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Lee Bontecou    (American, 1931)



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Biography
1931 January 15. Born in Providence, Rhode Island. Raised in New York and Nova Scotia
1954 Spends summer at the Skowhegan School, Maine
1952 - 1955 Studies at the Art Students League, New York City, with William Zorach (1887–1966), as well as Morris Kantor (1896–1974) and Robert Brackman (1898–1980). Receives a Merit Scholarship (1954–55) and a Ball Grant (1955–56) [Note: the Ball Grant was funded by something called the Dream Ball, aimed at raising funds for scholarships. On page 18 of the 1955-56 Art Students League catalogue it states: “Scholarships resulting from the Scholarship Ball entitled “The Dream Ball” are granted annually by the Board of Control upon thorough investigation of the financial need, serious intent and potential talent of the applicant. They are available only to those who been cash-paying students at the League for at least three months on a five-day-a week basis prior to application."
1956 Fulbright Scholarship, Rome
1956 - 1957 Lives in Rome, on a Fulbright Fellowship
1958 Returns to New York, moves into a lower East Side loft on Avenue C
1959 Louis Comfort Tiffany Award
1960 Forms a personal acquaintanceship with Joseph Cornell
1960 Mademoiselle Woman of the Year
1962 By 1962 she moves to a studio on Wooster Street, New York City
1963 2nd Prize, 28th Biennial of American Art, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
1964 New York State Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York
1965 She begins living with William Giles, her husband, on Greene Street, but continues to work at her Wooster Street studio
1966 First Prize, National Institute of Arts and Letters
1970 Joins the faculty of Brooklyn College, City University of New York
1991 Retires from teaching
2003 Francis J. Greenburger Award
2004 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and LettersThe Skowhegan Medal for SculptureHonorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, City University of New York
2005 International Association of Art Critics award for best monographic exhibition in a national museum is awarded to Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective co-organized with the UCLA Hammer Museum Los Angeles. UCLA Hammer Museum (2003).
2007 Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Lee Bontecou lives and works in Orbisonia, Pennsylvania

Exhibitions
2007 - 2008 Modern Times: Alumni Collect, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, October 1, 2007–March 7, 2008.
2007 Knoedler & Company, New York:Lee Bontecou: Vacuum-formed Sculptures and Related Drawings, March 15–April 28. Catalogue with text by Elisabeth Sussman. (solo)
2006 Twice Drawn, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, March 11–June 4.
2005 Organic Abstraction: Homage to Ruth Duckworth at 85, Garth Clark Gallery, New York, January 11–February 26, 2005.
2005 2-D from 3-D: Contemporary and Historical Drawings by Sculptors, Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon, October 6 – November 23, 2005.
2005 Part Object, Part Sculpture, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, October 30, 2005–February 26, 2006. Catalogue with text by Helen Molesworth (exhibition curator), Briony Fer, Rachel Haidu, David Joselit, Rosalind E. Krauss, and Molly Nesbit.
2005 Knoedler & Company, New York:Lee Bontecou: Selected Works, Gallery Salute to the 130th Anniversary of the Art Students League of New York, October 11–22, 2005. (solo)
2004 Knoedler & Company, New York, NY:Lee Bontecou: Drawings 1958–1999, May 6–July 30 (extended through August 11). Catalogue. (solo)
2004 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX:The Heroic Century: The Museum of Modern Art Masterpieces, 200 Paintings and Sculptures, September 21, 2003–January 4, 2004. John Elderfield, Visions of Modern Art: Painting and Sculpture from The Museum of Modern Art, published on the occasion of the exhibition.
2004 American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY:Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards, May 19–June 20, 2004.
2004 Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:54th Carnegie International 2004–5 , including a monographic exhibition of works Lee Bontecou. October 9, 2004–March 20, 2005. Catalogue with essay by Elizabeth A.T. Smith.
2003 Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence:Crisis Response, November 8, 2002–January 12, 2003
2003 The Cleveland Museum of Art, OH:Drawing Modern: Works from the Agnes Gund Collection, October 26, 2003–January 1, 2004. Catalogue with essays by Agnes Gund and Arabella Ogilvie-Makari.
2003 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago:Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective, co-organized with the UCLA Hammer Museum Los Angeles. UCLA Hammer Museum, October 5, 2003–January 11, 2004; traveling to Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, February 14–May 30, 2004, and thence to The Museum of Modern Art, Queens, NY, July 28–September 27, 2004. Elizabeth A.T. Smith, curator, with Ann Philbin. Catalogue with essays by: Donna De Salvo, Mona Hadler, Donald Judd, Elizabeth A.T. Smith, and Robert Storr. (solo)
2002 Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, California:True Grit: Seven Female Visionaries Before Feminism, March 2–May 19, 2002, traveling.
