Finding Lee Mullican, Dir. John Mullican, 115m

Introduction

Lee Mullican was born in 1919 in Chickasha, Oklahoma, and died in Los Angeles in 1998. Upon his graduation from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1942, Mullican was drafted into the army, serving four years as a topographical draughtsman before moving to San Francisco in 1946. After winning a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1959, he spent a year painting in Rome before returning to Los Angeles where he joined the UCLA Art Department in 1961, keeping his position for nearly 30 years. He divided the later part of his life between his homes in Los Angeles and Taos, traveling internationally and co-organizing exhibitions at UCLA. A retrospective spanning fifty years of the artist’s work was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2006. Mullican’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2019
Cosmic Theater,
James Cohan, New York, NY
2018
The Marble Drawings: 1966 – 1970,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Lee Mullican: 1960s,
James Cohan, New York, NY
2016
Lee Mullican,
James Cohan, New York, NY
2016
Lee Mullican,
Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, NY
2015
Lee Mullican: Shatter Special
, Beverly Hills, CA
2015
Paintings 1956-1977,
Texas Gallery, Houston, TX
2014
Meditations on a Line,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Important Paintings from the 1950’s,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Works from Rome,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2008
Paintings from the 1970’s,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2008
Master Works,
Fenix Gallery, Taos, NM
2007
Lee Mullican: Paintings 1952-1968,
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
Lee Mullican: Paintings from the Sixties,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Lee Mullican: An Abundant Harvest of Sun,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Lee Mullican: An Abundant Harvest of Sun,
Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY
2004
Lee Mullican: Drawings from the Estate,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2001
Lee Mullican, Drawing Retrospective,
Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
1999
Lee Mullican: Selected Drawings 1945-1980,
Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
1995
Lee Mullican,
Pavilion at the Botanic Garden, Munich, Germany
1995
Realizing the Possible: The Art of Lee Mullican,
University of New Mexico, Hardwood Foundation, Taos, NM
1993
Pueblo Drawings,
Thibaud Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1989
Lee Mullican,
Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA
1989
Tribal Shots,
Herbert Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1987
New Painting and Sculpture,
Charles Campbell Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1986
Mullican at LACE,
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition, Los Angeles, LA
1986
Lee Mullican,
Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA
1985
Herbert Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1980
Lee Mullican, Selected Works, 1948-1980,
Galerie Schreiner, New York
1980
Lee Mullican: Retrospective,
Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, CA
1977
Stables Gallery of the Taos Art Association, Taos, NM
1976
Lee Mullican: Paintings and Drawings,
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1976
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1974
Rose Rabow Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1973
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1972
Contemporary Art Gallery, Patrick Shannon, Santa Fe, NM
1971
Jodi Scully Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1971
Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1971
Jodi Scully Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1970
Rose Rabow Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1969
Lee Mullican Paintings 1965-1969,
UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
1968
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
1967
Willard Gallery, New York, NY
1967
Silvan Simone Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1967
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
1966
Esther Bear Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1965
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1965
Silvan Simone Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1964
Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles, CA
1963
Rose Rabow Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1961
Pasadena Art Museum (retrospective), Pasadena, CA
1961
Gifford Phillips Collection at UCLA Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1961
Willard Gallery, New York, NY
1961
Paul Kantor Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1959
Santa Monica Art Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1958
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1955
Alexander Rabow Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1954
Paul Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1953
Gump’s Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1952
Willard Gallery, New York, NY
1951
Philbrook Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
1951
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
1950
Willard Gallery, New York, NY
1949
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

