Ralph Humphrey (April 14, 1932 – July 14, 1990) was an American abstract painter whose work has been linked to both Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. He was active in the New York art scene in the 1960s and '70s. His paintings are best summarized as an exploration of space through color and structure. He lived and worked in New York, NY. He is not to be confused with the percussionist Ralph Humphrey, best known for being the drummer of

The Mothers Of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band ...

from 1973 until 1974.

Biography

Ralph Humphrey studied at

Youngstown State University Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergraduate colleges a ...

. He moved to New York in 1957 and immediately became a part of the art scene that was known, at the time, for Abstract Expressionism. He met artists such as

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

Theodoros Stamos Theodoros Stamos (Greek: Θεόδωρος Στάμος) (December 31, 1922 – February 2, 1997) was a Greek-American painter. He is one of the youngest painters of the original group of abstract expressionist painters (the so-called " Iras ...

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (born May 12, 1936) is an American painter, sculptor and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. Stella lives and works in New York City. Biography Frank Stella was born in Ma ...

Robert Ryman Robert Ryman (May 30, 1930February 8, 2019) was an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art. He was best known for abstract, white-on-white paintings. He lived and worked in New York C ...

, and

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...

, who would end up having a large influence on his work. Humphrey was a prominent member of the generation of artists who laid the groundwork for American art in the 1970s and 60s. From 1966 until his death in 1990, he taught painting in the graduate department at Hunter College.

Artistic style

Humphrey's artistic style went through several phases and developments, which can be roughly outlined in the following way: monochromes from 1957 to 1960; frame paintings 1961–65; shaped canvases 1967–70; constructed paintings 1971–1990. Throughout these phases, Humphrey kept a keen eye on color, light, and space while he moved between abstraction and representation. As Kenneth Baker explains in Art in America in 1984, “Each of his works defines an ideal viewing distance that can be discovered only by patient observation of the focus of the details, the resolution of the image and the proper relationship between body and object. Finding the apt distance from which to contemplate Humphrey’s new paints is thus not something you do discursively: it is an exercise in feeling your way silently towards a correct spatial interval.”

1957–1960

Reviewing Humphrey's show at Tibor de Nagy in 1960,

Donald Judd Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism (a term he nonetheless stridently disavowed).Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In ...

said, of his monochromes, “They are large, subtle and single-colored. This is Purism of a sort, in which generality does not contain variables but excludes them, in which the basic diagram or color, the only continuity, is exposed, here the essence of a confused sequence of perceptions.” Donald Judd also likened these canvases to the work of Kazimir Malevich, Piet Mondrian, and

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College ...

1961–1965

Neil A. Levine wrote in 1965 about Humphrey's solo exhibition at

Green Gallery The Green Gallery was an art gallery that operated between 1960 and 1965 at 15 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City. The gallery's director was Richard Bellamy, and its financial backer was the art collector Robert Scull. Green Gallery ...

, where he showed some of his frame paintings. Levine said, “His new work is serious and demanding. All the paintings are variations on one theme. The theme is, simply stated, an expansive, lightly brushed, large grey field…surrounded by a painted framing edge…” Here, Neil, too, references

Albers Albers is a Dutch and Low German patronymic surname, meaning " Albert's son". Notable people with the surname include: ;Academics * Heinrich Albers-Schönberg (1865–1921), German gynecologist and radiologist * :de:Johann Abraham Albers (1772– ...

, as well as TV screens, unfilled billboards, and

Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Latv ...

1967–1970

Robert Pincus-Whitten reviewed Humphrey's 1969 show at Bykert Gallery, where his shaped canvases were hung. Pincus-Whitten explains how Humphrey created “a luminous cosmos of fragile exhalations, painted on large squares or horizontal rectangles, softly turned at the corner and curved back into the stretcher.” These canvases are noteworthy, too, for their use of day-glow colors. At this time, his work becomes increasingly more atmospheric than his previous efforts; multi-colored wavy lines and sprayed colors replace solid geometric fields of single colors.

1971–1990

The last definable phase of his artistic style approaches representation at times, sometimes calling to mind an open window. These constructed paintings also border on sculpture, often coming ten inches out from the wall, directly confronting the viewer in real space. The paint, too, is considerably built up, giving the surface of the paintings considerable texture that was not previously seen in his work. Ellen Schwartz writes in 1977 about his show at John Weber, where his constructed paintings were still abstract: “Humphrey’s latest works, meditative rather than communicative, require the suspension of conscious efforts to grasp them before they will yield their secrets, which lay within ourselves all the while. The rich blue variegated surfaces are like blotters onto which we pour our own fantasies.” D Phillips, writing about his Willard Gallery show in 1982, explains how his constructed paintings are natural extensions of the earlier frame paintings: “Frames-within-frames have long provided the structural basis for Humphrey’s colorful designs; he has simply made his window allusion literal.” She explains, too, that these paintings are a step forward: “The shift does, however, bring greater variety and complexity to the artist’s constructions. There is a more explicit sense of space, of indoors and outdoors.” Beyond content, we see Humphrey using a brighter color palette and inserting vaguely figurative, whimsical patterns onto the surface. Yet, by the mid 1980s, the paintings return to a more ambiguous, abstract state.

