Lorser Feitelson
Biography:
Born 1892, Deceased 1978.
Lorser Feitelson came to Los Angeles in 1927, bringing with him Modernist ideas he had adopted while living in New York and Paris. Highly influential as a leader and teacher in the art community, Feitelson helped to establish Los Angeles as the important art center it is today.
With Helen Lundeberg in 1934, Feitelson founded Subjective Classicism, better known as Post Surrealism. In this movement, Feitelson rejected the unconscious and dream inspired works of European Surrealism. Instead, he focused upon conscious, carefully selected subjects pertaining to universal themes such as love, life and death.
From roughly 1940 - 1960, Feitelson embarked upon a remarkable exploration of abstract forms. Rooted in the figurative world, Feitelson's compositions evolved from the organic into the geometric. Known as Abstract Classicism, this period of Feitelson's work offers unique imagery that maintains the profound sense of space and form associated with traditional Classicism.
As time went on, Feitelson began reducing his compositions, focusing on just the essentials. From the mid-1960s, he ventured into Minimalism, creating sleek paintings comprised of sensuous lines set against solid backgrounds of color. These works were a culmination of Feitelson's experience and represent decades of artistic development.
Lorser Feitelson's works are included in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and numerous other public and private collections.
Statement:
"I have tried to create a wonder-world of formidable mood-evoking form, color, space, and movement: a configuration that for me metaphorically expresses the deep disturbance of our time: ominously magnificent and terrifying events, hurtling menacingly from the unforeseeable." L.F. (In reference to his painting, Geomorphic Metaphor of 1950-51).
Résumé:
| Selected Solo Exhibitions | |
| 1925 | The Daniel Gallery, New York. |
| 1926 | Neumann Galleries, New York. |
| Salon d'automne, Paris. | |
| Dudensing Galleries, New York, 1926-27. | |
| 1928 | California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. |
| Los Angeles County Museum, California. | |
| Wilshire Gallery, Los Angeles, California. | |
| 1931 | Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, California. |
| 1932 | California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco. |
| Ilsley Galleries, Los Angeles, California. | |
| 1933 | Ebell Salon, Los Angeles, California. |
| Laguna Beach Art Association, California. | |
| 1935 | Stanley Rose Gallery, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1944 | Los Angeles County Museum, California. |
| San Francisco Museum of Art, California. | |
| 1947 | Hartwell Galleries, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1949 | Art Center School Gallery, Los Angeles, California |
| 1952 | Pasadena Art Institute, California. |
| 1955 | Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas |
| 1958 | Scripps College Art Galleries, Florence Rand Lang Art Building, Claremont, California. |
| 1959 | Anna Mahler/Lorser Feitelson, Paul Rivas Gallery, Los Angeles, California.Catalogue published. |
| 1960 | Paul Rivas Gallery, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1961 | Paul Rivas Gallery, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1962 | Long Beach Museum of Art, California. |
| Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, California | |
| 1963 | Chapman College Purcell Art Association, Orange, California. |
| 1964 | Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, California |
| 1967 | Occidental College, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1968 | Feitelson, The Years of Vision: 1920-1950, Los Angeles Art Association Galleries, California. |
| Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, California. | |
| 1972 | Lorser Feitelson, A Retrospective Exhibition, Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, California. Catalogue published. |
| Lundeberg, Feitelson, First Showing: A Series of New Color Prints, Los Angeles Art Association Galleries, California. | |
| 1977 | Paintings, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California.
