Betty Parsons

This exhibition showcases over thirty years of Betty Parsons’ (1900-1982) practice, covering the period from 1950 until 1981. The show includes paintings on canvas and paper, as well as sculpture.

‘I knew about painting because I was a painter’, Parsons once remarked of her career as one of New York’s leading gallerists.1 Parsons’ prowess as founder and director of Betty Parsons Gallery (1946-1983) has long obscured an appreciation of her own artistic endeavours. While her discerning eye helped launch the careers of many notable artists, including Agnes Martin and Jackson Pollock, Parsons maintained a rigorous commitment to her own practice. ‘When I’m not at the gallery, my own art is my relaxation’, she once said. ‘That’s my greatest joy’.2 ‘I would give up my gallery in a second if the world would accept me as an artist’.3

Parsons’ practice was concerned largely with the exploration of colour. Her paintings can be characterised by their large, sinuous swathes of colour that playfully interact, punctuating her saturated canvases.