Betty Parsons
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Biography
Betty Parsons (b.1900, New York, NY – d.1982, Southold, NY) was an abstract painter and sculptor who is best known as a dealer of mid-century art. Throughout her storied career as a gallerist, she maintained a rigorous artistic practice by creating works in a variety of media including paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. Parsons’s eye for innovative talent stemmed from her own artistic training, and her commitment to championing new and emerging artists of her time impacted the canon of twentieth-century art in the United States.
Parsons realized her passion for art early in life when she attended the 1913 Armory Show in New York City. As she entered adulthood, however, she experienced the educational and professional limitations that faced women of her era. Tenaciously maintaining her desire to study art in all its forms, Parsons took lessons with artists in New York City throughout finishing school and during her three-year marriage to Schuyler Livingston Parsons. Upon its dissolution in 1923, Parsons moved to Paris and stayed for ten years to dedicate herself fully to the pursuit of art. At the Academie de la Grande Chaumière, she studied painting and sculpture first with Antoine Bourdelle and later Ossip Zadkine, alongside fellow student Alberto Giacometti. Through her expatriate community of friends and cultural figures —including Sylvia Beach, Gertrude Stein, and Adge Baker— Parsons continued her artistic education outside the classroom. She joined Baker in studying watercolor with Sir Arthur Lindsey and spent summers with them painting en plein air along the Brittany coast.
After returning to the United States in 1933, Parsons continued to create art both in California and New York. In 1935, she had her first solo exhibition of paintings at Midtown Galleries, New York. She then accepted a position there, installing works and selling paintings on commission which began to establish her professional identity as an art dealer.
Parsons opened her eponymous gallery in New York in 1946. After the closure of Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery in 1947, she inherited Guggenheim’s roster of artists, including Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, and Clyfford Still. Although the legacy of the Betty Parsons Gallery is closely tied to these leading figures, Parsons showcased work by women, queer artists, and artists of color. Her diverse program reflected her liberal, inclusive values, and her profound sense of community.
While running her gallery, Parsons’s artistic practice was an ever-present constant. She began to render abstract works in the late 1940s in order to capture what she called “sheer energy” and “the new spirit.” Stylistically departing from her training as a sculptor and landscape artist, her paintings conveyed a passion for spontaneity and creative play through impulsive gestural brushstrokes and organic forms. She often applied thin layers of paint to allow for the canvas to remain visible, elevating its function from material to pigment. In addition, she employed the sgrafitto technique and scratched off the top layer of paint in select areas. Departing from verisimilitude, Parsons described this shift as an effort to capture not what a place or event “looked like, but what it made [her] feel.”
Throughout her life, Parsons traveled to various international locales, including Mexico, France, Italy, Africa, and Japan, to satiate her curiosity about the wider world around her. She prolifically recorded these trips as watercolors, sketches, drawings, and other entries in visual journals that number into the hundreds. The undulating brushstrokes and non-naturalistic pigmentation of these works show Parsons’s experimentation with these and other means to convey her distinctive sense of place.
Parsons commissioned designer and sculptor Tony Smith to construct her studio/residence in Southold, Long Island. After its completion in 1960, Parsons frequently traded the metropolis of New York City for the quiet of the Long Island Sound. Surrounded by nature in a creative haven of her own, her artistic output became more prolific and diverse. In addition to works on canvas —some of which she painted outside on the beach— Parsons began creating sculptures composed of driftwood she collected while walking along the shore. These painted wooden assemblages can be seen as amalgamations of her passion for sculpture, mastery of color, and connection to nature.
In 1977, Parsons coined the phrase “invisible presence” to describe the energy she experienced in any given setting, an energy that she attempted to capture in all forms of her artwork. This belief in an unseen force is a nod to her practice of non-Western spiritualism, including meditation, and her interest in mysticism and indigenous American art. Rather than subscribing to a rigid theoretical framework in both personal and artistic beliefs, Parsons’s abstraction allowed for expressive improvisation in her paintings, assemblages, and diaries. Her aesthetic development was not a linear progression, but rather one in which she established and then revisited artistic devices throughout her career.
By the time of her death in 1982, Betty Parsons had created a multi-faceted legacy that extended beyond her successful gallery career. Her activism took the form of championing women and other marginalized artists of her time as well as advocating for the health and preservation of our oceans. With her diverse exhibition history and unique artistic vision, she established herself as an artist in her own right and was an influential force in the art of the mid-twentieth century. A digital catalogue raisonné of her work is in production by the Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation.
Betty Parsons’s work has been the subject of numerous one-person exhibitions at Marion Art Center, MA (2022); Art Omi, Ghent, NY (2018); The Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center, East Hampton, NY (1992); the Montclair Museum of Art, NJ (1974); Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom (1968), and The Miami Museum of Modern Art, FL (1963). Parsons’s work is represented in prominent public collections including the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY; High Museum, Atlanta, GA; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; among others.
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Exhibitions
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I Spy
23 June - 27 August 2023 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents I Spy, a group exhibition of paintings, works on paper, and sculptures by Jennie Jieun Lee , Carrie Moyer , and Betty Parsons . Spanning...Read more -
"A sheet of paper casts a shadow."
