Bill Beckley
Encyclopedia
Bill Beckley an American narrative
/conceptual art
ist.
, a small farming town in the Amish
countryside, Bill Beckley attended college at Kutztown University
from 1964 to 1968 and in 1970 received a Master of Fine Arts
from Tyler School of Art
, Temple University
. There he studied with Italo Scanga
, who introduced him to former students and friends, including Bruce Nauman
, Dan Flavin
, Sol LeWitt
, and Marcia Tucker
, then a curator at the Whitney Museum. Marcia Tucker introduced his work to Athena Spear, a curator at the Allen Memorial Art Museum
in Oberlin, Ohio
, who included his work in “Art in the Mind” (1969), the first conceptual art exhibition in the United States
.
He moved from Philadelphia to New York City
in the summer of 1970 and lived for a time on a sailboat off City Island
. He was one of the artists (along with Gordon Matta Clark, Rafi Ferrer, Barry Le Va, Jeffery Lew, Bill Bollinger, and Alan Saret) who organized the first exhibition of the legendary gallery 112 Greene Street Workshop in SOHO
in October 1970. In the fall of 1970 he met Louise Bourgeois
, who was also working at 112 Greene Street; Vito Acconci
; and Dennis Oppenheim, who became a lifelong friend. He married Deirdre Williams, a costume designer for films in 1980. They divorced in 1981. He married Laurie Johenning, a sculptor, in 1986. They have two sons, Tristan and Liam, and live in New York City.
at the Rudolf Zwirner Gallery (Cologne
, 1972), the Konrad Fischer Gallery (Dusseldorf
, 1972), the Nigel Greenwood Gallery (London
, 1972), the John Gibson Gallery (New York, 1973), the Yvon Lambert Gallery
(Paris
, 1974), and Galerie Hans Mayer, which has represented his work in Europe since 1975. He exhibited at the Paris Biennale in 1973; the Venice Biennale
in 1975; at Documenta
in Kassel
, Germany, in 1976; and in the Whitney Biennial
in 1979. The Museum of Modern Art
showed his works in its Projects Room in 1979.
During the early seventies Beckley was part of a loose-knit group of conceptual artists that used images and fictional texts in a form that came to be known as Narrative Art. The art dealer John Gibson organized the first group exhibition of these artists in 1973. It included David Askevald, John Baldessari
, Peter Hutchinson
, Jean Le Gac, Italo Scanga, David Tremlett
, Ger van Elk
, and William Wegman
. Several Museum shows of this narrative work followed, including “Narrational Imagery: Beckley, Ruscha, Warhol” organized by Sam Hunter, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and “American Narrative/Story Art: 1967–1977” at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston.
In the early seventies Beckley escaped from the black, white, and gray tonalities of early conceptualism. With his color photographs and references to advertising images, he influenced artists of the so-called Picture Generation like Richard Prince
and Jeff Koons
, whom he met at the above-mentioned Projects Room exhibition of color photographs at the Museum of Modern Art. From glimpses of himself and his obsessions, he assembled enigmatic works in which modular form and its permutations sometimes read as the story of a sexual relationship or as a baffling involuted image of sexuality itself.
Recent exhibitions include a 2008 show of works from 1971–73, among them his Silent Ping Pong Tables and Short Stories for Popsicles (both 1971), at Chelsea Space (London) in conjunction with the Tate gallery
; a 2010 retrospective exhibition titled “Etcetera” at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York; and an exhibition of abstract color photographs at Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf, n September 2010.
, New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum
, Washington D.C.; the Tate Modern, London; the Daimler Collection in Stuttgart
; Sammlung Hoffman in Berlin; and in the private collections of the Morton Neumann Family, Jeff Koons, and Sol LeWitt.
Narrative art
Narrative art is art that tells a story, either as a moment in an ongoing story or as a sequence of events unfolding over time. Some of the earliest evidence of human art suggests that people told stories with pictures...
/conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
ist.
Biography
Born in Hamburg, PennsylvaniaHamburg, Pennsylvania
Hamburg is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,114 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Hamburg, Germany.-Geography:Hamburg is located at ....
, a small farming town in the Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...
countryside, Bill Beckley attended college at Kutztown University
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania , is an American public university located in rural Kutztown, Berks County, Pennsylvania and is one of fourteen schools that comprise the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary...
from 1964 to 1968 and in 1970 received a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Tyler School of Art
Tyler School of Art
The Stella Elkins Tyler School of Art, usually just referred to as Tyler School of Art is Temple University's school of art, which confers BFA and MFA degrees. The school was originally founded by sculptors Stella Elkins Tyler and Boris Blai on a separate 14-acre estate in Elkins Park...
, Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
. There he studied with Italo Scanga
Italo Scanga
Italo Scanga Italian-born American artist.-Biography:Born in Lago, Calabria to Giuseppe and Serafina Ziccarelli, youngest of four children: Carolina, Mafalda and Nicolino.-About his work:...
, who introduced him to former students and friends, including Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman is a contemporary American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including sculpture, photography, neon, video, drawing, printmaking, and performance. Nauman lives in Galisteo, New Mexico....
, Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin
Dan Flavin was an American minimalist artist famous for creating sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures.-Early life and career:...
, Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....
, and Marcia Tucker
Marcia Tucker
Marcia Tucker was the founding director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art from 1977 to 1999, a museum located in New York City, dedicated to innovative art and artistic practice...
