Born in Bay City, TX, USA, 1911 |
| Education | |
|---|---|
| 1931–1933 |
University of Texas Austin, TX, USA |
| 1929–1931 |
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas College Station, TX, USA |
| Solo Exhibitions | |
|---|---|
| 2022 |
Camden Art Centre, London |
| 2021 |
Forrest Bess: I Can Close My Eyes in a Dark Room The Ranch, Montauk, NY, USA |
| 2020 |
Kassel, Germany |
| 2018 |
London |
| 2017 |
Forrest Bess | Joan Snyder Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY, travelling to: Parrasch Heijnen Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| 2016 |
Forrest Bess: Paintings Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX, USA |
| 2013 |
Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, travelling to: Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2013-14); Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, Purchase, NY (2014); Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA (2014) |
| 2012 |
"My painting is tomorrow's painting. Watch and see." Forrest Bess: Including works from the Harry Burkhart Collection Christie's, New York, NY, USA |
| 1994 |
Annemarie Verna Galerie Zurich, Switzerland |
| 1991 |
CompassRose Gallery Chicago, IL, USA |
| 1989 |
Forrest Bess (1911–1977): Here is a Sign Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany |
| 1988 |
Hirschl & Adler Modern New York, NY, travelling to: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA |
| 1986 |
Butler Gallery Houston, TX, USA |
| 1981 |
Whitney Museum of American Art New York, NY, USA |
| 1977 |
Texas The Art League of Bay City, Bay City, TX, USA |
| 1974 |
Everson Museum of Art Syracuse, NY, USA |
| 1967 |
Witte Memorial Museum San Antonio, TX, USA |
|
Betty Parsons Gallery New York, NY, USA |
|
| 1963 |
The New Arts Houston, TX, USA |
| 1962 |
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX, USA |
|
Forrest Bess: Retrospective Exhibition Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
|
| 1959 |
Forrest Bess: Recent Paintings Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| 1958 |
Bess André Emmerich Gallery, Houston, TX, USA |
| 1957 |
Forrest Bess: Paintings Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| 1951 |
Memorial Student Center Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, College Station, TX, USA |
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Forrest Bess–One Man Show Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX, USA |
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Paintings by Forrest Bess The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1950 |
Forrest Bess: Paintings Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| 1946 |
Paintings by Forrest Bess Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX, USA |
| 1941 |
One Man Show by Forrest Bess The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
| 1940 |
Witte Memorial Museum San Antonio, TX, USA |
| 1939 |
Art Institute Texas Tech College, Lubbock, TX, USA |
| 1938 |
Witte Memorial Museum San Antonio, TX, USA |
| 1936 |
BayTex Hotel Bay City, TX, USA |
| Selected Group Exhibitions | |
|---|---|
| 2023 |
Conduits Lo Brutto Stahl, Paris, France |
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The Moth and the Thunderclap, curated by Simon Grant Modern Art, London |
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| 2022 |
Friends in a Field: Conversations with Raoul De Keyser Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium |
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The Outsiders Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas, TX, USA |
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STUFF: Organized by Arlene Shechet Pace, New York, NY, USA |
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Small Paintings Venus Over Manhattan, New York, NY, USA |
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S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium |
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Looking Backward & Forward: Forty Years with NEHMA & What’s Next Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA |
|
| 2021 |
All Roads Lead to More Roads The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, FL, USA |
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Seen in the Mirror: Things from the Cartin Collection David Zwirner, New York, NY, USA |
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Modern Art, London |
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Seeing Differently: The Phillips Collects for a New Century The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., USA |
|
| 2020 |
The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree Camden Art Centre, London |
| 2019 |
Artist’s Choice: Amy Sillman – The Shape of Shape The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA |
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Open Ended: Painting and Sculpture, 1900 to Now San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA |
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Downtown Painting, presented by Alex Katz Peter Freeman, Inc., New York, NY, USA |
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The Witte Museum, San Antonio, TX, USA |
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La Source Fondation Carmignac, Île de Porquerolles, France |
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Picture Gallery in Transformation: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago at MASP Museu de arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil |
|
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The World According to Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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| 2018 |
The Art of Found Objects: Enigma Variations Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX, USA |
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Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA |
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Centro de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain |
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It's Personal Edward Ressle Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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School of Chairs The David Ireland House, 500 Capp Street Foundation, San Francisco, CA, USA |
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Outliers and American Vanguard Art National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., travelling to: High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (2018); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA (2018-19) |
|
| 2017 |
Get Outta That Spaceship and Fight Like a Man Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, TAS, Australia |
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Margins Beyond: Self Taught Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas, TX, USA |
