BIOGRAPHY

1916
Richard Warren Pousette-Dart born June 8 in St. Paul, MN

1918
Pousette-Dart family moves to Valhalla, NY

1935
Graduates from the Scarborough School, Scarborough-on-Hudson, New York. For his senior class magazine, The Beechwood Tree, he writes an essay entitled “I Have Been Called a Dreamer,” which underscores his early commitment to pacifism

1936
Enrolls in Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, which he leaves after a few months to paint and sculpt independently. Creates large stone sculptures in semi-abstract forms, also small brass sculptures between two and five inches in height which employ biomorphic and geometric forms that recur in his paintings

1937
Becomes an assistant to the sculptor Paul Manship and moves to Manhattan. Spends days working and nights painting, sculpting and drawing

1938
Works full time as a secretary and bookkeeper in Lynn Morgan’s photographic studio and paints at night. His marriage to the dancer Blanche Brady is annulled

1939
Leaves job to paint full time

1941
First solo exhibition at Artists’ Gallery, New York, NY. A brief second marriage to the artist Lydia Modi also ends

1942
Completes Symphony Number 1, The Transcendental, one of the first large canvases of Abstract Expressionism

1943
Meets Evelyn Gracey, a poet, during his exhibition at Marian Willard Gallery

1946
Marries Evelyn Gracey. Moves to East 56th Street, New York, NY

1947
Symphony Number 1, The Transcendental, is exhibited in a solo show at Art of This Century. Peggy Guggenheim purchases Spirit, from this show. First child, Joanna, is born in April

1948
Has two solo exhibitions at the Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY. The painting Spirit is shown as part of the Peggy Guggenheim collection at the XXIV Venice Biennale. Elected treasurer of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptures. Attends meetings and lectures at an informal school in Greenwich Village, called “Subjects of the Artist,” organized by Baziotes, Hare, Motherwell and Rothko. This group later became known as the Eighth Street Club

1950
Attends a three-day closed conference for artists, which was the final activity of Studio 35, established after “Subjects of the Artist,” closed in 1949. Artists in this group are later known as Abstract Expressionists. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, acquires Number 11: A Presence

1951
A photograph of “The Irascibles,” which includes Richard among other New York School artists, is published in the January 15 issue of Life magazine. Receives Guggenheim Fellowship. Pousette-Dart family moves from New York City to Eagle Valley Road, Sloatsburg, NY. Lectures at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Look magazine does a photo essay on the artist entitled “Spontaneous Kaleidoscopes,” October 11.

1952
Second child, Jonathan, is born in June. Presents a paper titled “What is the Relationship between Religion and Art?” at the Union Theological Seminary, December 2, in conjunction with the exhibition Contemporary Religious Art and Architecture

1953
Wins third prize in Photography magazine’s international competition. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York acquires The Magnificent

1954
Pousette-Dart family moves to Christmas Hill Road, Monsey, NY. Peggy Guggenheim gives Spirit to the Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel

1958
Pousette-Dart family moves to Suffern, NY, where today the artist’s studio houses the Richard Pousette-Dart Estate

1959
Receives Ford Foundation Grant from Grant-in-Aid Program for Visual Artists

1959-61
Teaches at various New York colleges, such as the New School for Social Research (1959-61), the School of Visual Arts (1964), Bard College (1965), Columbia University (1968), Sarah Lawrence College (1970-74) and the Art Students League (from 1980)

1961
Awarded M. V. Kohnstamm Prize from the Art Institute of Chicago at the 64th Annual American Painting and Sculpture Exhibition

1963
First retrospective exhibition is held at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. The Whitney acquires Sky Presence (Morning)

1964
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY acquires Radiance

1965
Awarded Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by Bard College. Wins second Prize at the 29th Biennial of Contemporary American Painting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Death of his father, Nathaniel Pousette-Dart

1966
Delivers “Convocation Lecture” at the Minneapolis School of Art. Wins National Council of the Arts Award for Excellence

1967
Receives The National Endowment for the Arts Award for Individual Artists

1969
Death of his mother, Flora Pousette-Dart. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, acquires Desert, Fugue Number 2 and Chavade. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, acquires Presence, Ramapo Mist

1969-70
Receives honorary doctorate from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

1971
Travels to Europe for the first time to visit Paris, Chartres, Rome, Florence, and London

1973
Spends two months in Provence, France

1974
Receives mural commission for North Central Bronx Hospital, Bronx, NY

1975
Travels to Antibes, France

1981
Receives first annual Distinguished Lifetime in Art Award, a grant from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation to honor a distinguished lifetime in art

1982
Invited by The International Committee of the Venice Biennial to exhibit in the Main Pavilion. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York acquires Presence, Ramapo Horizon

1983
Invited to be Milton Avery Distinguished Professor of Arts at Bard College

1986
Major retrospective exhibition is held at the Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL

1987
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY acquires Path of the Hero

1989
Receives the Individual Visual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Rockland County, NY

1990
Commissioned to produce a monumental bronze door entitled Cathedral, based on a painting of the same title, for the facade of the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s new pavilion. Commissioned to design the Interfaith Center, Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY

1992
Dies October 25