2002 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York:Vertigo, April 26–June 7.
2001 Sculpture Center, Long Island City, New York:Personal Abstractions: Lee Bontecou, Gay Outlaw, Diana Cooper, January 9–February 24.
2001 Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles:Lee Bontecou: Drawings, 1962–1998 (solo)
2000 Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York:Welded Sculpture of the Twentieth Century, May 14–August 27, 2000
2000 Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, California:Sculpture by Richard Artschwager, Lee Bontecou, John Chamberlain
1999 Curt Marcus Gallery, New York, New York:Drawing from the 60s & 70s: Joe Baer, Lee Bontecou, Eva Hesse, and Agnes Martin, April 30–May 29, 1999.
1999 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York:The American Century: Art and Culture 1900–2000
1999 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Lee Bontecou, 1958–1972, October 21–November 24. (solo)
1999 The American Century : Art and Culture 1900-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, April 1999- March 2000
1999 Lee Bontecou 1958 - 1972, Leo Castelli, 59 East 79th Street, N.Y.C October 21 - November 24th, 1991
1998 The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock:Twentieth Century American Drawings From the Arkansas Arts Center Foundation Collection, February 13-March15, 1998. Traveling to: Sunrise Museums, Charleston, WV, September 6-November 8, 1998; Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, FL, December 11, 1998-January 30, 1999; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, IN, February 21-April 18, 1999; Knoxville Museum of Art, TN, May 16-July 11, 1999; Boise Art Museum, ID, August 8-October 17, 1999; Mobile Museum of Art, AL, November 7, 1999-January 9, 2000; Art Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, January 30-March 26, 2000; Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, April 23-June 19, 2000; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE, July 16-September 10, 2000; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, MI, October 15-December 31, 2000. Catalogue with text by Gerald Nordland, et al.
1996 Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY:Fiber and Form: The Woman’s Legacy: Hannelore Baron, Lee Bontecou, Nancy Grossman, Eve Peri, Anne Ryan, Betye Saar, Lenore Tawney, June 13–September 3, 1996.
1996 Weatherspoon Arts Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greenboro:From a Curator’s Point of View: Making Selections and Forging Connections—Bontecou, Hesse, Judd, LeWitt, Marden, Morris, Smithson. Catalogue with essay by Douglas Dreishpoon.
1996 The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TexasNational Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, California:Kingdom of Flora
1996 PaceWildenstein Gallery, New York:‘50/50: Fifty Artists from Fifty Years of Skowhegan (Anniversary Exhibition & Raffle).
1996 Reliefs 1959-'60, Bonnefanten Museum of Maastricht, Holland, September 12, 1995-February 4, 1996
1995 Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, California:Lee Bontecou: Early Drawings (solo)
1995 Bonnefanten Museum of Maastricht, Holland:Lee Bontecou: Reliefs, 1959–60, September 12, 1995-April 4, 1996 (solo)
1994 Anthony Slayter-Ralph, Santa Barbara, California:Fine Lines
1994 The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick:Printmaking in America: Collaborative Presses and Prints, 1960–1990The Mary Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
1994 James Corcoran Gallery, Santa Monica, California:Animal Farm
1994 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Bontecou, Higgins, Moskowitz — Work From the 1960s
1994 Jay Gorney Modern Art, New YorkAkron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio:Selections from the Collection
1993 Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York:The Second Dimension: Twentieth Century Sculptors’ Drawings
1993 Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California:Lee Bontecou: Sculpture and Drawings of the 1960s, March 28–May 16. Traveled to: Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, September 19–November 14; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, January 2–February 27, 1994. (solo)
1993 Sculpture and Drawings of the 1960's, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, March 28 - May 16
1993 Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, September 19- November 14
1991 Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts:Smith Collects Contemporary, May 3–September 15.
1987 Centro Cultural Arts Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico:Leo Castelli and His Artists: 30 Years of Promoting Contemporary ArtMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas:20th Century Art in the Museum Collections; Direction and Diversity
1987 Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island:Alternative Supports: Contemporary Sculpture on the Wall
1986 Sculpture Center, New York, New York:The Sculptural Membrane, catalogue
1986 Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island:Definitive Statements: American Art 1964–66
1984 Ronald Feldman Gallery, New York, New York:Socialites and Satellites
1984 Whitney Museum, New York: The Third Dimension, traveling to: Fort Worth Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio; Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California:
1984 Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts:Dorthy C. Miller: With an Eye to American Art
1984 The Third Dimension, Whitney Museum, New York, New York, December 6, 1984 - March 3, 1985; travels to: FortWorth Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, May 12, 1985- July 21, 1985; Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, August 21, 1985 - October 17, 1985; Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California, November 7, 1985 -January 6, 1986
1983 Seigel Contemporary Art, New York:Nocturne
1982 La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California:Castelli and His Artists: Twenty-Five Years, traveling to: Aspen Center for the Visual Arts, Aspen, Colorado; Portland Center for the Visual Arts, Portland, Oregon; Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas.