Exhibitions

Since his first solo exhibition at the

Tibor de Nagy Gallery The Tibor de Nagy Gallery is an art gallery located on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. History Tibor de Nagy Gallery is among the earliest modern art galleries in New York City. The gallery was founded by ...

in New York City in 1959, Humphrey's work has been the subject of 40 solo shows. During his lifetime, he had been represented by

, Bykert Gallery, Andre Emmerich Gallery, Willard Gallery, and John Weber Gallery. Solo exhibitions have continued to be mounted since his death in 1990, including Ralph Humphrey: Frame Paintings, 1964 to 1965 at Mary Boone Gallery, New York City, September 8–October 6, 1990 and Ralph Humphrey: Conveyance at Gary Snyder Gallery, April 2 – May 16, 2015. Other exhibitions have been held elsewhere in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston. Humphrey's paintings have also been in group shows such as Systemic Painting at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, New York, 1966, The Structure of Color at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, New York, 1971, the 1979 Biennial at the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, and High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting, 1967–1975 at the

Weatherspoon Art Museum The Weatherspoon Art Museum is located at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and is one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in the southeast with a focus on American art. Its programming includes fifteen or more ...

, 2006.

Solo exhibitions

1959 *Ralph Humphrey,

, New York, February 3–21 1960 *Ralph Humphrey,

, New York, February 2–21 1961 *Ralph Humphrey: Recent Paintings, Mayer Gallery, New York, March 14 – April 1 1965 *Ralph Humphrey,

, New York, May 5–29 1967 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, January 10 – February 24 1968 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, February 3–29 1969 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, February 1–27 Galerie Alfred Schmela, Düsseldorf 1970 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, April 4–25 1971 *Ralph Humphrey, André Emmerich Gallery, New York, March 20 – April 8 1972 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, May 2–23 1973 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, May 12 – June 2 *Ralph Humphrey: Survey of Paintings, Texas Gallery, Houston, May 15 – June 9 1974 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, April 20 – May 15 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, November–December 1975 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1974, Bykert Gallery, New York, February 4–26 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1958–1966, Bykert/ Downtown, New York, February 4–26 1976 *Ralph Humphrey, John Weber Gallery, New York, January 31 – February 25 1976–1977 *Ralph Humphrey: Recent Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, December 16, 1976 – January 22, 1977 1977 *Ralph Humphrey, John Weber Gallery, New York, February 9–26 1980 *Ralph Humphrey, Willard Gallery, New York, April 5 – May 7 1982 *Ralph Humphrey, Willard Gallery, New York, April 3–May 8 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1975–1982, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, October 6–30 1983 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, May 14 – June 11 1984 *Delahunty Gallery, Dallas *Ralph Humphrey, Willard Gallery, New York, April 7 – May 12 1985 *Ralph Humphrey: Recent Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, October 16 – November 2 1987 *Ralph Humphrey, Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York, January–February 1990 *Ralph Humphrey: 1990, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, March 3–31 *Ralph Humphrey: Frame Paintings, 1964 to 1965, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, September 8–October 6 *Ralph Humphrey: A Retrospective View, 1954–1990, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, November 8– December 5 1991 *Ralph Humphrey: The Late Paintings on Paper, Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, Hunter College, City University of New York, September 19 – October 26 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1975–1985, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, October–November 1996 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, August 17 – October 17 1998 *Ralph Humphrey, Danese Gallery, New York, January 16 – February 14 2000 *Ralph Humphrey: Early Paintings, 1957–1967, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, November 1 – December 9 2001 *Ralph Humphrey: Later Paintings, 1975–1982, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, April 5 – May 26 2008 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Works from the Estate, Nielsen Gallery, Boston, May 17 – June 14 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Paintings, 1957–1980, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, May 31 – June 28 2012 *Ralph Humphrey, Gary Snyder Gallery, New York, September 13 – October 27 2015 *Ralph Humphrey: Conveyance, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, April 2–May 16

Group exhibitions

1961 *American Abstract Expressionists and Imagists,

, New York, October–December 1966 *Systemic Painting,

, New York, September–November 1967 *Selected N.Y.C. Artists 1967, Ithaca College Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York, April 4 – May 27 *Focus on Light,

New Jersey State Museum The New Jersey State Museum is located at 195-205 West State Street in Trenton, New Jersey. It serves a broad region between New York City and Philadelphia. The museum's collections include natural history specimens, archaeological and ethnograph ...