, then a curator at the Whitney Museum. Marcia Tucker introduced his work to Athena Spear, a curator at the Allen Memorial Art Museum
Allen Memorial Art Museum
The Allen Memorial Art Museum is located in Oberlin, Ohio and is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, its collection is one of the finest of any college or university museum in the United States, consistently ranking among those of Harvard and Yale...
in Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin, Ohio
Oberlin is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, to the south and west of Cleveland. Oberlin is perhaps best known for being the home of Oberlin College, a liberal arts college and music conservatory with approximately 3,000 students...
, who included his work in “Art in the Mind” (1969), the first conceptual art exhibition in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
He moved from Philadelphia to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the summer of 1970 and lived for a time on a sailboat off City Island
City Island
City Island may refer to:*City Island, Bronx, New York**City Island , 2009 film by Raymond De Felitta set on the island*City Island *City Island *City Island , an island...
. He was one of the artists (along with Gordon Matta Clark, Rafi Ferrer, Barry Le Va, Jeffery Lew, Bill Bollinger, and Alan Saret) who organized the first exhibition of the legendary gallery 112 Greene Street Workshop in SOHO
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
in October 1970. In the fall of 1970 he met Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois
Louise Joséphine Bourgeois , was a renowned French-American artist and sculptor, best known for her contributions to both modern and contemporary art, and for her spider structures, titled Maman, which resulted in her being nicknamed the Spiderwoman...
, who was also working at 112 Greene Street; Vito Acconci
Vito Acconci
Vito Hannibal Acconci is a Bronx, New York-born, Brooklyn-based designer, landscape architect, performance and installation artist.-Education:...
; and Dennis Oppenheim, who became a lifelong friend. He married Deirdre Williams, a costume designer for films in 1980. They divorced in 1981. He married Laurie Johenning, a sculptor, in 1986. They have two sons, Tristan and Liam, and live in New York City.
Work
Beckley went on to exhibit with several European and American Galleries that showed conceptual art, photography, and texts. These included an exhibition with Gerhard RichterGerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...
at the Rudolf Zwirner Gallery (Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, 1972), the Konrad Fischer Gallery (Dusseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, 1972), the Nigel Greenwood Gallery (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 1972), the John Gibson Gallery (New York, 1973), the Yvon Lambert Gallery
Yvon Lambert Gallery
Yvon Lambert Gallery is a contemporary art gallery founded by Yvon Lambert in 1966. There are two locations; one in Paris and the second in New York City.-History:...
(Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1974), and Galerie Hans Mayer, which has represented his work in Europe since 1975. He exhibited at the Paris Biennale in 1973; the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
in 1975; at Documenta
Documenta
documenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
in Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, Germany, in 1976; and in the Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
in 1979. The Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
showed his works in its Projects Room in 1979.
During the early seventies Beckley was part of a loose-knit group of conceptual artists that used images and fictional texts in a form that came to be known as Narrative Art. The art dealer John Gibson organized the first group exhibition of these artists in 1973. It included David Askevald, John Baldessari
John Baldessari
John Anthony Baldessari is an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lives and works in Santa Monica and Venice, California...
, Peter Hutchinson
Peter Hutchinson
Peter Hutchinson is an American politician, businessman and philanthropy executive from the U.S. state of Minnesota. He ran as the Independence Party of Minnesota candidate for Governor of Minnesota in 2006....
, Jean Le Gac, Italo Scanga, David Tremlett
David Tremlett
David Tremlett is a Cornish sculptor, installation artist and photographer. He currently lives and works in Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, Great Britain.- Biography :...
, Ger van Elk
Ger van Elk
Ger van Elk is a Dutch artist who works with sculptures, painted photographs, installations and film. His work is generally seen as conceptual art and arte povera. Together with Marinus Boezem, Wim T...
, and William Wegman
William Wegman
William Wegman may refer to:* Bill Wegman, baseball player* William Wegman , photographer...
. Several Museum shows of this narrative work followed, including “Narrational Imagery: Beckley, Ruscha, Warhol” organized by Sam Hunter, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and “American Narrative/Story Art: 1967–1977” at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston.
In the early seventies Beckley escaped from the black, white, and gray tonalities of early conceptualism. With his color photographs and references to advertising images, he influenced artists of the so-called Picture Generation like Richard Prince
Richard Prince
Richard Prince is an American painter and photographer. Prince began appropriating photographs in 1975...
and Jeff Koons
Jeff Koons
Jeffrey "Jeff" Koons is an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects—such as balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror finish surfaces....
, whom he met at the above-mentioned Projects Room exhibition of color photographs at the Museum of Modern Art. From glimpses of himself and his obsessions, he assembled enigmatic works in which modular form and its permutations sometimes read as the story of a sexual relationship or as a baffling involuted image of sexuality itself.
Recent exhibitions include a 2008 show of works from 1971–73, among them his Silent Ping Pong Tables and Short Stories for Popsicles (both 1971), at Chelsea Space (London) in conjunction with the Tate gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
; a 2010 retrospective exhibition titled “Etcetera” at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York; and an exhibition of abstract color photographs at Galerie Hans Mayer, Dusseldorf, n September 2010.
Collections
His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art; the Whitney Museum; the Guggenheim MuseumGuggenheim Museum
Guggenheim Museum may refer to:* The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, United States* The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy* The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain* The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas, United States...
, New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
, Washington D.C.; the Tate Modern, London; the Daimler Collection in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
; Sammlung Hoffman in Berlin; and in the private collections of the Morton Neumann Family, Jeff Koons, and Sol LeWitt.