James "Pop" Thomas Lang

Pop grew-up in the “Fishtown” section of Philadelphia during the Great Depression, one of nine children, played a lot of baseball (left-handed pitcher) with his brothers and eventually picked-up boxing and made it to the Golden Gloves level as a Feather Weight boxer. He attended the Immaculate Conception Parish elementary school and then graduated from Mastbaum High School (vocational school) where he focused on the Arts/Graphic Arts. He was drafted in to the US Army during the Korean War and was part of the First Cavalry as a heavy weapons expert. As part of his military service, he was deployed to Japan where he met his future wife.

After his military service, Pop returned to Philadelphia where he was selected for a Lithographer apprenticeship under Karl Sevard (nationally recognized Artist/Designer/Master Lithographer). He then attended the Philadelphia College of Art & The Barnes Foundation where he earned an Associate Degree in Art, was accepted to the Tyler School of Art at Temple University where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts & Bachelor of Science w/Honors in Education, traveled back to Japan and studied with T. Yoshida / H. Tajima / H. Hagiwara / Zen Monk Gajo Sakamoto in Zen Painting & Japanese Print-Making, earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art with a Master’s Year Study in Japan to complete his Thesis in “Line in Japanese Art”.

Pop enjoyed several teaching positions throughout his career:

• 1971-1998: La Salle University, Professor, Fine Arts, Art History & Asian Studies

• 1968-1970: Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Visiting Lecturer in Print-Making & Asian Art History

• 1967-1968: Olivet College, Assistance Professor of Fine Arts & Art History

• 1964-1967: Aoyama University, Tokyo, Japan, Assistant Professor, Humanities & Art History. Lithography & Etching Lectures/Demonstrations at various Art Schools in Tokyo. Continued Research on Indian / Southeast Asian / Chinese / Japanese Art History.

• 1961-1964: Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Teaching Assistant, Art History & Print-Making

Over the years, Pop had become a well established artist and tenured professor. His works have been represented in the following collections:

Philadelphia Art Museum • Cincinnati Art Museum • Philadelphia Public Library

Birmingham Art Museum • US State Department (DC) • American Embassy, Tokyo

Aoyama University, Tokyo • Archdiocese Office, Philadelphia • St. Charles Seminary

American Embassy, Bogota, Columbia • American Embassy, Kinshasa, Zaire

University of Pennsylvania • Western Michigan University • Olivet College, Michigan

Temple University • La Salle University • Rosemont College • Chestnut Hill College

Numerous private collections (and exhibitions) in the United States, Canada, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East

When Pop returned to the United States after his Assistant Professor assignment in Tokyo, he was now part of a family with his wife Monica and three sons; James, Joseph and Anthony. Monica went to heaven in 2007, Pop and Monica are survived by their oldest son James and his wife Denice, their son Matthew and his wife Taylor, their two daughters Adelaide and Everleigh, middle son Joseph and his former wife Lorraine, youngest son Anthony and former wife Yuri, their two daughters Ellisa and Alisha, and Anthony’s wife Candace and their son Cayden. Also, with 3 Brothers and 5 Sisters (two of whom were Trinitarian Nuns), Pop has many nieces/nephews (more than 30) and countless grand-nieces/nephews who will also miss him.

As we were growing-up, Mom and Pop always saved enough pennies throughout the year to drive down and stay in Ocean City, New Jersey for 1-2 weeks. We all looked forward the entire year to going back to the beach … such wonderful memories. It was a comical sight to see Pop pack-up that little 1970 Toyota station wagon with three bicycles, crab traps, fishing rods/nets, rafts, towels, clothes, food and more plus three boys and two adults!

At the time of his retirement from LaSalle University in Philadelphia, his son Joseph and wife, Lorraine, opened a small Art Gallery in New Hope, PA which exhibited exclusively the many works of James T. Lang, the gallery remained open for a few years and successfully sold many of Pop’s works to fans from all over the country.

In his retirement to Florida, Pop lovingly provided daily care for his ailing wife Monica for several years prior to her passing in 2007. Pop also enjoyed fishing off his dock and going out on his pontoon boat to set crab traps to catch some of the largest blue-claw crabs he had ever seen (larger than the ones we used to catch in Jersey). Pop continued to create his art and (during his retirement) he focused mostly on fish rubbings using fish he would catch directly off his dock or fish caught by his son James and grandson Matt. The technique is often referred to as Gyotaku (mid-1800’s), the traditional Japanese method of printing using ink and the actual fish. Pop only used special paper he brought back from Japan in the 1960’s. Also, despite not having the greenest thumb, he still did his best and enjoyed spending every morning in his garden, growing lots of flowers, some veggies, mangos, lemons and avocados … and pulling lots of weeds. He often spent his afternoons enjoying the breeze on his dock and reading. Pop was a voracious reader enjoying a couple books every week – he was the Merritt Island Library’s best customer, the librarians knew him well and always has his favorite books set aside.

James T. Lang was one of the kindest, gentlest and humblest souls to have graced our world, anyone that was blessed to have crossed paths with him would agree. We will all miss him dearly. Thank you for blessing our lives with your life Pop.