Forrest bess painter. Courtesy Modern Art, London.

Forrest bess painter. 4 x 32. He is known for his abstract, symbol-laden paintings based on what he called "visions. org . Forrest Clemenger Bess (1911 - 1977) Forrest Clemenger Bess, an artist known for his distinctive abstract works, was born in Bay City, Texas, in 1911. Apr 4, 2013 · The "fisherman painter" passed away in 1977. But he also produced an extensive series of notes and documents pertaining to surgery he performed on himself, anesthetized only by alcohol. [2] The following is not intended to be a complete or accurate compilation of Forrest Bess's work. While much critical analysis of Forrest Bess has concentrated on the unique narrative of the artist’s hermetic life, the focus of this exhibition is to explore the correlations in style and intent of Bess’ and Joan Snyder’s work, ultimately enriching the conversation surrounding each. Forrest Bess "Paintings" 5 March - 14 May 2016 CATALOGS Forrest Bess: Paintings (2016) Aug 7, 2013 · The legend of Forrest Bess (1911–77), an abstract painter and self-described “visionary” championed by New York dealer Betty Parsons in the 1950s, is endlessly intriguing. His father was an itinerant oil field worker and ran a bait fishing camp at Chinquapin on the Intracoastal Canal in Matagorda County. about forrest bess . Plus Antiques Roadshow For his Forrest Bess Variations, Hawkins created a series of abstract paintings in vibrant colors that are, as the title indicates, mediations on the late Forrest Bess (1911–77), a gay painter from coastal Texas, who is known for translating his mythical visions onto canvas. Shop our forrest bess selection from top sellers and makers around the world. Jun 11, 2013 · Everything about Forrest Bess was unusual in the booming post-World War II New York art world. Collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Mar 5, 2020 · By featuring 70 works from Institutional and Private Collections the exhibition “Forrest Bess”, at the Fridericianum in Kassel, maps the artist’s development from his early conventional, figurative formulations through to his so-called “visionary” paintings (the biomorphic abstractions) that make up the main body of his work. 1911 Born October 5, Bay City, Texas, the first child of Arnold and Minta Bess. Kim 2012 Sep 30, 2022 · Hyperlinked to antiquity, Bess’s self-identified protagonist was also connected – or so he claimed in his outdated terms – to the native populations of Bimini, a cluster of Bahamian islands once heralded in colonial myth as the source of the Fountain of Youth. Forrest Bess was an American artist, mystic, and ascetic whose life and work have often been compared to the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh’s. —exchange in FORREST CLEMENGER BESS (1911–1977)Forrest Bess was born in Bay City, Texas. 2 x 30. Jun 7, 2025 · Curated by Houston-based artist and writer Doug Welsh, the exhibition is anchored by an enigmatic 1949 painting by Forrest Bess (Bay City, TX, 1911-1977). As a reader of Jung, he must have known about the idea of the “collective unconscious Self-described “visionary” artist Forrest Bess (1911–1977) created a signature aesthetic, painting simple landscapes characterized by planar bands and coded symbols derived from dreams. He proceeded to make an incision into his urethra Mar 10, 2012 · To walk into the artist Robert Gober’s installation of paintings, photographs and writings by Forrest Bess — a visionary painter and self-described, self-surgically-altered “pseudo May 8, 2013 · Forrest Bess at the Menil Robert Boyd Forrest Bess, untitled, 1957, 9 7/8" x 14 1/4 inches Forrest Bess (1911-1977) lived a hermit's life in a cabin in Chinquapin, Texas. 9 cm (10 3/4 x 13 in). His artistic practice focused on documenting and interpreting recurring visions, often capturing shapes seen between sleep and wakefulness. Forrest Clemenger Bess was an American painter and fisherman. Using Bess's own hauntingly sincere words (in letters to Betty Parsons, Meyer Schapiro, and others) the book traces the life and logic of this forgotten artist and explains how a love of beauty and a desire for wholeness lead Bess to self-surgery ArtistAlso known as Forrest Clemenger Bess Date of birth 1911 Date of death 1977 Painter, fisherman, pseudo-hermaphrodite-Forrest Bess lived his life in obscurity at an isolated bait camp off the east coast of Texas. Forrest Bess's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 150 USD to 112,900 Art His Name Was Forrest Bess In this ramshackle cabin on a backwater bay of the Gulf lived and worked one of the greatest artists Texas has ever produced. His work is currently being shown at multiple venues like Blaffer Art Museum in Houston. Forrest Bess’s small-scale, iconoclastic paintings encompass entire worlds of thought and experience. 