1982 Contemporary Art Museum, Austin, Texas:The Americans: Collage 1950–82
1982 Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown at Federal Reserve Plaza, New York:Universal Limited Art Editions: A Tribute to Tatyana Grosman
1982 Aaron Berman Gallery, New York, New York:Women’s Art: Miles Apart, traveling to: Valencia Community College, Orlando, Florida
1982 Universal Limited Art Editions: A Tribute to Tatyana Grosman, Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown at Federal Reserve Plaza, New York, New York, August 3 - September 28
1981 Neil G. Ovsey Gallery, Los Angeles, California:Selections from Castelli,
1981 Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut:The New Dimensions in Drawing
1981 The Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University, New York, New York:Heresies, ULAE: Works by Lee Bontecou, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Alexander Liberman, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, James Rosenquist, and Andre Voznesenski, June 9–13, 1981.
1980 Asher/Faure Gallery, Los Angeles, California:Ed Ruscha, Billy Bengston, Edward Kienholz, Lee Bontecou, Ed Moses, Craig Kauffman — Paintings
1980 Aaron Berman Gallery, New York, New York: The Eclectic Mood in Black
1980 Tyler Museum of Art, Texas:New York Collection Portfolio
1980 Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland:Reliefs
1980 Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio:From Reinhardt to Christo
1980 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Drawings to Benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Art, Inc.,
1978 Collection: American Sculpture, Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York, January 24 - April 17
1977 The Liberation: 14 American Artists (organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), American House, Berlin, Germany, March 15 - April 30; travels to: American Cultural Center, Budapest, Hungary, June 15 - July 15; USIS Library Gallery, Rome, Italy, October 15 - November 15; Ankara Bi-National Center Art Gallery, Ankara, Turkey, November 15 - December 15
1977 Lee Bontecou in Retrospect, Hawthorne Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
1977 Hathorn Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York:Lee Bontecou in Retrospect: Drawings and Sculptures, April 22–May 8. (solo)
1976 Halper Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida. (solo)
1976 Contemporary American Prints, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
1976 Halper Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida
1976 Marion Koogler McKnay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas:American Artists ‘76: A Celebration
1975 Michael Walls Gallery, New York, New York:Thirty Artists in America, Part I
1975 Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut: Prints and Drawings by Lee Bontecou, May 2–June 15, 1975. Catalogue with essay by Richard S. Field. (solo)
1974 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Drawings
1974 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:In Three Dimensions
1973 The Emily Lowe Gallery, Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York:Say it With Flowers
1973 Yale University Art Gallery, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut:American Drawing: 1970–1973
1972 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Drawings: Barry, Bontecou, Daphnis, Flavin, Huebler, Johns, Judd, Kosuth, Lichtenstein, Morris, Nauman, Owen, Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Ruscha Serra, Sonnier, Stella, Twombly, opening September 30, 1972.
1972 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IllinoisLee Bontecou. Catalogue with essay by Carter Ratcliff. (solo)
1971 Leo Castelli Gallery, 4 East 77th Street, New York, New York: Lee Bontecou: Sculpture, Drawings & Lithographs, opening May 18. (solo)
1971 Weatherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina: Art on Paper
1970 Foundation Maeght, Saint Paul-de-Vence, France:L’Art Vivant Americain
1970 Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:Pittsburgh International Exhibition
1970 Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany:American Federation of the Arts, New York:The Drawing Society National Exhibition (organized by the American Federation of the Arts, New York).
1969 Denver Art Museum, Colorado:An American Report on the Sixties
1969 Fort Worth Art Center, Texas:Contemporary Drawing Show
1969 Ateneum, Helsinki, Finland:Ars ’69 Helsinki
1968 The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York:Sculpture Annual
1968 Stadtisches Museum, Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
1968 Kunstverein Giannozzo, Berlin, Germany
1968 Sculpture Annual, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
1968 Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands:Lee Bontecou: skupturen, tekeningen, lithos, April 20–June 3, 1968. (solo)
1968 Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands:Lee Bontecou: skupturen, tekeningen, lithos, April 20–June 3, 1968. (solo)
1968 Städtisches Museum Schloß Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany:Lee Bontecou, March 1–April 7, 1968; traveled to: Deutsche Gesellschaft für bildende (Kunstverein Berlin) amt für zehlendorf von Berlin, Haus am Waldeee, June 9–July 7, 1968. Catalogue essays by Dore Ashton, R.-G. Dienst, W. von Bonin, Rolf Wedewer. (solo)
1967 Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois:Sculpture: A Generation of Innovation
1967 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Ten Years
1966 Flint Institute of the Arts, Michigan:Flint Invitational
1966 The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York:Sculpture Annual
1966 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY:Group Show, June 14–30.