|
| 2016 |
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., USA |
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Before Midnight Karma, Amagansett, NY, USA |
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Biennial of Painting 2016: Yoknapatawpha Roger Raveelmuseum, Machelen-aan-de-Leie, Belgium |
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When Modern Was Contemporary: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, travelling to: Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL (2016-17); Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, PA (2017); Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID (2017); Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM, USA (2017) |
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Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA |
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| 2015 |
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA |
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The Grace Museum, Abilene, TX, USA |
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Bayou City Chic: Progressive Streams of Modern Art in Houston Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, USA |
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Interior Visions: Selections from the Collection by Alex Katz Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, USA |
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| 2014 |
It's Magic! Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium |
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Left Bank on the Bayou: Houston Avant-garde Art and Theater in the 1930s O’Kane Gallery, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, TX, USA |
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July The Approach, London |
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Purple States Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark |
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Pace Gems: Selections from the Linda Pace Foundation Permanent Collection SPACE, San Antonio, TX, USA |
|
| 2013 |
Songs of Innocence and Experience Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh |
| 2012 |
HIEROGLYPHS SPACE, San Antonio, TX, USA |
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Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA |
|
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Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA |
|
| 2011 |
Regarding Painting Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA |
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Forrest Bess: 100 Years Kirk Hopper Fine Art, Dallas, TX, USA |
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When Modern Was Contemporary: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, Purchase, NY, USA |
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Legacy: Selections from Emily Fisher Landau's Gift to the Whitney Museum of American Art Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, NY, USA |
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Sets and Sutures: Forrest Bess, Justin Lieberman, John McLaughlin Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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| 2010 |
La maison et l’infini: The Christian Zacharias Collection Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, Switzerland |
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Four Decades Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
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| 2009 |
Exhibition #1 The Museum of Everything, London, travelling to: Pinacoteca Agnelli, Turin, Italy (2010) |
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Core Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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Five Decades of Passion Part One: The Eye of the Collector, 1968-1988 Fisher Landau Center for Art, Long Island City, NY, USA |
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At the Center, In the Eye Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA, USA |
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| 2008 |
Oranges and Sardines: Conversations on Abstract Painting Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
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Loners & Mavericks Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA, USA |
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Castle in Context Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
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Disarming Matter Larissa Goldston Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
|
| 2007 |
a point in space is a place for an argument David Zwirner, New York, NY, USA |
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Summer Invitational Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA, USA |
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Lone Star Legacy: The Barrett Collection of Early Texas Art Dallas Museum of Art, TX, USA |
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Texas Modern: The Rediscovery of Early Texas Abstraction (1935-1965) Martin Museum of Art, Baylor University, Waco, TX, travelling to: Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX, USA (2009-10) |
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| 2006 |
We Make Any Size of Mirror Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY, USA |
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Summer Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA, USA |
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Early Houston Art in Houston Collections The Heritage Society, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 2005 |
Paint It With Black Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| 2004 |
The Privilege of Solitude: Alfred Jensen and Forrest Bess Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA, USA |
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17/15: A Selection of Art Made in Houston, 1950-1965 Brazos Projects, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 2003 |
Half Air Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| 2002 |
Der Berg Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg, Germany |
| 2000 |
Crossing State Lines: Texas Art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
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The Raw and the Cooked, in the series Making Choices The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA |
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Modern and Contemporary Art: Spotlight on the Collection The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1999 |
Severed Ear: The Poetry of Abstraction Creiger-Dane Gallery, Boston, MA, USA |