29, 32, 58, 68-9, 86. Narrated by actors A unique figure in the history of American art, Forrest Bess (1911-1977) lived an isolated existence in a fishing camp on the Gulf Coast. May 22, 2025 · A recent appraisal of over 30 Forrest Bess paintings, coupled with the rediscovery of long forgotten documents pertaining to the authenticity of paintings claimed to be his, has renewed attention on the auction. Description Provenance The artist; Howard Barnstone, Houston; George Barnstone by descent, 1987; [Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston]; William Hill Land & Cattle Company Collection; purchased by MFAH, 2019. Feb 13, 2014 · “Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible,” at the Neuberger Museum of Art, dives deeply into this painter’s life and work. For the first time in over 20 years, the abstract Clare Elliott, assistant curator at The Menil Collection and organizer of Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible, explores the diverse influences on Bess's paintings, from alchemical texts and . During his own lifetime, he was best known as a painter. —died November 11, 1977, Bay City) was an American painter, mystic, and hermit whose life and work have often been likened to that of the Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. It is no small feat for an artist who showed regularly during the peak years of Betty Parsons Gallery (that Jul 11, 2013 · "Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible,” contains simple paintings primed for new fans, but the portrait of their maker makes the paintings difficult to see. He studied architecture at Texas A&M and art at the University of Texas at Austin but left higher education to work in the oil fields and save money for travel. Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle Film by Chuck Smith and Ari Marcopoulos Preview 1999 Forrest Bess at Christie's and the Whitney Museum James Kalm 2012 Forrest Bess: Fisherman, Painter, Philosopher Clare Elliott at BAMPFA 2014 Vlog: 2012 Biennial: Forrest Bess Christine S. 1977, Bay City, TX) was largely a self-taught artist, learning to paint by copying images from books and magazines, as well as works by artists he admired such as Vincent van Gogh and Albert Pinkham Ryder. Apr 1, 2023 · Forrest Bess, Untitled (Rainbow with Arc), n. Robert Grober: He lived this incredibly Apr 23, 2013 · The symbols that permeate Bess’s painted work come from his visions, the mental world he hoped his auto-surgery would help him better access. Artist : Forrest Bess | Daily Art Fair is the worldwide hub for international art galleries. " [3] For the first time ever in print, Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle combines the beauty of Bess's art with the drama and tragedy of his personal life. Living a life of solitude as a fisherman in a small camp on the Gulf Coast of Mexico and spending the majority of his life outdoors, Bess nonetheless showed for nearly twenty years with Manhattan’s pre-eminent modern gallerist, Betty Sincerely, Forrest Bess Bess to Jack and Naomi Akridge, undated This undated letter from Bess mentions the paintings Evening at Chinquapin and Carmichael's. 1911-1977, Bay City, Texas) was a visionary American painter who produced an extraordinary body of work between the 1940s and 1970s. Rediscovered after his death in 1977, Bess's small visionary paintings are now prized by museums and Forrest Bess’s Before Man (1952-53) is one of many paintings that rely on the artist’s own “Basic Primordial Symbolism,” a collection of repeated artistic symbols employed in his paintings and their unique meanings and relationships with one another—symbols that he believed would help access pure, universal truths. 1911, Bay City, TX) was a self taught artist. 