16 September - 30 October 2022 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents 'A sheet of paper casts a shadow.” This group exhibition features a selection of works on paper by six Gallery artists, Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer,...Read more -
Betty Parsons
1950s Works on Paper 20 November 2020 - 31 January 2021 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presented Betty Parsons: 1950s Works on Paper, its third exhibition of work by Betty Parsons (1900 – 1982). The Gallery’s presentation highlights a pivotal moment in...Read more -
Betty Parsons
Heated Sky 27 February - 14 August 2020 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented its second exhibition of works by Betty Parsons (1900–1982), Heated Sky. The paintings and works on paper from the height of Parsons’ engagement with abstraction from...Read more -
Count of Three
18 April - 24 May 2019 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented Count of Three , a survey of abstract painting from the 1960s to the present that takes structure—both formal and metaphysical—as a position to work within...Read more -
Betty Parsons
Invisible Presence 25 May - 14 July 2017 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates presented its first exhibition of work by Betty Parsons (b.1900, New York City, NY – d.1982, Southold, NY), since recently becoming the representative of the Estate. The...Read more
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Public Collections
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
Birmingham Museum of Art, AL
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Denver Art Museum, CO
Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Montclair Art Museum, NJ
Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY
Portland Art Museum, OR
RISD Museum, Providence, RI
Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art, Clinton, NY
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY -
News / Events
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Betty Parsons
Artists Choose Parrish at Parrish Art Museum October 29, 2023–February 18, 2024Betty Parsons is included in a group exhibition, Artists Choose Parrish, at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York.
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Betty Parsons
Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale at Montclair Art Museum September 15, 2023–January 7, 2024Betty Parsons is included in a group exhibition, Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale at Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey.
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Betty Parsons
Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940–70 at Whitechapel Gallery February 9–May 7, 2023Betty Parsons is included in the group exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940–70 at Whitechapel Gallery in London, UK.
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Betty Parsons
Friends in a Field: Conversations with Raoul De Keyser at Mu.ZEE December 17, 2022–May 21, 2023Betty Parsons is included in the group exhibition Friends in a Field: Conversations with Raoul De Keyser at Mu.ZEE, Oostende, Belgium.
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Betty Parsons
Kinship: Dusti Bongé and Betty Parsons at Hollis Taggart October 13–November 12, 2022Betty Parsons included in exhibition Kinship: Dusti Bongé and Betty Parsons at Hollis Taggart, New York.
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Betty Parsons
Marion Art Center September 23–October 28, 2022Betty Parsons will have an opening reception at the Marion Art Center, MA followed by a presentation and conversation with Collections and Research Manager, Rachel Vorsanger.
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Betty Parsons
What You See Is What You Get at Massimo De Carlo at Massimo de Carlo June 3–July 27, 2022Betty Parsons included in the group exhibition What You See Is What You Get at Casa Corbellini-Wasserman in Milan and Massimo de Carlo Pièce Unique in Paris.
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Articles / Reviews
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New York’s Top October Art Exhibitions Have A Southern Flavor
Forbes10 October 2022 The pleasures of fall in New York City go beyond sweater weather, cute boots and pumpkin spice everything. Autumn in... Read more -
Hollis Taggart to Present First Exhibition to Capture Intimate Friendship Between Artist Dusti Bongé and Gallerist and Artist Betty Parsons
ARTFIX Daily6 October 2022 Hollis Taggart will present Kinship: Dusti Bongé and Betty Parsons, an expansive exhibition on the illustrious but lesser-known career of... Read more -
Artists to see first at Frieze Seoul, chosen by 6 experts
Esquire Korea14 September 2022 ALEXANDER GRAY ASSOCIATES BETTY PARSONS Here comes the work of an artist I have long liked and wanted to become... Read more -
5 Fast Facts: Betty Parsons and #5WomenArtists
National Museum of Women in the Arts17 February 2022 Betty Parsons (1900–1982), American artist and New York City (NYC) gallerist, was known as the “den mother of Abstract Expressionism.”... Read more -
9 Art Exhibitions Worth Masking Up for This Spring
Vogue19 March 2021 In New York, most museums and galleries reopened some time ago, but with the zing of spring now in the... Read more -
The super-gallerist putting women in the picture
Financial Times18 November 2020 “Strong women intent on doing their own thing are like magnets for me, I gravitate towards them and their work... Read more -
The Art Scene: 02.27.20
East Hampton Star27 February 2020 Betty Parsons in Chelsea Alexander Gray Associates in Chelsea will present “Heated Sky,” an exhibition of paintings and works on... Read more -
