overwhelmed, and intimidated by the dynamics of the New York school of abstract expressionism. Occasionally I went outside, set up, and painted the landscape. It was a lot of fun, but did nothing for my G.P.A.” He spent two years with the United States army, primarily in Germany. Upon his return, in 1961 he enrolled at the San Francisco Art Institute and the following year received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He proceeded to San Francisco State College (now University), where he met and married his wife Jessica, and was awarded his Master of Fine Arts in 1964 with specialties in painting and printmaking.
The pair moved to Tennessee, where he held the position as a drawing and painting instructor at the Memphis Academy of Art, 1964 to 1966, then taught part-time at Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College) during 1965/1966. Returning to San Francisco, he taught design courses part-time at the Art Institute, between 1966 and 1968. From 1967 to 1971 he was head of the art department at the Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, south of San Francisco and taught art and art history. He continued to hold part-time positions in painting, first at the Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, 1971/1973 and Mendocino Community College in Ukiah, 1979 to 1984. During this time, he painted coastal scenes as well as ones of the wine country.
Cave then took a break from living and teaching in California and relocated his family to Portugal, where he spent the following five years focused on rural landscapes. Upon their return to the States in 1989, the family settled first in North Carolina, followed by time along the South Carolina coast. Moving back to North Carolina he took up residence in Hendersonville. In his depictions of rural scenery on both coasts and abroad, Cave has energetically preserved locations that are fast disappearing. And he has taken this advice to heart: “Eugene Delacroix said, ‘First, a painting must be a feast for the eyes.’ It must look good.”