1915 On Easter morning experiences first vision: a Dutch village guarded by a lion Sep 29, 2022 · People Forrest Bess Was a Fisherman by Day and Painter of Wild Visions by Night. Along with medical and psychological theories based on his own unguided scholarship, he believed his imagery formed a blueprint for an ideal human state, with the potential to relieve Forrest Bess, Untitled (No. “The peninsula is a… Forrest Bess, The Penetrator, 1967, oil on canvas, 61 × 46 cm. Forrest Bess (October 5, 1911 – November 10, 1977) was an American painter and eccentric visionary. ‍ Forrest Bess was an American visionary painter who lived most of his life at a fishing camp in Chinquapin, near Bay City, Texas. Bess was inspired by his research into Jungian theories and sexology as well as his own hallucinatory visions. Male patron: Super weird. 2023, Lucia Arbery Simek "The Unadulterated Sincerity of Forrest Bess," Hyperallergic, December 2013, by Sarah Zabrodski "Forrest Bess, Visionary Painter from Rural Texas, Gets a Posthumous Book," HuffPost Arts & Culture James Kalm presents this program for hard-core Forrest Bess fans only. Research and compare historical data while shopping upcoming Forrest Clemenger Bess's sales on Invaluable. Oct 1, 2025 · Forrest Bess (born October 5, 1911, Bay City, Texas, U. After suffering a Parsons gave Bess a retrospective exhibition in 1962, and Meyer Schapiro wrote the catalog essay, in which he commented: "Forrest Bess is that kind of artist rare at any time, a real visionary painter. While traveling in Oct 5, 1911 - Nov 11, 1977 Forrest Clemenger Bess was an American painter and fisherman. Forrest Clemenger Bess (October 5, 1911 – November 10, 1977) was an American painter and fisherman. At first, the prairie's hills seem like little solid mounds, but once the eye adjusts to the movement of Bess' brushwork, the mounds reveal themselves to be small caves, like bales of hay Apr 21, 2013 · Painter, mystic, fisherman . Why don’t you show your paintings and the thesis in a medical hospital? —Betty Parsons, letter to Forrest Bess, 1958 Female patron: The paintings up there are amazing! Male patron: Did you look at the stuff in the middle? Female patron: No. Courtesy: the artist and documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, Kassel; photograph: Andrea Rossetti The 1952 letter is also the first of Bess’s writings to mention his self-operated genital modification surgery. From 1949 through 1967, Bess showed at the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York City, alongside superstar artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. As one of the most mythic and eccentric American painters of the Twentieth Century, F No matter what the relationship between art and medicine, I would rather keep it on the aesthetic plain. Forrest Clemenger Bess (October 5, 1911 – November 10, 1977) was an American painter and fisherman. videos . Bess's small paintings are filled with elemental and highly personal images. A self-taught artist, Bess’s paintings were connected to his experiences of “visions,” and his close study of psychology, gender, and dream worlds. Throughout his life as an artist, Bess tried hard to connect a personal symbology with meaning, developing a complex visual vocabulary to accompany his obsessive devotion to beliefs and theories that alienated him from the mainstream. Living a life of solitude as a fisherman in a small camp on the Gulf Coast of Mexico and spending the majority of his life outdoors, Bess nonetheless showed for nearly twenty years with Manhattan’s pre-eminent modern gallerist, Betty From Forrest Bess, catalog to accompany the October-December 1981 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. "Narrated by actors Ruth Maleczech and Willem Dafoe (the voiceover for Bess), this video skillfully interweaves interviews with those who knew the artist; commentaries by scholars and curators; film footage; stills Forrest Bess: List of works - All Artworks by Date 1→10 List of works Styles Genres 'Drawings' by Forrest Bess, 1967 His work isn't my thing at all, but one small painting like these on Antiques Roadshow was valued at $100,000 or so. Life and work of self-taught visionary Texas painter Forrest Bess Self-taught artist Forrest Bess developed a richly symbolic, quasi-abstract language in his small oil paintings. 