Exhibitions
John Willenbecher: New Works
Born 1936 Macungie, PA
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts, Brown University, Providence, RI
Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, NY
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Bard Center for Curatorial Studies, The Marielouise Hessel Collection, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY
Castellani Art Museum, Niagara University, Lewiston, NY
Centre d'Art et Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Farnsworth Museum of Art, Rockland, ME
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge MA
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, Portland, OR
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Norton Center for the Arts, Danville, KY
La Piscine, Robaix, France
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
Shoes Or No Shoes Museum, Kruisem, Belgium
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH
University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI
Wayne State University Art Collection, Detroit, MI
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation Inc., Mount Kisco, NY
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2026 "John Willenbecher: New Works," Babst Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021 "John Willenbecher Works From the 1960s," Craig Starr Gallery, New York, NY
2017 "John Willenbecher," Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
2003 "John Willenbecher: Finding the Given," Mina Rees Library, City University of New York, New York, NY
2003 "John Willenbecher: Two Decades of Painting," 5 Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2003 "John Willenbecher: Recent Small Paintings," City University of New York Graduate Center, New York, NY
1996 "John Willenbecher: Five Paintings," The University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
1993 "John Willenbecher: 1972 and 1992," The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
1986 "John Willenbecher," The New York Academy of Sciences, New York, NY
1982 "John Willenbecher,"" The Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1982 "John Willenbecher and Susan Hall," The Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1981 "John Willenbecher," The Art Gallery of the University Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
1981 "John Willenbecher," Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1980 "John Willenbecher: Capriccios grottos," The Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1979 "John Willenbecher: Open Systems," The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
1979 "John Willenbecher: Paintings, Constructions, Works on Paper 1970-1978" The Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY
1979 The Dart Gallery, Chicago, IL
1979 "In Small Scale," Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1979 "In Small Scale Phase II," Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1979 "Day and Night," (exhibition with Janet Stayton), The Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1978 "John Willenbecher," Fine Arts Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1978 "John Willenbecher," Wright State University Art Gallery, Dayton, OH
1978 "John Willenbecher," University of Massachusetts Art Gallery, Amherst, MA
1978 "Tetrahedron installation," University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
1977 The Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1977 Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1976 James Yu Gallery, New York, NY
1976 "John Willenbecher: Constructions, Paintings, and Works on Paper," The Arts Club, Chicago, IL
1976 "John Willenbecher: Recent Paintings and Constructions," The Olympia Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1976 "John Willenbecher," The Art Gallery of the Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1975 "John Willenbecher," The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
1975 "John Willenbecher," The Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI
1975 Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY
1974 The A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, NY
1973 The A.M. Sachs Gallery, New York, NY
1971 The Lambert 910 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1970 The Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, IL
1967 The Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, IL
1966 The Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, NY
1965 The Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, NY
1964 The Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, IL
1963 The Feigen+Herbert Gallery, New York City
1963 The Feigen - Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 "Beyond Numbers: Mathematical Patterns, Shapes & Flow," Castellani Art Museum, Niagara University, NY
2024 "The Studio," International Museum of Art & Science, McAllen, TX
2023 "Alternative Figures in Collage," Side Room Gallery, New York, NY
2023 "Summer Show," Craig Starr Gallery, New York, NY
2023 "Summer Blues," Side Room Gallery, New York, NY
2023 "A Windy Day," Side Room Gallery, New York, NY
2022 "Some Works on Paper, 1923-2022," Side Room Gallery, New York, NY
2021 "Ray Johnson c/o," Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2017 "Total Eclipse of the Heartland," Spencer Museum of Art, Laurel, KS
2017 "Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery 1959-1971," Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
2017 "Summer Show - Abstract Painting," Hal Bomm Gallery, New York, NY
2016 "Artists on the Bowery," Westwood Gallery NYC, New York, NY
2015 "The Thing Itself," Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ
2015 "40th Anniversary Exhibition," Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY
2014 "Sacred," Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
2014 "de Alechinsky à JonOne," Joel Knafo Galerie, Paris
2012 "On the Bowery," Westwood Gallery, New York, NY
2011 "Astronomy 191," Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
2011 "Pioneer Artists of Tribeca,” Salomon Arts Gallery New York, NY
2010 "Artpark: 1974-1984," University of Buffalo Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2007 "Time/Frame," Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
2006 "The Freedom Tower," 2006 Biennial, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2006 "American Art Since 1900," Blanton Museum of Art, Houston, TX
2005 "Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture," The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
2004 "A minimal future?: art as object 1958-1968," Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2004 “Opening Reception of the Rubin Museum of Art: The Flag Project,” Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY
2003 "The Name of the Game: Ray Johnson's Postal Performance," The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway; Traveled to Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany and to Museum Het Domein Sittard, Sittard, The Netherlands.
