Betty Parsons, untitled, oil on paper, 1950’s, 17” by 14.” inches.
Quoting Wikipedia, “Betty Parsons was an American artist, art dealer, and collector known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She is regarded as one of the most influential and dynamic figures of the American avant-garde.” Parson’s opened the Betty Parson’s Gallery in 1946 at 15 East 57th Street in Manhattan, exhibiting work by the leading artists of abstract expressionism including Clifford Still Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Robert Rauschenberg. Parsons was the only dealer willing to represent Jackson Pollack after Peggy Guggenheim closed her gallery and returned to Europe in 1947.
Betty Parsons, untitled, 1960. Gouache on paper, 22″ x 20 1/8″. Signed and dated recto.
Not many people will know that Parsons had a winter home in Hollywood, Florida and in 1950 was exhibiting there with other local artists including Charlotte Kellner, at the Hollywood Woman’s Club. She often exhibited in Palm Beach with the Society of The Four Arts and with the Hollywood Arts and Crafts Guild.
Betty Parsons, Three Reds, 1974, painted wood and nails, height 31”, width 6.75”, depth 2.25.”
Born: January 31, 1900, New York City. Died: July 23, 1982, New York City. Education: Chapin School for girls, New York, New York; Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris; with sculptors Emile-Antoine Bourdelle (assistant to Auguste Rodin) and Ossip Zadkine. Membership: Florida Federation of Arts; Society of The Four Arts; Hollywood Arts and Crafts Guild, exhibition committee, 1953. Exhibits: Society of The Four Arts, 7th Annual Members Show, January 1945; Hollywood Woman’s Club, March 16, 1950; Worth Avenue Gallery, Palm Beach, January 1951; Society of The Four Arts, 14th Annual Members Exhibit, December 1951-January 1952, abstractions; Society of The Four Arts, 15th Annual Exhibition, Contemporary Paintings and Sculpture, March 1953, watercolors, Chromatic Scherzo, second prize, watercolors for Thunder Mountain; Hollywood Arts and Crafts Guild, Hollywood Beach Hotel, February 1954, Rocky Mountain Stream; Society of The Four Arts, Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami, April-May 1954, Palm Beach, Miami, oil, Agamemnon; Miami Beach Art Center, April 1955, with other artists from the earlier Hollywood Arts and Crafts Guild, 3rd Annual; Florida Federation of Art annual convention and exhibit, Miami Beach, November 1955; Worth Avenue Gallery, Palm Beach, December 1955 with other artists including Ann Norton, Theodora Tilton, and John Hawkins; Society of The Four Arts Annual Exhibition, December 1955; Society of The Four Arts, Contemporary American Painting Exhibition, December, 1956, casein, Abstraction No. 1, Abstraction No. 2, oil, End of Winter; Pensacola Art Center, February 1958, one man show, non-objective paintings; Society of The Four Arts, 22nd Annual, Contemporary American Paintings, December 1960, honorable mention, gouache, Before Spring 1960; Hollywood Arts and Crafts Guild, Hollywood Fine Arts Building,