, Trenton, May 20 – September 10 *Highlights of the 1966–1967 Art Season, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, June 18 – September 4 *A Romantic Minimalism,

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art museum in Philadelphia. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to e ...

September 13 – October 11 1968 * Bykert Gallery, New York *The Art of the Real: USA, 1948–1968,

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York, July 3 – September 8 1968–1969 *The Pure and Clear: American Innovations, Philadelphia Museum of Art, November 13, 1968 – January 21, 1969 1969 *American Painting: The 1960s,

Georgia Museum of Art The Georgia Museum of Art is an art museum in Athens, Georgia, United States, associated with the University of Georgia (UGA). The museum is both an academic museum and, since 1982, the official art museum of the state of Georgia. The permanent co ...

, University of Georgia, Athens, September 22– November 8 *Current Minimal Painting, Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York 1969–1970 *1969 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting,

, New York, December 16, 1969 – February 1, 1970 1970–1971 *Color and Field, 1890–1970,

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

, Buffalo, September 15 – November 1, 1970; Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, November 20, 1970 – January 10, 1971; Cleveland Museum of Art, February 4–March 28, 1971 1971 *The Structure of Color,

, New York, February 25 – April 18 *Spray, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California, April 24–May 30 * Bykert Gallery, New York *Art of the Decade, 1960–1970: Paintings from the Collections of Greater Detroit, University Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, November 14–December 17 1972 *Painting and Sculpture Today,

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It ...

, April 26 – June 4 *Current American Abstract Painting, Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York *Dealers’ Choice,

La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

, California, July 15–September 27 1973 *Drawings, Bykert Gallery, New York, January 6–24 *Gallery Toselli, Milan 1974 *New Painting: Stressing Surface, Katonah Gallery, Katonah, New York, May 4 – June 23 *Painting and Sculpture Today,

, May 22 – July 14; Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, September 12–October 24 *Ten Painters in New York, Michael Walls Gallery, New York, June 15 – July 6 *Seventy-First American Exhibition, Art Institute of Chicago, June 15 – August 11 1975 *22 Artists, Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York, January 4–25 *Fourteen Abstract Painters, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, March 25 – May 25 *Fourteen Artists,

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

, April 15 – June 1 *A Group Show Selected by Klaus Kertess, Texas Gallery, Houston, September 15 – October 11 *Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri 1975–1976 *Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture of the ’60s and ’70s from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection,

, October 7–November 18, 1975; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, December 17, 1975 – February 15, 1976 1976 *Ideas on Paper: 1970–1976,

Renaissance Society The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, May 2 – June 6 *Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco 1977 *Paintings on Paper, Drawing Center, New York, January 15–26 *Galerie Jean-Paul Najar, Paris *’75, ’76, ’77: Painting, Part I, Sarah Lawrence College Art Gallery, Bronxville, New York, February 19–March 10; American Foundation for the Arts, Miami, April–May; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, June–July *A View of a Decade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, September 10–November 10 *John Weber Gallery, New York 1977–1978 *Works from the Collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel,

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, Ann Arbor, November 11, 1977 – January 1, 1978 1978–1979 *Late Twentieth Century Art from the Sydney and Frances Lewis Foundation, Anderson Gallery,

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virginia ...

, Richmond, December 5, 1978 – January 9, 1979; Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, *March 22 – May 2, 1979 1979 *1979 Biennial Exhibition,

, New York, February 6–April 1 *Generation, Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York *The Reductive Object: A Survey of the Minimalist Aesthetic in the 1960s,

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple na ...

, March 7 – April 29 *The Implicit Image: Abstract Painting in the ’70s, Nielsen Gallery, Boston, April 29 – June 1 *Color and Structure, Hamilton Gallery, New York, May 5 – June 2 *Texas Gallery, Houston 1980 *Black, White, Other, R.H. Oosterom Gallery, New York, January 17 – February 17 *Current/New York: Recent Works in Relief, Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, January 27–February 24 *Painting in Relief,

, Downtown Branch, New York, January 30 – March 5 *Painting and Sculpture Today,

, June 24 – August 17 *3 Dimensional Painting,

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporar ...

, August 2 – November 9 *Planar Painting: Constructs, 1975–1980,

The Alternative Museum The Alternative Museum was founded in 1975 by artists for artists and the broader New York City community in the United States.Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

, Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio, February 14 – June 14 *Abstract Mythologies, Nielsen Gallery, Boston, March 1–31 *Between Painting and Sculpture, Pam Adler Gallery, New York, March 31 – April 25 1981–1982 *Drawing Invitational 1981, Harm Bouckaert Gallery, New York, December 2, 1981 – January 2, 1982 1982 *The Erotic Impulse, Roger Litz Gallery, New York *Postminimalism, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, September 19–December 19 1983 *Abstract Painting: 1960–1969,

P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, the ...