1966 National Institute of Arts and Letters (first prize), New York, New YorkUniversity of Texas, Austin, Texas:Drawings
1966 The Jewish Museum, New York, New York:Harry N. Abrams Family Collection
1966 Sculpture Annual, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
1966 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, Lee Bontecou, October 8–November 2 (solo)
1965 Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris, France Lee Bontecou, 1965. Catalogue with essays by Gillo Dorfles, Gerald Gassiot-Talabot, and Annette Michelson. (solo)
1964 The Whitney Annual, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
1964 The Jewish Museum, New York, New York:Recent American Sculpture
1964 The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York:The Whitney Annual
1964 New York State Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New YorkPasadena Art Museum, California:New American Sculpture
1964 Tate Gallery, London:Painting and Sculpture of a Decade: 1959–1964Kassel, Germany:Documenta III
1964 Instituto Torcuato di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina:International Prize
1964 Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt, Germany:International Drawing Show
1964 Byron Gallery, New York, New York:100 American Drawings
1964 Morris International Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada:The Artists’ Reality: The New School, New YorkLeo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY:Group Show, October 2–21.
1963 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York:Americans 1963, May 20–August 18. Catalogue with essay by Dorothy C. Miller.
1963 L’Aguilla, Italy:Aspetti dell’Arte Contemporanea
1963 Galerie Creuze, Paris, France:Donner à Voir
1963 The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.:28th Biennial Exhibition
1963 The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York:Whitney Annual Exhibition — Sculpture and DrawingThe Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York:Americans
1963 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY:Drawings, May 20–June.
1963 Musée Cantonal Des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland:1er Salon International de Galeries Pilotes,
1963 Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, New York:Mixed Media and Pop Art
1963 The South County State Bank, Saint Louis, MissouriDwan Gallery, Los Angeles, California:Dealer's Choice, opened February 10. (Arman, Bontecou, Dine, Kienholz, Klein, Lichtenstein, Oldenberg, Parker, Rauschenberg, Raysse, Reinhardt, Rivers, Rosenquist, Tinguely).
1963 Whitney Annual Exhibition - Sculpture and Drawing, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
1963 Americans, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
1963 *** Italicized entries are Group Exhibitions
1962 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Lee Bontecou, November 10–December 6. (solo)
1962 The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois:65th Annual American Exhibition
1962 The Seattle World’s Fair, Washington:Art Since 1950
1962 Galerie Ileana Sonnabend, Paris, France:Brandeis Universtiy, Waltham, Massachusetts
1962 The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut:Continuity and Change
1962 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY:Group Show, April 7–21.
1962 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, New York:Drawings, May 26–June 30.
1961 The Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, California:Six Sculptors
1961 Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:The Pittsburgh International Exhibition
1961 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York:Whitney Annual Exhibition — Sculpture and Drawings
1961 The Dwan Gallery, New York, New York:Six Sculptors, opened October 16. (Peter Agostini, Lee Bontecou, Cesar, John Chamberlain, Edward Higgins, Louise Nevelson).
1961 Galerie Rive Droite, Paris, France:Le Nouveau Realisme, May 1961
1961 The São Paulo Museum of Modern Art, Brazil:VI São Paulo Bienal
1961 New London Gallery (Marlborough Fine Arts Limited), London:New York Scene
1961 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY:Sculpture and Relief, May 23–June, 1961.
1961 Society for Contemporary American Art, Chicago Art InstituteLeo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY:Group Show, September 22–October 14.
1961 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York:The Art of Assemblage, October 2–November 12, 1961; traveled to: The Dallas
1961 Museum for Contemporary Arts, January 9–February 11, 1962 and the San Francisco Museum of Art, March 5–April 15, 1962. Catalogue with essay by William C. Seitz.
1961 Whitney Annual Exhibition - Sculpture and Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
1960 Leo Castelli Gallery, 4 East 77th Street, New York, New York Lee Bontecou (Constructions), November 9–December 3, 1960. (solo)
1960 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY:New Media—New Forms I and II
1960 World House Galleries, New York, NY:Women of American Art
1960 Museum of Modern Art:Recent Acquisitions, 1960–61, December 19–February
1960 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY:Sculpture and Drawings
1960 Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY:Summary 1959–1960, May 31–June 25.
1959 Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA:Contemporary American Sculpture. Traveled to Smith College Museum of Art and Springfield Museum of Art.
1959 Gallery G., New York, New York
1958 Spoleto, Italy:Festival of Two Worlds
1957 - 1958 Schneider Gallery, Rome, (exhibition of Fulbright Awardees).
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