1999 "Decade of Transformation: American Art of the 1960s," Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
1999 "The Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection," Seattle Art Museum, Portland, OR
1999 "The Buzz Miller Collection of American Art," Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
1997 "The Collection 1916-1996," The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1996 "After Dark: Nocturnal Images, "The Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York, NY
1992 "Among Friends: From a Collection Formed by Ingaborg and Jan van der Marck," The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
1992 "A Gallery Self-Portrait," The Herbert Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1991 "El Sueno de Egipto: La influencia del Arte Egipcio en la arte contemporaneo," Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico
1991 "Artist's Books The Lorence Monk Gallery," New York, NY
1991 "Selections '91," The Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, NY
1990 "An Artist's Christmas: Holiday images by American Artists 1880 - 1991," The Midtown-Payson Gallery, New York, NY
1990 "Selections from the Collection," The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum Ridgefield CT
1989 "Artist's Interpretations of the Cosmos," The Noyes Museum, Oceanside, NJ
1988 "The Richard J. Daley 20th Anniversary Retrospective," The Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, IL
1988 "Exploring the Sixties: Selected Paintings from the Michener Collection," Blanton Museum of Art, Houston, TX
1987 "Artists Choose Artists," Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, NY
1987 "Faux-Arts: Surface and Simulated Materials," The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
1986 "Olympus Revisited," The Summit Art Center, Summit, NJ
1986 "Imagenes en Cajas Museo Rufino Tamayo," Mexico City, Mexico
1986 "Painting the Object," Lorence Monk Gallery, New York, NY
1986 "Labyrinth," Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1985 "Fortissimo!: thirty years from the Richard Brown Baker Collection of Contemporary Art," Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1985 "Beyond Antiquity," The DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
1985 "Narratives," The Institute for Art and Urban Resources," (MoMA P.S.1), Long Island City, NY
1984 "El Arte Narrativo." Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
1984 "Mathematics and Twentieth Century Art: Selections from The McCrory Collection," Baruch College, New York, NY
1984 "Intermedia: Between Painting and Sculpture," The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
1984 "Group Show," Lelia Taghinia-Milani Gallery, New York, NY
1984 "The Wreath: Interpretations The Arsenal Gallery," New York, NY
1983 "Toys By Artists," Vanderwoude-Tannenbaum Gallery, New York, NY
1983 "The Found Object" Marisa del Rey Gallery, New York, NY
1983 "Connections Institute of Contemporary Art," Philadelphia, PA
1983 "Homage to Joseph Cornell," Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York, NY
1983 "Nocturne," Siegel Contemporary Art, New York, NY
1983 "Drawings," University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
1983 "Connections: Bridges, Ladders, Ramps, Staircases, Tunnels," University of Michigan traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1982 "Private Vision: Contemporary Art from the Graham Gund Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
1982 "After Effects," The Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1982 "Visiting Artists Exhibition," Meyerhoff Gallery, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD
1982 "Starry Nights," The Katheryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY
1981 "Drawing Today in New York," Hamilton Gallery, New York, NY
1980 "Marking Black," The Bronx Museum of Art, New York City, NY
1980 "Art Across the Park," Central Park, New York City, NY
1980 "Architectural Sculpture," Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1980 "Aspects of Fire," Frank Marino Gallery, New York, NY
1980 "Special Projects Rooms," MoMA P.S.1, Long Island City, NY
1980 "Printed Art, a View of Two Decades," Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1980 "The Artist’s View," Wave Hill, Bronx, New York, NY
1980 "The Private Icon Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, NY
1980 "Décor for “Bushes of Conduct” Andrew DeGroat and Dancers, The Dance Umbrella, New York, NY
1980 "Small in Scale," Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1979 "Special Projects," MoMA PS1, New York, NY
1979 "Acquisitions 1974-78," Dartmouth College Museum, Hanover, NH
1979 "Works on Paper U.S.A," Rockland Center for the Arts, West Nyack, NY
1979 "Lightworks Envelope Show," Lightworks Magazine, Ann Arbor, MI; Traveled to Detroit MI
1978 "Painting and Sculpture Today," The Indianapolis Institute of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1978 "Private Myths: Unearthings in Contemporary Art," The Queens Museum of Art, New York, NY
1978 "100 Drawings From the '70s: From The Collection of Richard Brown Baker," The Stamford Museum, Stamford, CT
1978 "Galaxies," The Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH
1978 "Burning Tetrahedron," Artpark, Lewistown, NY
1978 Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, MA
1977 "Condensed Space," The Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY
1977 "Contemporary Tableaux / Constructions," The University of California at Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
1977 "Drawing Today," Hamilton Gallery," New York, NY
1977 "Spacescapes," Sid Deutsch Gallery, New York, NY
1976 "Boites," Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
1976 "Print Exhibition," Storm King Art Center, Mountainville, NY
1976 "Seven Decades of McDowell Artists," James Yu Gallery, New York, NY
1975 "A Change of View," The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1975 "Art In Boxes," Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY
1975 "Labyrinth," The Watson Gallery, Wheaton College, Norton, MA; traveled to The Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA and The Corcoran Art Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1974 "Art on Paper," The Witherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
1973 "The Albert Pilavin Collection: 20th Century Art, Part II," The Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1973 "Gray is the Color," Rice University, Houston, TX
1973 "Art & Things: Painting in the Sixties from the Michener Collection," Blanton Museum of Art, Houston, TX
