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Catalog Data

Creator:
Bengston, Billy Al  Search this
Subject:
Ruscha, Edward  Search this
Plagens, Peter  Search this
Motherwell, Robert  Search this
Flavin, Dan  Search this
Diebenkorn, Richard  Search this
Chamberlain, John  Search this
Goode, Joe  Search this
Lichtenstein, Roy  Search this
Andre, Carl  Search this
Alexander, Peter  Search this
Altoon, John  Search this
Martha Jackson Gallery  Search this
James Corcoran Gallery  Search this
Ferus Gallery (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
John Berggruen Gallery (San Francisco, Calif.)  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Photographs
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
10.4 Linear feet
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 10 series: Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1958-1987 (Boxes 1-4, 11; 3.7 linear feet) Series 2: Correspondence, 1966-1989 (Boxes 4-6; 1.75 linear feet) Series 3: Gallery and Museum Files, 1961-1989 (Boxes 6-7; 1.5 linear feet) Series 4: Teaching Records, 1968-1982 (Box 7; 7 folders) Series 5: Personal Business Records, circa 1960-1987 (Boxes 7-8; 1.0 linear foot) Series 6: Project Files, 1968-1987 (Boxes 8-9; 0.25 linear feet) Series 7: Writings, 1967-circa 1988 (Box 9, OV 12; 0.25 linear feet) Series 8: Artwork, 1960s-1987 (Box 9; 7 folders) Series 9: Printed Materials, 1958-1988 (Boxes 9-10, OV 12-13; 1.25 linear feet) Series 10: Photographs, circa 1940s-1987 (Box 10; 0.5 linear feet)
Access Note / Rights:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment.
Summary:
The papers of southern California Pop artist Billy Al Bengston measure 10.4 linear feet and date from circa 1940s to 1989, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1960 to 1988. The collection documents the life and work of the artist through biographical materials, correspondence, personal business records, gallery and museum files, teaching files, project and commission files, scattered artwork, printed materials, and photographs.
Citation:
Billy Al Bengston papers, circa 1940s-1989, bulk 1960-1988. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation.
Use Note:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Related Materials:
Found in the Archives of American Art are oral history interviews with Bengston conducted by Susan Larsen, September 9, 1980, and Susan Ford Morgan, August 2-October 7, 2002. Also found are portraits of Bengston in the Photographs of artists taken by Mimi Jacobs collection, and a rare copy of the book <em>Business Cards</em> by Bengston and Ed Ruscha in the Wallace Berman papers.
Biography Note:
Billy Al Bengston was born in Dodge City, Kansas on June 7, 1934. After moving back and forth from Kansas to California multiple times, he and his family settled in Los Angeles in 1948. While attending the Manual Arts High School, Bengston became interested in art, especially ceramics. After a brief stint at Los Angeles Junior College, Bengston worked as a beach attendant at Doheny State Beach. While working there he met fellow surfer and future ceramicist Kenneth Price, who became one of Bengston's closest friends. In 1953, he reenrolled in Los Angeles Junior College to study ceramics. For the next four years he attended both the California College of Arts and Crafts and the Los Angeles County Art Institute (now the Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design). At these institutions he studied with Richard Diebenkorn, Sabro Hasegawa, Nathan Oliveira, and Peter Voulkos.
Around 1957, Bengston shifted his emphasis from ceramics to painting, and became affiliated with the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, founded that same year by Edward Kienholz and Walter Hopps. Bengston's first solo exhibition was held at the Ferus Gallery in 1958, and a second followed in 1960. At this time Bengston began to work with Pop icons combined with Color Field abstractions. His early bold paintings often featured symmetrical strong color compositions with a central image of a valentine, star, cross, chevron, or iris. The irises he called "draculas," after Kenneth Price remarked that they resembled Dracula flying through a window. He first showed his chevron paintings in 1962 at the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. In the early 1960s, Bengston extended his imagery to the California subculture and created paintings of leisure time activities, focusing on motorcycles, racing, and scuba diving - his own interests as well.
Throughout his career, Bengston experimented with technique and materials. He experimented with automobile lacquer and spray painting techniques associated with car customization. He also used non-traditional surfaces, such as masonite and aluminum. In 1965, Bengston began creating paintings on sheets of aluminum into which he hammered dents and sometimes bent and buckled; these subsequently came to be known as "dentos." Along with painting, Bengston has also created watercolors, ceramics, and furniture. He was also one of the artists selected by Carol and Roy Doumani to design their home.
Bengston first visited Hawaii in 1974, and after several subsequent trips, established a second studio there in 1979. The work Bengston created in the following years was characterized by the use of tropical colors and representational images of running figures, airplanes, and the moon. In 1988, the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston organized a retrospective entitled "Billy Al Bengston: Paintings of Three Decades," which traveled to the Oakland Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Contemporary Museum of Art, Honolulu. Bengston also completed several years as an art instructor and lecturer at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and The University of California at Los Angeles. Bengston continues to create and exhibit new work.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Billy Al Bengston in 1990.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Works of art  Search this
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Art -- Economic aspects  Search this
Theme:
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)10220
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)213296
AAA_collcode_bengbill
Theme:
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_213296