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Alternate Realities: Twentieth Century West Coast Artworks from the Museum Collection Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT, USA |
|
| 1998 |
Personal Cosmologies Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, USA |
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Parallel Worlds Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, USA |
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| 1997 |
LANDSCAPE U.S.A. Bronwyn Keenan Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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Perfect Being Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA |
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About Context: Eva Hesse, Roni Horn, Agnes Martin, Ree Morton, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, James Bishop, Giulio Paolini, Forrest Bess, Fred Sandback, Richard Tuttle Annemarie Verna Galerie, Zurich, Switzerland |
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Finders/Keepers Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1996 |
Forrest Bess und Myron Stout: Bilder der 50er Jahre Galerie Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany |
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In Pursuit of the Invisible: Selections from the Collection of Janice and Mickey Cartin The Richmond Art Center, Loomis Chaffee School, Windsor, CT, USA |
|
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Texas Modern and Post-Modern The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1995 |
Link Gerald Peters Gallery, Dallas, TX, USA |
| 1993 |
Gallery Selections Parkerson Gallery, Houston, TX, USA |
| 1991 |
Stubborn Painting: Now and Then Max Protetch Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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The Circle and the Square Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX, USA |
|
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Texas Selections from the Menil Collection Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX, USA |
|
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Selections from the Collection Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, Purchase, NY, USA |
|
| 1990 |
Inchoate Forces: Prayers of the Hand Cavin-Morris Inc., New York, NY, USA |
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Twentieth Century Masterworks: A Decade of Museum Acquisitions The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
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Toward the Future: Contemporary Art in Context Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA |
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Tradition and Innovation: A Museum Celebration of Texas Art The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
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| 1989 |
Albert Pinkham Ryder: The Descendants Washburn Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
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Hiram Butler Gallery Houston, TX, USA |
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Abstract Expressionism: Other Dimensions Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, travelling to: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL (1990); and The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, New Brunswick, NJ, USA (1990) |
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Barnard Collects: The Educated Eye Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, New York, NY, USA |
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The Private Eye: Selected Works from Collections of Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
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Bilderstreit. Widerspruch, Einheit und Fragment in der Kunst seit 1960, organised by Museum Ludwig Rheinhallen, Cologne, Germany |
|
| 1988 |
Direction and Diversity: Twentieth Century Art in the Museum Collection The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
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Vital Signs: Organic Abstraction from the Permanent Collection Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA |
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Texas Art: Selected from the Menil Collection, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Trustees’ Collections of the Contemporary Art Museum Houston The Menil Collection, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1987 |
Butler Gallery Houston, TX, USA |
| 1986 |
Major Acquisitions Since 1980: Selected Paintings and Sculpture Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA |
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The Texas Landscape, 1900-1986 The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
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| 1985 |
Mighty, Small Works Hand In Hand Galleries Ltd., New York, NY, USA |
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Black and White I: The Absence of Color Hand In Hand Galleries Ltd., New York, NY, USA |
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Giacometti to Johns: The Albert and Vera List Family Collection Albert and Vera List Visual Art Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA |
|
| 1984 |
La rime et la raison: les Collections Ménil (Houston–New York) Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, France |
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Ten Years of Collecting at the MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA |
|
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"I Knew It To Be So!" Forrest Bess, Alfred Jensen, Myron Stout: Theory and the Visionary New York Studio School, New York, NY, travelling to: Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, USA |
|
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From the Abstract to the Image Oscarsson Hood Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
|
| 1983 |
The Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA |
| 1982 |
In Our Time: Houston's Contemporary Arts Museum 1948-1982 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA |
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Permanent Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA |
|
| 1971 |
The Other Coast California State College, Long Beach, CA, USA |
| 1968 |
Jermayne MacAgy: A Life Illustrated by an Exhibition University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX, USA |
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The Sphere of Art in Texas HemisFair '68, San Antonio, TX, USA |
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Betty Parsons' Private Collection Finch College Museum of Art, New York, NY, travelling to: Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield, MI; Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, TN, USA |
|
| 1966 |