1972 "Artists’ Benefit for the NYCLU," Castelli Gallery, New York, NY
1972 "Artists’ Benefit for Encounter, Inc.," Encounter 150 Spring St. New York, NY
1972 "Drawings: Benefit for the Foundation for Contemporary Arts," Castelli, New York, NY
1972 DeNagy, New York, NY
1972 Kornblee Galleries, New York, NY
1972 "American Paintings of the Twentieth Century," Blanton Museum of Art, Houston, TX
1971 "Projected Art: Artists at Work," Finch College Art Museum, New York City, NY
1971 "Arts USA 2," Visual Arts Building Gallery, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
1971 "sculpture and shapes of the last decade," The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1970 "Painting and Sculpture Today," The Indianapolis Institute of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1970 "Seventeenth Annual Print Exhibition," The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
1970 "Color Prints of the Americas," 31st Annual Exhibition of the American Color Print Society, New Jersey State Museum Cultural Center, Trenton, NJ
1969 “Big New Work,” Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, NY
1969 "70 American Paintings from the Michener Collection," Blanton Museum of Art, Houston, TX
1969 "Richard J. Daley," The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
1969 "Works from the Collection of James Lord Davison Art Center," Wesleyan University, Middletown CT
1969 "Posters by Artists," Finch College Museum of Art New York, NY
1969 "Art for the Moratorium (proceeds to Vietnam Moratorium Committee)," Leo Castelli, New York, NY
1969 "Hang-Ups and Put-Downs," The Fine Arts Museum, University of Wisconsin Art Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
1969 "Combine Works," Visual Arts Gallery, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
1969 "Art for Lindsay," ACA Galleries, New York, NY
1968 "The 1968 Annual Exhibition of American Sculpture," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1969 “The Metropolitan Scene,” The New Gallery, Cleveland, OH
1968 “Richard J. Daley,” Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago, IL
1967 "Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture," The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY
1967 "Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture 1967," Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana, Champaign, IL
1967 "Words," Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, NY
1966 "Light in Art," The Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
1966 "Light As a Creative Medium," The Carpenter Art Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
1966 “The Artist Views a technical Society,” Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
1966 “Westside Artists,” Goddard-Riverside Community Center, New York, NY
1966 “Artists for CORE,” Grippi & Waddell, New York, NY
1966 "Kunst-Licht-Kunst, The Stedelijk van Abbe-Museum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
1966 "Selections from the John G. Powers Collection," The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
1966 "Annual Exhibition 1966: Contemporary Sculpture and Prints," The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1966 "Painting and Sculpture," Art Gallery of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
1966 "Art in Process: the Visual Development of a Structure," Finch College Museum of Art, New York, NY
1966 "Art in Process," Institute of Contemporary Art, Rigelhaupt Gallery, Boston, MA
1965 "Competitive Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting," University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), College of Applied Arts, Urbana, IL
1965 "Current Art," The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
1965 "Art of the '50s and '60s: Selections from the Richard Brown Baker Collection," The Aldrich, Ridgefield, CT
1965 "Young America," The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY
1965 "Contemporary Boxes and Wall Sculpture," The Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1965 "Art Turned On," The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA
1965 "Group Show," Daniels Gallery, New York, NY
1965 "Contemporary Art - Acquisitions 1962-1965," Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1965 Ravinia Park, Highland Park, IL
1965 The Byron Gallery, New York, NY
1965 “Contemporary Performance Arts, Inc. Foundation Benefit,” Leo Castelli Gallery, Kornblee Gallery, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
1964 "Boxes," The Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1964 "Selections from the L. M. Asher Family Collection," University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
1964 "Drawings," Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
1964 “Toys by Artists,” Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
1964 "Painting and Constructions from the 1960s," The Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1964 "The 1964 Annual Exhibition of American Sculpture," The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1964 "One Hundred: Selections from the Larry Aldrich Contemporary Collection, 1951-1964," The Aldrich, Ridgefield, CT
1963 "Mixed Media and Pop Art," The Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
AWARDS, COMMISSIONS & RESIDENCIES
2005 Purchase Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters
1995-97 Commission for indoor paving and fountain at the corporate headquarters of Daffy's, Secaucus, NJ
1994 Esther and Adolph Gottlieb Foundation Fellowship
1990-93 Commission for an outdoor plaza and pavilion for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN
1990 Member, The Conservation Advisory Group of the NYC Public Design Commission
1986 Commission by the State of New Jersey for the Lobby of the Department of Environmental Protection Agency Building, Trenton, NJ (unrealized)
1986 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship
1983 The Trisolini Print Project, Ohio Univ., Athens OH, [“Capriccio” lithograph]
1982 G.S.A. Commission for the lobby of the Courthouse and Federal Building, Providence, RI
1980-92 Art Commission of the City of New York (now the Public Design Commission)
1980 Environmental Project for Art Across the Park, Central Park, New York, NY
1980 Residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
1979 Tetrahedron 2 at Wave Hill, Riverdale, NY
1978 Burning Tetrahedron at Artpark, Lewistown, NY
1977 Artist In Residence, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
1977 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
197(?) Décor for Andy deGroat Choreography
1974 Residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH