Overview
Born in Bessemer, Alabama in 1939, Jack Whitten is celebrated for his innovative processes of applying paint to the surface of his canvases and transfiguring their material terrains. Although Whitten initially aligned with the New York circle of abstract expressionists active in the 1960s, his work gradually distanced from the movement’s aesthetic philosophy and formal concerns, focusing more intensely on the experimental aspects of process and technique that came to define his practice. Noted for raucous colors and density of gesture combined with topical content, his artwork of this period manifests emotionally complex meditations on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War.
Exhibitions
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art: 1994-1995,
Alexander Gray Associates: 2013, 2012, 2011, 2009, 2007
Allan Stone Gallery: 2016, 1970, 1968, 1965
American Academy of Arts and Letters: 2008
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center: 2008
Brooklyn Museum: 2018, 2017, 2014
Horodner Romley: 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992
Kenkelaba Gallery: 1991, 1983, 1981
Kienzle Art Foundation: 2016
Manetti Shrem Museum of Art: 2017
Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1976
Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens: 2014
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 2017, 2012
Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles: 2012
Museum of Modern Art: 2007, 1990, 1971, 1968
National Academy Museum: 2006
New Museum: 2013, 1993
New York Academy of Art: 1991
P.S.1 Center for the Contemporary Arts: 1980
Pace Gallery: 2016
Pratt Institute Gallery: 1974
Pulitzer Art Foundation: 2017
Studio Museum Harlem: 2009, 2006, 2003, 1979, 1968
Tate Modern: 2017
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego: 2014
The Smithsonian Institution: 2001
The Studio Museum in Harlem: 2016, 2012, 1983
Walker Arts Center: 2015, 2014
Wexner Center for the Arts: 2015, 2013
Whitney Museum of American Art: 2013, 1996, 1974, 1972, 1969
Zeno X Gallery: 2018, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011
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Museums and Public Collections
Aldrich Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago                     Â
Birmingham Museum of Art     Â
Brooklyn Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Columbia University
Cornell Fine Arts Museum        Â
Dallas Museum of Art  Â
Fogg Art Museum at Harvard   Â
High Museum of Art Atlanta
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art
MoMA, Museum of Modern Art
Montclair Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Newark Museum
Palm Springs Museum
Princeton Art Museum
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University
SFMOMA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Studio Museum of Harlem
Tate Modern
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
Walker Art Center
Weatherspoon Art Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art
Awards and Fellowships
Individual Artistâs Fellowship National Endowment for the Arts: 1973
John Hay Whitney Opportunity Fellowship: 1964
National Medal of Arts: 2016
Skowhegan Medal for Painting: 2017
The Aldrich A2A Award
Solomon R. Guggenheim Fellowship: 1976