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| 1978 | Lorser Feitelson (1898-1978) A Memorial Tribute, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. |
| 1980-81 | Lorser Feitelson and Helen Lundeberg: A Retrospective Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California. Catalogue published. Also shown at The Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of Los Angeles, California. |
| 1982 | Lorser Feitelson Paintings 1964-1971, Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1983 | Lorser Feitelson (1898-1978): Early Drawings and Late Paintings, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1987 | Lorser Feitelson: Magical Space Forms, Boulder Series, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1988 | Lorser Feitelson 1895-1978, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1989 | Lorser Feitelson: Artist / Teacher, Long Beach City College, Fine Arts Gallery, California. |
| The Kinetic Line, Lorser Feitelson, University of California, Riverside, University Art Gallery. | |
| 1990 | Lorser Feitelson: Exploration of the Figure, 1919-1929, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, California. |
| Lorser Feitelson: The Organic Line:1916-1977, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California. | |
| 1992 | Lorser Feitelson: Motion as Line, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
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| 1995 | Lorser Feitelson / John McLaughlin: Abstract Classicists, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
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| 1996 | Lorser Feitelson: The Romantic Years 1919-1949, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California. |
| 1998 | Lorser Feitelson: Magical Forms to Hard Edge, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California.
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| 2001 | Lorser Feitelson, Patricia Faure Gallery, Santa Monica, California. Catalogue published.
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| 2003 | Lorser Feitelson and the Invention of Hard Edge Painting 1945-1965, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, California. Catalogue published. |
| 2005 | Lorser Feitelson: The Kinetic Series-Works from 1916-1923, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, California. Catalogue published. |
| 2006 | Lorser Feitelson: 10 Paintings, Los Angeles, The 1960's. Joan Washburn Gallery, New York, New York. Catalogue published. |
| 2009 | Lorser Feitelson - The Late Paintings, Louis Stern Fine Arts, West Hollywood, California. Catalogue published. |
| Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 Op Infinitum: “The Responsive Eye” Fifty Years After, Part I, Part II, American Op Art in the 60’s, David Richard Gallery, Santa Fe, NM | |
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1924 | A Group of Modern Painters, The Daniel Gallery, New York. Catalogue published. |
| 1926 | Independents Exhibition, New York. |
| 1927 | Whitney Studio Club Exhibition, New York |
| 1928 | Ninth Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture,Los Angeles Museum. Catalogue published. |
| 1929 | Conrad Buff, Lorser Feitelson, Nathalie Newking, Hanson Puthuff, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published. |
| Tenth Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Los Angeles Museum. Catalogue published.
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| 1930 | Eleventh Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published.
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| 1932 | Thirteenth Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published.
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| 1933 | Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published.
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| Progressive Painters of Southern California, Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California. Catalogue published. | |
| Progressive Painters of Southern California, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, California. Catalogue published.
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| 1934 | Fifteenth Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published.
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| Paintings by California Modernists, Foundation of Western Art, Los Angeles. Catalogue published.
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| Progressive Painters of Southern California, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published | |
| Public Works of Art Project, 14th Region Southern California, Los Angeles County Museum.
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| Group Exhibition, El Capitan College of the Theatre, Los Angeles. Surrealisme & Post-Surrealisme (New Classicism), Centaur Gallery, Los Angeles.
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| 1935 | Fifty-Fifth Annual Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco Museum of Art. Catalogue published under title "Opening Exhibition."
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| Post Surrealist Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Art, California. Also shown at The Brooklyn Museum, New York under title "Postsurrealism."
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| Post-Surrealists and Other Moderns, Stanley Rose Gallery, Los Angeles.
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| 1936 | Group Exhibition, Hollywood Gallery of Modern Art, Los Angeles. Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Catalogue published.
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| Oil Painting and Water Colors by California Artists, also known as "The Post Surrealist Show," Brooklyn Museum, New York.