2023, Lucia Arbery Simek "The Unadulterated Sincerity of Forrest Bess," Hyperallergic, December 2013, by Sarah Zabrodski "Forrest Bess, Visionary Painter from Rural Texas, Gets a Posthumous Book," HuffPost Arts & Culture Find a wide variety of authentic Forrest Bess art available for sale on 1stDibs. Explore Forrest Clemenger Bess's past auction results and sold artwork prices. In an essay for his local newspaper, the artist-fisherman offered other syncretic examples of this quasi-Jungian ‘blue Nov 15, 2022 · At first glance, Forrest Bess’s 1946 painting “Untitled (The Dicks)” looks nothing like its title suggests. Global shipping available. . --Chris Wayan SOURCE: Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible by Claire Elliot, 2013, pp. 1911-1977 in Bay City, Texas, USA). " Discover the captivating world of Forrest Bess, a fisherman turned painter, who created mesmerizing artworks that continue to inspire. Apr 29, 2025 · Forrest Bess, an isolated painter from rural Texas who divided his time between fishing and painting, developed one of the most unusual and intellectually complex oeuvres in postwar American art. Forrest Bess was a american male artist born in 1911. Oct 2, 2013 · Forrest Bess was an artist caught between two worlds, and this internal struggle can be viewed within his artwork shown at the Hammer Museum. Discover similar artists in our art price database for art lovers and professionals. Y. Forrest Bess occupies a fascinating corner of American art, not to mention American history. [2] He is known for his abstract, symbol-laden paintings based on what he called "visions. org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire The artist Forrest Bess (1911 - 1977). Bess found his way to painting after a stint in the army, as a therapeutic practice—a means of recording and Appraisal: Forrest Bess Oil Painting, ca. 12 A), 1957, oil on canvas, 12 x 18″. " Read more Wikipedia Oct 3, 2024 · Forrest Bess (October 5, 1911 – November 10, 1977) was an American painter and eccentric visionary. 1950Antiques Roadshow is available to stream on pbs. Nov 6, 2024 · Forrest Bess’s small-scale, iconoclastic paintings encompass entire worlds of thought and experience. In this painting, they feel like petroglyphs. Decades later, the artist is experiencing a posthumous moment of fame. "Forrest Bess: Retrospective Exhibition," Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, January 8–27, 1962 Jul 28, 2013 · In 1947, Forrest Bess moved to Chinquapin, a tiny unincorporated settlement at the end of a dirt road on the northeast side of East Matagorda Bay. chronology . Blaze your own trail among leading modern and contemporary art galleries exhibitions worldwide. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the abstract style. Forrest Bess was an American Postwar & Contemporary painter who was born in 1911. Bess believed the unconscious capable of apprehending the abstract patterns and movements underlying natural phenomena, and he sought to capture this "reality Sep 9, 2021 · Forrest Bess (b. Discover his exhibitions, influences, and legacy. 5 cm (9 7/8 x 12 1/8 in), framed: 27. Not every interior allows for large Forrest Bess art, so small editions measuring 26 Nov 13, 2022 · Throughout his life as an artist, Forrest Bess worked to give meaning to personal symbolic systems, developing a complex visual vocabulary that accompanied his obsession with the beliefs and theories that alienated him from the mainstream. You can also browse by medium to find art by Forrest Bess in oil paint, paint and more. Courtesy Modern Art, London. Sep 9, 2021 · Forrest Bess (b. [1] He was discovered and promoted by the art dealer Betty Parsons. “Forrest Bess: Painter-Fisherman” explores Bess’s curious and compelling Narrator: For the Biennial, artist Robert Gober has curated a room of paintings and archival material by Forrest Bess. Forrest Bess was an American painter whose unique vision and radical theories left a lasting impact on the art world. Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible pairs Bess's paintings, dating from 1946 to 1970, with an installation of archival materials curated by sculptor Robert Gober that illuminates Bess's art and life. . His artistic journey, marked by personal symbolism and a unique creative process, left an indelible mark on the art world. “Forrest Bess: Painter-Fisherman” explores Bess’s curious and compelling Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle is distributed by and can be ordered from the Checkerboard Film Foundation. Biography, artworks with images, prices and details, auction history, news and exhibitions. There's a painting from 1950 by the Texan artist Forrest Bess, Untitled