Editors’ Picks: 21 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week
artnet News24 February 2020 8. “Betty Parsons: Heated Sky ” at Alexander Gray Associates The overdue rediscovery of the artistic practice of the late... Read more -
Your Concise New York Art Guide for Spring 2020
Hyperallergic18 February 2020 Happy spring! Each season, New York’s art community consistently offers a range of exciting exhibitions, performances, film series, and other... Read more -
Heckscher's 'Locally Sourced' exhibit spotlights LI artists
Newsday3 December 2019 Hans Namuth’s iconic shots of Jackson Pollock at work in his Springs studio gave the world a critical behind-the-scenes glimpse... Read more -
Critics' Picks: Betty Parsons
Artforum22 October 2019 What to write, in this jewel-size space, of Betty Parsons ’s riotous, jewel-hued paintings, or of her vibrant driftwood assemblages?... Read more -
A Show Focused on One Renowned Dealer’s Own Unsung Art Practice
T, the New York Times Style Magazine3 October 2019 Perhaps best known as an art dealer who discovered and promoted the work of the Abstract Expressionist painters, Betty Parsons... Read more -
Betty Parsons the Painter
Frieze1 October 2019 In 1977, the American art dealer and artist Betty Parsons appeared on the TV show About the Arts. She was... Read more -
In London for Frieze Week? Don’t Miss These 15 Must-See Gallery Shows During the Fair
artnet News30 September 2019 Frieze Week in London is upon us once more, and there’ll be no shortage of gallery exhibitions, art fairs, and... Read more -
What to see at Frieze 2019: the artists and galleries not to miss
Harper's Bazaar28 September 2019 The highlight of the art-world calendar, Frieze London and Frieze Masters come to London from 3 to 6 October, bringing... Read more -
Frieze week highlights: the Goya of Aberdeenshire and Cézanne in one piece
Apollo Magazine27 September 2019 With hundreds of exhibitions and events vying for your attention in London during Frieze week, Apollo’s editors pick out the... Read more -
Frieze Week Lowdown: London Shows to See in 2019
Ocula20 September 2019 Betty Parsons Alison Jacques Gallery, 16–18 Berners Street, W1T 3LN 2 October–9 November 2019 Once known as the 'den of... Read more -
Betty Parsons one of the most influential and dynamic figures of the American avant-garde.
FAD Magazine6 August 2019 Alison Jacques Gallery to present an exhibition of works by Betty Parsons (1900 - 1982), one of the most influential... Read more -
The Artists Who Summered on Long Island
The New Yorker8 July 2019 During the summer months of the mid-twentieth century, the epicenter of the New York School shifted from the Cedar Tavern,... Read more -
Barry Bergdoll showcases a new wave of modern architecture on Long Island
The Architect's Newspaper8 July 2019 The “North Fork” of Long Island , from the town of Riverhead to Orient Point at the eastern tip, is... Read more -
South Fork Women: Female Abstract Expressionists at Kasmin
Less than Half1 July 2019 Long before it was colonized by mansions on postage stamps of land, the Hamptons were an artists’ bohemia. While its... Read more -
Game Changer: Betty Parsons
Gagosian Quarterly5 March 2019 Betty Parsons wasn’t an extraordinary businessperson. She spent little time thinking about profits: “I’ve always been given the vision to... Read more -
The Legendary Betty Parsons Meets the Not-So-Legendary Betty Parsons
Hyperallergic8 July 2017 Betty Parsons (1900-1982) is the legendary dealer who, after opening her gallery in 1946, gave shows to Barnett Newman, Jackson... Read more -
Pioneering Gallerist Betty Parsons Was Also an Important Artist
Artsy23 June 2017 The list of Betty Parsons ’s adventures and accomplishments is immense. As a gallerist, she gave Jackson Pollock , and... Read more -
From the Archives: Betty Parsons, Gallerist Turned Artist, Takes the Spotlight, in 1979
ARTnews16 June 2017 When art historians mention Betty Parsons, they’re usually talking about her New York gallery, which, in the 1940s, ’50s, and... Read more -
Estate of Betty Parsons, Storied Ab Ex Dealer Who Also Made Art, Goes to Alexander Gray Associates
ARTnews16 March 2017 Betty Parsons may be better known for her gallery, which, in the 1950s, was responsible for showing the “Four Horsemen”... Read more -
The Parsons Effect
Art in America1 November 2013 I was so interested in other artists, it always cooled me off on myself. When I’m not at the gallery,... Read more -
Best of 2008: Betty Parsons
Artforum5 December 2008 The biographies of New York School artists are often sprinkled liberally with the name of Betty Parsons, who is acclaimed... Read more -
Painter Who Championed Others Gets Her Due
The New York Times26 August 2006 Betty Parsons, who died in 1982 at the age of 82, was one of the most recognizable figures in the... Read more -
Artist With an Eye For Others' Work
The New York Times28 February 1999 A FRIEND to many, and admired for her elegance, loyalty and tact, Betty Parsons has long had a niche in... Read more -
Lyrical Paintings, Subtle Sculptures
The New York Times17 June 1979 WATER MILL IT is always pleasurable to watch the development of favorite artists, especially their discoveries and breakthroughs. It is... Read more -
A Keeper of the Treasure
The New Yorker9 June 1975 PROFILE of Betty Parsons, 75, N.Y. art dealer. The Betty Parsons Gallery is at 24 W. 57 St. Describes her... Read more -
Betty Parsons Exhibits in Montclair
The New York Times31 March 1974 MONTCLAIR—Betty Parsons, one of the more celebrated of Manhattan's artdealers, is known less as a painter and sculptor in her... Read more
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