Group Exhibitions

2018
Under the Night Sky,
Albertz Benda, New York, NY
2017
Way Bay,
UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
2017
Everything we do is music,
The Drawing Room, London, UK
2017
Dream Machines,
James Cohan, New York, NY
2016
Art of Northern California: Three Stories,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2015
Soldier, Spectre, Shaman: The Figure and the Second World War,
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2015
Shatter Special,
Equitable Vitrines, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Transcendence: Abstraction & Symbolism in the American West,
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT
2015
The Art Show,
Art Dealers Association of America, New York, NY
2015
All Watched Over,
James Cohan, New York, NY
2015
Selections from the Joann and Gifford Phillips Gift,
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
2015
This is not a Connection,
Cirrus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Lee Mullican & Cameron,
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Western Light, Ecstatic Landscape,
Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Ketchum, ID
2014
Santa Monica Originals,
Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2014
Highlights from the Gus Foster Collection,
The Hardwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM
2014
California Contemporary Modernists: a Virtual Exhibition,
Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Down to Earth: Modern Artists and the Land, Before Land Art,
LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Unruly,
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
2013
Highlights from the Harwood Museum of Art’s Collection of Contemporary Art,
Harwood Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Selections from the Grunwald Center and the Hammer Contemporary Collection,
Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
2012
Local Color,
San Jose Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
2012
Selections of American Modernism,
Aeron Payne Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
2012
Conversation with the Curators: Pasadena to Santa Barbara: A Selected History of Art in Southern California, 1952-1969,
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2012
Pacific Standard Time Art in Los Angeles 1950-1980,
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
2012
Pasadena to Santa Barbara: A Selected History of Art in Southern California, 1952-1969,
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2011
Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California,
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
2011
Abstract Now and Then Exhibition,
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
2011
Taos Moderns,
Aaron Payne Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM
2009
Collection: MOCA’s First Thirty Years,
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2009
The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia: 1860-1989,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
2008
Traces du Sucre,
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2008
100 Works/100 Artists – A through Z,
The Annex Galleries, Santa Rosa, CA
2006
Drawings: The Hand of the Artists,
Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Shifting Dimensions: Sculptors on Paper,
Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Driven to Abstraction: Southern California and the Non-Objective World, 1950-1980,
Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2005
California Gold,
Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2003
Holiday Highlights,
Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2002
Creative Transitions,
Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2002
Creative Transition II,
Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2000
Made in California: Art, Image and Identity 1900-2000,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2000
Flight Patterns,
Museum of Contemporary Art at the Geffen, Los Angeles, CA
1996
Fifteen Profiles: Distinguished California Modernists,
Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA
1995
Pacific Dreams: Currents of Surreality in Early California Art,
Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
1992
Paintings of the Inner World, Color in Space,
Herbert Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1992
Dynaton, Before and Beyond,
Frederick R, Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
1992
Light and Color – Dynaton Painters,
Herbert Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1990
Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Moderns 1920-1950,
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1989
Mullican & Mullican,
Johnson Gallery, University Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
1988
Computer Art,
IBM Gallery, Syracuse University, New York, NY
1988
Moderns in Mind,
A Rothko Foundation Exhibit, Artists Space, New York, NY
1987
Visions of Inner Space,
Wight Art Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
1987
The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985,
Hague Eemeente Museum, Netherlands
1986
New California Painting,
Rancho Santiago College Art Gallery, Santa Ana, CA
1986
Moderns in Mind,
Artists Space, New York, NY
1986
Dede Bazyk/Lee Mullican,
LACE, Los Angeles, CA
1986
The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985
, Los Angeles, CA
1985
Sunshine and Shadow,
Fisher Art Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
1985
Sculptors and Their Graphics,
Herbert Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1984
Surrealism in California,
Fisher Art Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
1983
Drawings by Painters,
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
1982
Exhibition of Contemporary L.A. Artists,
Nagoya City Museum, Nagoya, Japan
1982
L.A.: Contemporary Paintings,
Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1981
Abstraction in L.A., 1950-1980,
University of California, Irvine, CA
1980
Contemporary Panting in California,
High Museum, Atlanta, GA
1980
California Painting – The Essential Modernist Framework,
California State University, Los Angeles, CA
1980
History of California Painting,
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1980
Light and Color: Images from New Mexico,
Sheldon Memorial Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
1977
Painting & Sculpture,
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
1977
Five Footnotes to Modern Art History: Dynaton Revisited,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1977
Private Images – Photographs by Painters,
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1976
Paintings and Drawings in the Museum’s Collection,
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1976
California Painting and Sculpture: The Modern Era,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, LA
1972
Tamarind: A Renaissance of Lithography,
The International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington D.C.
1969
West Coast, 1945-1969,
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA
1969
Biennial,
Pennsylvania Academy, Philadelphia, PA
1967
10 Selected Artists,
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
1966
Some Continuing Directions, selected by Mr. and Mrs. Gifford Phillips,
Balboa Pavilion, Newport Beach, CA
1966
Centenaire de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, France
1965
Tamarind Artists,
Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1965
75th Anniversary Exhibition, Three Distinguished Artists from Oklahoma: Lee Mullican, Joseph Glasco, Leon Polk Smith,
Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
1964
Mount St. Mary’s College Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1961
50 California Artists,
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1961
New Object,
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA
1961
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
1961
Mount St. Mary’s College Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1955
III Bienal,
Museu de Arte Moderna, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1955
Detroit Museum of Art, Detroit, MI
1953
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1952
American Art Annual,
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1951
Dynaton,
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1951
Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
1951
American Painting Today,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
1951
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1951
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1950
American Painting Today, 1950,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Selected Public Collections

Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
France Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.
Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM
The Huntington Art Collections, San Marino, CA
Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California Davis, Davis, CA
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, NYC
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma, OK
Orange County Museum of Art, New Port Beach, CA
Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA
Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
San Francisco Municipal Collection, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA
Smith College Museum of Art, Smith College, Northampton, MA
Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
The Syracuse University Art Galleries, Syracuse, NY
Toledo Art Museum, Toledo OH
UC Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
Vincent Price Art Museum, Monterey Park, CA
Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC

Bibliography

Selected Bibliography

2018
Pagel, David, Review: The longer you look at Lee Mullican’s ‘Marble Drawings,’ the more—or less—you will see, (The Los Angeles Times)
2016
Holte, Michael Ned, Best of 2016, (Artforum)
2016
Sutphin, Eric, Exhibition Review: Lee Mullican, (Art in America)
2016
Ostrow, Saul, Western Culture: Lee Mullican’s Californian Abstraction, (artcritical)
2016
Plagens, Peter, Eastern Influence, a ‘Sculpted Ecosystem,’ and English Abstraction, (The Wall Street Journal)
2014
Pagel, David, Lee Mullican’s colors crackle with energy, (The Los Angeles Times)
2011
Buckley, Annie, Lee Mullican, (Artforum)
2006
Duncan, Michael, Mullican’s Magnetic Fields, (Art in America)
2006
Smith, Roberta, Lee Mullican’s Countercultural Vision at the Grey Gallery, (The New York Times)
2005
Knight, Christopher, Lee Mullican: a Modernist whose sun rose in the West, (The Los Angeles Times)
1999
Knight, Christopher, Taking the Long View, (The Los Angeles Times)

Awards

1964
Fellowship, Tamarind Lithograph Workshop, (Los Angeles, CA: )
1963
Institute of Creative Art, University of California, (Los Angeles, CA: )
1959
Guggenheim Fellowship, (New York, NY: )
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