Opening Reception, Saturday, June 27, 2pm - 5pm
Limited free seating is available on a roundtrip chartered bus from New York City for the June 27 opening. Reservations are required and can be made on this by calling +1 845-758-7598 or emailing Mary Rozell at mrozell@bard.edu.
Betty Parsons: An Expanded World is the first major retrospective to examine the intertwined legacies of Betty Parsons (1900 - 1982) as both pioneering abstract artist and trailblazing gallerist who shaped the trajectory of 20th century American art.
Best known for ushering in the American avant-garde by establishing the careers of Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock, among others, Parsons also maintained a dedicated artistic practice throughout her life. This exhibition centers her output as a painter and sculptor, while exploring the radical history of the Betty Parsons Gallery and its support of underrecognized, experimental artists.
Organized by Kelly Taxter (CCS ‘03) with artist Amy Sillman, Betty Parsons: An Expanded World features approximately 80 works spanning painting, sculpture, and works on paper, tracing Parsons’ voluminous output as she evolved from a young academic painter to a mature abstractionist over a six-decade career. A revelatory and newly commissioned, multi-channel film by G. Anthony Svatek and Kaija Siirala will bring to life the largely unknown history of the Betty Parsons Gallery.
While Parsons exhibited her work years before opening her gallery in 1946, her artistic output has remained largely underrecognized. An Expanded World charts the full range of Parsons’ output from 1922 to 1982, looking at how early watercolors led to developments in abstractions; a prolific 1960s and 70s that expanded her practice to include prismatically hued sculptures; and an evolution into a mature, skillful painter who continued to explore oddball color combinations and compositions through the end of her life.
The exhibition also revisits the significant history and lesser-known figures of the Betty Parsons Gallery, credited for nearly single-handedly ushering in the American avant-garde. Though Parsons launched the careers of many major Abstract Expressionists, including Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock, many of these predominantly male artists left after growing frustrated by her minimal interest in the market and ceaseless search for the new and undiscovered. She remained devoted to artists who were excluded by galleries and major arts institutions at the time, including Agnes Martin, Forrest Bess, Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly, Leon Polk Smith, Sonja Sekula, and Barbara Chase-Riboud, all of whom went on to great acclaim. Parsons also made efforts to present Indigenous art during her lifetime, recognizing its foundational importance to the artists of her generation.
Through the works on view—presented in tandem with the new film, featuring firsthand recollections by Parsons herself and the artists she exhibited—a deeply curious and restless woman is revealed. Betty Parsons: An Expanded World considers how she was continually propelled towards what she called “the expanding world,” a theme informed by her understanding of American modernism and reflected in her practices as both an artist and art dealer.
About Betty Parsons
Betty Parsons (b.1900, New York, NY – d.1982, Southold, NY) was an abstract painter and sculptor best known as a dealer of mid-century art. Born into a prominent New York City family, Parsons attended the watershed 1913 Armory Show at age 13—a formative experience that compelled Parsons to pursue a life in art. Throughout her 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. Her eye for innovative talent was deeply informed by her own artistic training, and her curatorial choices helped to shape the course of 20th-century art in the United States.
Represented by Alexander Gray Associates and Alison Jacques, Parsons has been the subject of solo exhibitions at venues including De La Warr Pavilion, UK (2025); 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); and Whitechapel Gallery, London (1968). Her work is represented in the collections of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, NY; High Museum, Atlanta, GA; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.
Exhibition Catalogue
A new, comprehensive monograph dedicated to the art of Betty Parsons has been developed alongside Betty Parsons: An Expanded World. The book will be copublished by Dancing Foxes, New York, and CCS Bard.
Exhibition Organization and Credits
Betty Parsons: An Expanded World is organized by CCS Bard’s Hessel Museum of Art and curated by Kelly Taxter with Amy Sillman.
Major support for Betty Parsons: An Expanded World is provided by the Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Additional support from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Ken Kuchin and William Morgan, and Jane Hait and Justin Beal. In-kind support provided by the Aïshti Foundation.
Exhibitions at CCS Bard and the Hessel Museum of Art are made possible with generous support from Lonti Ebers, the Marieluise Hessel Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the Board of Governors of the Center for Curatorial Studies, the Leadership and Curator’s Councils, and the Center’s Patrons, Supporters, and Friends.
The Terra Foundation for American Art, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art, through the foundation’s grant program, collection, and initiatives.
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)
With support from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Hessel Museum of Art joins an international roster of institutions commemorating the artist’s 100th birthday. Rauschenberg’s conviction that engagement with art can nurture people’s sensibilities as individuals, community members, and citizens was key to his ethos. The Centennial celebrations seek to allow audiences familiar with him and those encountering the artist for the first time to form fresh perspectives about his art work. http://rauschenbergfoundation.org