No. Numerous key galleries and museums such as Anton Kern Gallery have featured Forrest Bess's work in the past. ::. Non-objective works, they are the work of a former student of Texas A&M and the University of Texas, who has been represented in many major Texas exhibits. His paintings were faithful to his hallucinatory visions and what he perceived on his eyelids. To Bess, his visions and the resulting paintings came to represent a pictorial language that he believed had universal significance. Artist| Forrest Bess (USA, 1911-1977, abstract expressionist painter) Nov 29, 2023 · The exhibition features three rarely seen paintings by Forrest Bess (1911-1977), a self-des- cribed “abstract primitive” and “visionary painter” who dedicated his life to documenting and interpreting recurring visions. No matter what the relationship between art and medicine, I would rather keep it on the aesthetic plain. Spends early childhood in Clemville, Texas; travels with family to oil boomtowns throughout Texas and Oklahoma. d. He derived his images from dreams and from a private symbolism based on obscure sexual references. Last year, Bess was included in the Whitney Biennial, and this June will mark the release of a new book by filmmaker Chuck Smith titled, "Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle. In January 1955, the painter Forrest Bess got good and drunk and used a razor blade to cut a hole into the underside of his penis. Discover and purchase Forrest Bess’s artworks, available for sale. S. Bess lived from 1911 to 1977. home Nov 28, 2022 · A review of Forrest Bess: Out of the Blue, an exhibition of work by a very unusual mid-century American artist. Growing up with an oil worker father and a creative-minded mother, the family was constantly on the move in his early childhood. personal tributes . Bess's early life was shaped by his family's nomadic existence due to his father's work in the oil fields of Oklahoma and A unique figure in the history of American art, Forrest Bess (1911-1977) lived an isolated existence in a fishing camp on the Gulf Coast. Living a life of solitude as a fisherman in a small camp on the Gulf Coast of Mexico and spending the majority of his life outdoors, Bess nonetheless showed for nearly twenty years with Manhattan’s pre-eminent modern gallerist, Betty Forrest Bess By Barbara Haskell, Curator Whitney Museum of American Art October 7-December 13, 1981 orrest Bess was a visionary painter. An artist’s biography should never impart value to art. " Read more Wikipedia "The Landscape of Eternity: Travels Through Texas, With Forrest Bess," Ursula, Sept. Spring 2022RICHARD HAWKINS The Forrest Bess Variations Spring 2022 Richard Hawkins's studio, Los Angeles, Winter 2022 For his seventh solo exhibition at Greene Naftali, Richard Hawkins presents a new series of works that pay tribute to the self-taught artist Forrest Bess (1911-77). Somebody out there likes him. Forrest Bess Oils To Be Exhibited Twenty-one oil paintings by Forrest Bess of Bay City, Texas, will be exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts through May 13. A New Show Explores His Legacy An exhibition at the Camden Art Centre argues that the world wasn't ready for Bess Dec 2, 2021 · MONTAUK, N. A visionary artist who worked in virtual isolation from an Gulf Coast Mar 20, 2012 · Forrest Bess. "The Landscape of Eternity: Travels Through Texas, With Forrest Bess," Ursula, Sept. contact forrestbess. — Everything about the painter Forrest Bess’s life was implausible, from recording his glimpses of immortality in paint, while living in a bait camp in Chinquapin, Texas, to Sep 30, 2022 · Forrest Bess (b. Photo: Luke Walker Aug 7, 2013 · The legend of Forrest Bess (1911–77), an abstract painter and self-described “visionary” championed by New York dealer Betty Parsons in the 1950s, is endlessly intriguing. com. This article is excerpted from Forrest Bess: Art, Sex, Madness, an e-book soon to be released as a Kindle Single on Amazon. " Inspired by his documentary of the same name, Smith compiled the painter's works and letters to take us Mar 22, 2012 · Two exhibitions in New York, at Christie’s and the Whitney Biennial, shed new light on the life and art of Forrest Bess. Nov 7, 2024 · On the occasion of the exhibition Vital Signs: Artists and the Body, we spoke with art historian Cyle Metzger about Forrest Bess, an artist central to Metzger’s work on the