Elizabeth Peyton (American, )

Elizabeth Peyton (American, b.1965) is a leading Contemporary Figurative painter, best known for her portraits of celebrities and musicians. Peyton grew up in Danbury, CT and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York. She displayed an early disposition towards portraiture—frequently painting her friends depicted as protagonists from books in her work—while attending school.

After graduation, Peyton worked several jobs, but was slow to receive recognition of her work, holding only one solo exhibition in six years. In 1993, her second solo exhibition, which featured images of famous historical and literary figures, opened to great critical acclaim. Her later portraits of rock stars and celebrities have been hailed for their expert use of color and design, and for their evocative, descriptive qualities. Recent works depict her friends and close relationships, as well as prominent figures from art and cultural circles.

Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. She currently lives and works in Long Island, NY.

Timeline

1965
Born in Danbury, Connecticut
1984–1987
BFA, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Lives and works in New York, NY
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Exhibitions

2010
From NY with Love, Don't Projects, Paris (group)
2009
Reading and Writing: Elizabeth Peyton, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (solo)
2008
Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton, the New Museum, New York (solo)
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (solo)
Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York, NY (solo)
2007
Institut im Glaspavillon, Berlin
The Painting of Modern Life, The Hayward, London, England
Makers and Modelers, Gladstone Gallery, New York
Old School (traveling exhibition), Hauser & Wirth Colnaghi, London, England
The Painted Lady: Images of Women in Art,1945-Present, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York
Still Life & Kicking, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, New York
2006
Elizabeth Peyton: 1994-2006, A Special Exhibition, New York (solo)
Neugerriemschneider, Berlin (solo)
Likeness: Portraits of Artists By Other Artists (traveling exhibition), Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art & Design Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Andy Warhol and Elizabeth Peyton, Guild Hall, East Hampton, New York
2005
Drunk vs. Stoned 2, Gavin Brown’s enterprise
girls on film, Zwirner & Wirth, New York, curated by Kirsty Bell
Bidibidobidiboo: Works from Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, curated by Franceso Bonami, Turin, Italy
Bidibidobidiboo: Works from Collezione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, curated by Franceso Bonami, Turin, Italy
Superstars: from Warhol to Madonna, Vienna Kunstforum/ Vienna Kusthalle
Getting Emotional, ICA, Boston, curated by Nicholas Baume
Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, East Hampton, NY (solo)
Mother & Child, Ferragamo, New York, curated by Andrea Salerno & Carmen Zita
Likeness: Portraits of Artists By Other Artists (traveling exhibition), ICA , Boston; Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; University Art Museum, California State University at Long Beach
North Fork/South Fork East End Art Now, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY
Sadie Coles HQ, London (solo)
2004
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY (solo)
Contemporary Painting, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, curated by Alex Katz
Beginning Here: 101 Ways, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY curated by Jerry Saltz
North Fork/South Fork: East End Art Now, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (catalogue)
2003
Neugerriemschneider, Berlin (solo)
Regan Projects, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
"Elizabeth Peyton and Tony Just, New Works on Paper," Orient Historical Society, Orient, NY (solo)
Roma Roma Roma, Rome, Italy (solo)
“Inaugural Exhibition,” Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York
“The Fourth Sex: Adolescent Extremes,” Pitti Imagine Discovery, Milan, Italy curated by Francesco Bonami and Raf Simons (catalogue)
“Faces and Figures,” Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami
“Il Quarto Sesso,” Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy
“Under Pressure: Prints from Two Palm Press,” The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY
“Inaugural Exhibition,” Regen Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2002
“Drawing Now: Eight Propositions,” Museum of Modern Art, New York (catalogue)
“DEAR PAINTER,…Paint Me”, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
“Remix,” Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK (catalogue)
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, curated by Klaus Kertess (booklet)
Royal Academy, London (solo)
Neugerriemschneider, Berlin, Germany (solo)
Salzburger Kunstverein, Salzburg, Austria (solo)
2001
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, NY (solo)
Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Gerrmany (catalogue) (solo)
“New to the Modern: Recent Acquisitions from the Department of Drawing,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, curated by Laura Hoptman
“Abbild recent portraiture and depiction,” Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria, curated by Peter Pakesh (catalogue)
“Azerty,” Musee National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
“Beautiful Productions: Art to Play, Art to Wear, Art to Own,” The White Chapel Art Gallery, London, England
“Collaborations with Parkett: 1984 to now,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (catalogue)
2000
Westfalischer Kunstverein, Munster, Germany (catalogue) (solo)
Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO (catalogue) (solo)
Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK (solo)
Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York, NY (solo)
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