, Queens, January 16 – March 13 *New Work, New York: Newcastle Salutes New York, Newcastle Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, October 8–November 4 1984 *Parasol and Simca: Two Presses/Two Processes, Center Gallery,

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, February 3–April 4, 1984; Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, April 15–May 13 *The Meditative Surface,

at the

, April 1 – May 16 1985 *Abstract Painting Redefined, Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, February 16 – March 30 *Now and Then: A Selection of Recent and Earlier Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, June 1 – August 31 *American Abstract Painting: 1960–1980,

Margo Leavin Margo Leavin (1936–2021) was an American art dealer. She was born in New York, but spent her career in Los Angeles. In 1970, she opened the Margo Leavin Gallery in West Hollywood, CA, which she operated until it closed in 2013. Career and repu ...

Gallery, Los Angeles, June 19 – August 24 1986 *The Purist Image, Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, November 1986–1987 *The Window in Twentieth-Century Art,

Neuberger Museum of Art Neuberger Museum of Art is located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is affiliated with Purchase College, part of the State University of New York system. It is the nation's tenth-largest university museum. The museum is one of 14 sites o ...

Purchase College Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly betwee ...

, State University of New York, September 21, 1986 – January 18, 1987; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, April 24– June 29, 1987 1997 *A Lasting Legacy: Selections from the Lannan Foundation Gift,

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ...

, September 9–December 14 2004 *A Minimal Future?: Art as Object, 1958–1968,

, March 28 – July 26 2006–2007 *High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting, 1967–1975,

, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, August 6–October 15, 2006;

American University Museum The American University Museum is located within the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. History and description The American University Museum consists of a three-story, museum and sculpture garden. The region’ ...

at the

Katzen Arts Center The Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University and the American University Museum It is located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Avenu ...

, American University, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2006 – January 21, 2007;

National Academy Museum and School The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fi ...

, New York, February 13 – April 27, 2007 2008 *The Idea of Nature, 33 Bond Gallery, New York, June 12–July 31 *Into the Void: Abstract Art, 1948–2008,

Tucson Museum of Art , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

, July 17–September 26 2008–2009 *Steve DiBenedetto, Ralph Humphrey, Chris Martin, and Andrew Masullo/Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, December 6, 2008 – January 31, 2009 2009 *Image Matter, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, February 21 – March 28 *Not New: Vincent Fecteau Selects from the Collection,

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and wa ...

, July 25 – November 8 2010 *Wall-to-Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, June 5 – August 14 2011 *Surface Truths: Abstract Painting in the Sixties,

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California, United States. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Si ...

, Pasadena, California, March 25 – August 15 2011–2012 *The Language of Less: Then and Now,

, October 8, 2011 – April 8, 2012 2012 *Susan Hartnett, Ralph Humphrey, Marilyn Lerner, and Dona Nelson, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, March 22 – April 28 2014–2015 *The Avant-Garde Collection,

Orange County Museum of Art The Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located on the campus of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The museum's collection comprises more than 4,500 objects, with a concentration ...

, Newport Beach, California, September 7, 2014 – January 4, 2015 2015 *Pretty Raw: After and Around

Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...

Rose Art Museum The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from the permanent col ...

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

, Waltham, Massachusetts, February 11 – June 7, 2015

Collections

Humphrey's work can be found in prominent collections in America and Australia, including the following: *

Addison Gallery of American Art The Addison Gallery of American Art is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art, organized as a department of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. History Directors of the gallery include Bartlett H. Hayes, Jr. (1940– ...

Allen Memorial Art Museum The Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is an art museum located in Oberlin, Ohio, and it is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, the collection contains over 15,000 works of art. Overview The AMAM is primarily a teaching museum and is aimed at ...

* Art Institute of Chicago * Butler Institute of American Art *

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbur ...

* Dayton Art Institute *

* Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego * Museum of Fine Arts, Boston * Museum of Fine Arts, Houston *

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

Oklahoma City Museum of Art Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

Palm Springs Art Museum The Palm Springs Art Museum (formerly the Palm Springs Desert Museum) was founded in 1938, and is a regional art, natural science and performing arts institution for Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, in Riverside County, California, United St ...

Parrish Art Museum The Parrish Art Museum is an art museum designed by Herzog & de Meuron Architects and located in Water Mill, New York, whereto it moved in 2012 from Southampton Village. The museum focuses extensively on work by artists from the artist colony o ...

Pérez Art Museum Miami The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Museum Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Center for t ...

* Philadelphia Museum of Art *

* Smithsonian American Art Museum *

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the s ...

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, to ...

References

External links

Ralph Humphrey on Artsy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrey, Ralph American abstract artists 20th-century American painters American male painters Painters from Ohio 1990 deaths 1937 births Artists from Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown State University alumni Painters from New York City 20th-century American male artists