Eighth Annual Painting Invitational Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX, USA |
| 1964 |
Dealer's Choice: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings, and Prints Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA |
| 1962 |
Wit and Whimsy in Twentieth-Century American Art Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, travelling to: Tulane University Art Center, New Orleans, LA (1962); University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (1963); Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield, MI (1963); Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT (1963); Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (1963); Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX (1963); University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI (1963); State University of New York, Oswego, NY, USA (1964) |
|
American Paintings from Houston Collections The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
|
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The Age of the Thousand Flowers: An Exhibition of Works by Artists Past and Present Jones Hall Fine Arts Gallery, University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1961 |
The New Arts Houston, TX, USA |
| 1960 |
The Horace Richter Collection: Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture The Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC, USA, travelling to: Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN (1960-61); William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC (1961); University of Tennessee Art Gallery, Knoxville, TN (1961); Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC (1961); Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, Savannah, GA (1962); Columbus Museum of Arts and Crafts, Columbus, GA (1962); Winthrop College Art Gallery, Rock Hill, SC (1963) |
| 1958 |
Fresh Paint 1958: A Selective Survey of Recent Western Painting Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, travelling to: M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA |
| 1957 |
Recent Contemporary Acquisitions – Houston Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA |
|
Pacemakers Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1954 |
The Ludgin Collection of Contemporary Painting The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA |
| 1953 |
14th Artists West of the Mississippi Exhibition Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO, USA |
| 1952 |
Witte Memorial Museum San Antonio, TX, USA |
|
Paintings by Forrest Bess, Paul England, James Frew and W. Rexford Garey Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK, USA |
|
| 1951 |
Texas Southern University Houston, TX, USA |
| 1947 |
Cross Timbers Gallery Texas Wesleyan College, Fort Worth, TX, USA |
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Gallery of Contemporary Arts 314 Villita St., San Antonio, TX, USA |
|
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Seventeenth Annual Local Artists’ Exhibition Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX, USA |
|
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Joske’s of Texas San Antonio, TX, USA |
|
| 1946 |
Sixteenth Annual Local Artists’ Exhibition Witte Memorial Museum, TX, USA |
| 1942 |
Paintings and Prints by Artists of Various Nations The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
|
Courvoisier Galleries Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1940 |
The Texas General Exhibit Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX, travelling to: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX, USA |
|
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1939 |
Third Annual Exhibition of Work by Artists of Southeast Texas The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
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Fifteenth Annual Exhibition of Work by Houston Artists The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
|
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The Sixteenth Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA |
|
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Studio of Forrest Bess Houston, TX, USA |
|
| 1938 |
Loew's State Theatre Houston, TX, USA |
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Second Annual Exhibition of Work by Artists of Southeast Texas The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA |
| Selected Collections | |
|---|---|
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The Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL, USA |
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Colby College Museum of Art Waterville, ME, USA |
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Dallas Museum of Art Dallas, TX, USA |
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Glenstone Potomac, MD, USA |
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Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University Ithaca, NY, USA |
|
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Kunstmuseum Winterthur Winterthur, Switzerland |
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Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles, CA, USA |
|
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Lumber Room Portland, OR, USA |
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Matagorda County Museum Bay City, TX, USA |
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The Menil Collection Houston, TX, USA |
|
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Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Chicago, IL, USA |
|
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The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX, USA |
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The Museum of Modern Art New York, NY, USA |
|
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Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College Purchase, NY, USA |
|
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Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University Logan, UT, USA |
|
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The Phillips Collection Washington, D.C., USA |
|
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Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University Waltham, MA, USA |
|
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Ruby City San Antonio, TX, USA |
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San Antonio Museum of Art San Antonio, TX, USA |
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San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco, CA, USA |
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Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Hartford, CT, USA |
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Whitney Museum of American Art New York, NY, USA |