From the Archives: Interview with Betty Parsons

Betty Parsons

Betty Parsons

In 1977, Helene Aylon, friend of Betty Parsons, interviewed the then seventy-seven year old artist; the interview appeared that same year in Woman Art Magazine.

This interview, of which an excerpt is posted below, includes conversation between Parsons and Aylon which touches on everything from the artist’s relationship with other female artists to her views on Abstract Expressionism (and many topics in between).

This is an enlightening, empowering interview—and certainly well worth a read!

Read the full interview on our website.

HA: You knew Martha Graham, Marlene Dietrich, and after all, you played tennis with Greta Garbo!

BP: Two or three times. Interesting the way I met her. I was asked on Christmas Eve by her ghost writer, Salka Fiertel. She said, “Come over and we are going to dress the tree.” I got there and Salka said, “go up to the attic and bring down a great big box of Christmas dressings…” So I went up there, and Greta and I stared at each other over the top of the box.

Read the rest of this post on the Spanierman Modern blog.

New York Times Reviews Betty Parsons Exhibition

Betty Parsons - Journey, 1975

Betty Parsons, "Journey," 1975, acrylic on canvas, 67-1/2 x 53-3/4 in.

Today’s New York Times (Friday, March 12, 2010) includes a review of JOURNEYS: The Art of Betty Parsons, on view at Spanierman Modern. Written by Roberta Smith, it captures the spirit of Parsons’s art and highlights her often overlooked paintings and their place in the history of postwar American art. Well deserved!

New York Times

March 12, 2010
Art in Review

‘JOURNEYS’
‘The Art of Betty Parsons’
Spanierman Modern
53 East 58th Street
Manhattan
Through March 20

Betty Parsons (1900-1982) has a place in the history of postwar American painting as a facilitator. She opened her gallery in 1946 and within a few years had ushered or helped usher into public view the paintings of Ad Reinhardt, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman and Richard Pousette-Dart. She would later show Ellsworth Kelly, Jack Youngerman, Paul Feeley, Agnes Martin and Richard Tuttle.

Read the rest of this post on the Spanierman Modern blog.

Noteworthy Events

In the gallery and beyond!

Beyond the Gallery

Betty Parsons, tweedle Dum Tweedle Dee

Betty Parsons (1900-1982), “Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee,” 1981, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 66 inches, signed and dated on verso: “Betty Parsons 1981 / Tweedle – Dum / Tweedle – Dee”

The Armory Show (March 4-7, 2010): Stop by Spanierman Modern’s booth at America’s leading fine art fair devoted to the most important art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In its eleven years, the fair has become an international institution. Spanierman Modern will be showing works by Betty Parsons, whose original and distinctive artistic voice, often overlooked due to the attention given to her role as an illustrious art dealer, has finally in the last decade begun to receive the appreciation it long deserved.

Find us at Pier 92 | Booth 150

Please note: Until March 13 Spanierman Modern has on view Journeys: The Art of Betty Parsons, which focuses on the relationship of her paintings and sculptures to her travels in America and abroad.

Architectural Digest Home Design Show (March 18-21, 2010): Designers! Stop by the Spanierman Booth at the Ninth annual Architectural Digest Home Design Show. Associate Director David Major will be in attendance to answer questions about the gallery and our work with designers. Read the rest of this entry »

Betty Parsons: Travels, Both Literal and Metaphorical

Betty Parsons and Timmy, on the Beach at Southold, Long Island

Betty Parsons on the Beach at Southold, Long Island, photograph, Parsons Estate

Lisa N. Peters

While working on our third exhibition of the art of Betty Parsons (1900-1982), opening February 9, I was once again amazed by Parsons.   She seems to have lived several lives at once and didn’t compromise on any of them.  Her New York gallery is viewed today as the most important and groundbreaking of the Abstract Expressionist era.  She championed the artists she showed, both famous (Jackson Pollock, Barnet Newman, Clyfford Still, Mark Rothko) and little known, with relentless energy and passion.  Friendship was important to her, and she kept close contact with her inner circle of friends; her work as a dealer was integral with her social life.  In addition to the artists she exhibited, her friendships included a surprising list of other well-known figures in the arts, including Georgia O’Keeffe, Martha Graham, Ezra Pound, Janet Flanner, and even Greta Garbo (for whom she was at times mistaken).

Read the rest of this post on the Spanierman Modern blog.

Betty Parsons in Maine

Katherine Bogden

Betty Parsons-Moonlight, Maine

I cannot remember a time in my life when I wasn’t deeply in love with the state of Maine. There is something in the wild, coastal waters and thick, old-growth woods that instantly casts away the urbanite in me and calls forth my rural roots. For someone working in the field of 19th and 20th century arts, this is probably a good thing, for countless painters have traveled to our easternmost state to paint and take in the area’s plethora of natural beauty.

These works are, for the most part, easy to recognize—sometimes almost down to the exact location. There are others, however, that represent the state in a less literal manner. One such painting is Moonlight—Maine by Betty Parsons. Intrigued by this dramatic painting, we recently decided to see what more there was to know about Betty Parsons and my favorite state.

Although it is well-known Parsons traveled widely, we didn’t know if she had spent extensive time in Maine or merely passed through. What first clued us in that she might have spent extensive time there was a very brief quote from a 1975 New Yorker profile written by Calvin Tompkins in which Parsons states:
After Europe, I went out to Wyoming for three weeks and stayed with my friend Hope Williams, who has a ranch near Cody. I did a lot of painting there. And then I was at my cottage in Maine for two weeks. Read the rest of this entry »
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