trans history of art in the United States. the paintings . Oil on canvas, unframed: 25. One of his earliest visionary paintings — inspired by images that occurred to A traveling exhibition, Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible, originating at the de Menil Collection in Houston will open at the Berkeley Art Museum on June 11 and will remain on view through September 14, 2014. Also calendared for the immediate future is the twenty-ninth annual From Reeves Art + Design, Forrest Bess, "Acapulco" Impressionist Landscape Painting (1939), Oil on canvas, 18 1/2 × 20 1/2 in Forrest Bess (1911–1977) was an American painter known for his unique and visionary abstract works, as well as his life as an eccentric and reclusive artist. Forrest Bess was a visionary American painter who produced an extraordinary body of work between the 1940s and 1970s. 44, that shows a golden, undulating prairie set against a gridded, red-black sky. In Untitled from about 1950, Bess paints the symbols like graffiti on a wall in a spare spooky landscape. <p>Over a period of about 25 years, American artist Forrest Bess lived and worked at a remote fishing camp in East Texas, making paintings based on personal dreams and visions. bess letters . Mar 6, 2025 · Forrest Bess (b. Works attributed to Bess are sought after by art collectors the world over. Dive into his wild visions in this exclusive exhibition. Fourteen years after his documentary on Bess, Chuck Smith is releasing his meticulous research, including many of Bess' letters, in a monograph also titled Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle (Powerhouse Books). Don't miss the chance to experience his unique artistic journey. Born in Bay City, Texas, … Read more See all past shows and fair booths Critically acclaimed Solo show at 4 major institutions Group show at 5 major institutions Apr 18, 2014 · Forrest Bess: Out of the Blue Camden Art Centre London, UK September 30-January 15, 2023 Kirk Hopper Fine Art contributed several paintings to this exhibition, which drew from public and private collections across the world, alongside archival material relating to Bess's wide-ranging research. bess events . Painter, fisherman, visionary, eccentric: Forrest Bess lived his life in obscurity, at an isolated bait camp off the East Coast of Texas. articles about bess . To view a preview clip, visit Chuck Smith's Forrest Bess YouTube page. Sometimes mislabeled an “outsider” artist because of his remote residence and largely self-taught practice, throughout his life Bess maintained active correspondence with members of the mid-century art world Forrest Bess (b. Life and work of self-taught visionary Texas painter Forrest Bess Forrest Bess’s small-scale, iconoclastic paintings encompass entire worlds of thought and experience. Yet in the Forrest Bess was a post-war artist. Bess studied architecture at Texas A&M University Nov 1, 1994 · Explore the life and work of Forrest Bess, a visionary abstract artist known for his symbolic imagery and unique theories on art and transformation. He was discovered and promoted by the art dealer Betty Parsons. 1911, Bay City, TX; d. He painted visions that he saw in dream states, creating an abstract vocabulary that was mysterious, even to him, and he develop idiosyncratic theories about his work. Many thanks to original sources and collections cited, and to Texas A&M University for much of the organizational work on this resource. Jan 15, 2022 · The following is a statement from the owner the paintings, detailing the story of the paintings’ rediscovery and connections to Forrest Bess: I began working for Harry Burkhart on Burkhart Ranch in Markham, Texas in October of 1975. Exhibition History "Forrest Bess," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 15–May 6, 1951. Browse our selection of paintings, prints, and sculptures by the artist, and find art you love. THE CONTINUED mythic, outsider status of Forrest Bess is a testament to the sheer anxiety he sparks around hierarchies of vision and social organization—hierarchies that are central to how we legitimate works of art. Photo: Robert Glowacki. His work, inspired by personal experiences and visions, established him as a pivotal figure in the realm of abstract expressionism. It can help explain the background to an artwork, but not why the work succeeds or fails. xeefsqol tu knxf zqf3 3wpwqpw y5zc owgo qnud j4uf 0jm4jo