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| 1937 | 1937 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. |
| 1938 | Post Surrealism, Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles. |
| 1939 | All California Painting And Sculpture Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum. |
| Southern California Art Project, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published. | |
| 1940 | California Creates, Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles. Also shown at San Francisco Museum of Art. |
| 1940 Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. | |
| 1944 | The Fifty-Fifth Annual Exhibition: Watercolors and Drawings, The Art Institute of Chicago. Catalogue published. |
| The Fourth Biennial Exhibit of Contemporary American Painting, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. | |
| 1945 | The First Biennial Exhibition of Drawings by American Artists, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published. |
| Group Exhibition, Fitzsimmons Studio, Los Angeles. | |
| 1946 | Paintings of the Year, National Academy of Design, New York. Catalogue published. |
| 1947 | Abstract and Surrealist American Art, The Art Institute of Chicago. Catalogue published. |
| Eighteen California Artists, Pasadena Institute of Art, California. | |
| 1949 | California Centennials Exhibition of Art, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published. |
| Ninth Invitational Purchase Prize Art Exhibition, Chaffey Community Art Association, Ontario, California. Catalogue published. | |
| Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, University of Illinois, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana. Catalogue published. | |
| 1950 | Sixth Annual Exhibition by the Artists of Los Angeles and Vicinity, Municipal Art Commission and the Los Angeles City Council, shown at the Greek Theatre. Catalogue published. |
| Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, University of Illinois, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Urbana. Catalogue published. | |
| 1951 | 146th Annual Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. |
| 1951 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Painting in the United States, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published. | |
| Seventh Annual Exhibition by the Artists of Los Angeles and Vicinity, Municipal Art Commission and the Los Angeles City Council, shown at the Greek Theatre. Catalogue published. | |
| Portable Murals, Los Angeles Art Association Galleries. | |
| 1952 | American Water Colors, Drawings and Prints/ A National Competitive Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Catalogue published. |
| 1953 | Fourteenth Artists West of the Mississippi, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado. Catalogue published. |
| 1954 | Functionists West, Los Angeles Art Association Galleries. |
| 1955 | Annual Exhibition: Paintings, Sculpture, Watercolors, Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. |
| III Bienal de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil. Catalogue published. United States section organized by San Francisco Museum of Art. Catalogue published under the title Pacific Coast Art, United States' Representation at the IIIrd Biennial of São Paulo. Also shown at Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio; Colorodo Springs Fine Arts Center; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| 1956 | California Painting: 40 Painters, The Municipal Art Center, Long Beach, California. A collaboration with San Francisco Museum of Art. Catalogue published. |
| 1956 Annual Exhibition by Artists of Los Angeles and Vicinity, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published. | |
| 1958 | Artists Invite Artists, Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles. |
| Sixty-Eighth Annual Exhibition, University of Nebraska Art Galleries, Lincoln. Catalogue published. | |
| 1959 | Four Abstract Classicists, Los Angeles County Museum. Catalogue published. Also shown at San Francisco Museum of Art. Revised version shown at Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England and Queens College, Belfast, Ireland, under the title West Coast Hard Edge 1960. |
| 1949/1959 A Decade in the Contemporary Galleries, Pasadena Art Museum, California. Catalogue published. | |
| Fifty Paintings by Thirty Seven Painters of Los Angeles Area, San Francisco Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published. | |
| 1961 | The Nude in American Painting, The Brooklyn Museum, New York. Catalogue published. |
| Painting from the Pacific: Japan, America, Australia, New Zealand, Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand. Catalogue published. | |
| 1962 | The Artist's Environment: West Coast, The Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Forth Worth, Texas. Catalogue published. Also shown at the UCLA Art Galleries, Los Angeles; Oakland Museum of Art, California. |
| Fifty California Artists, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. Organized by San Francisco Museum of Art with assistance of Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Also shown at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa | |
| Geometric Abstraction in America, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. | |
| 1963 | Arts of Southern California-XIV: Early Moderns, Long Beach Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1964 | California Hard Edge Painting, Pavilion Gallery, Balboa, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1964 Festival of Fine Arts/ Art and Anti-Art, Occidental College, Los Angeles. Catalogue published. | |
| Of Time and the Image, Ankrum Gallery Artists, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona. Catalogue published. | |
| Southern California Original Hard Edge Painters, Esther Robles Gallery, Los Angeles. | |
| 1965 | Colorists 1950-1965, San Francisco Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1965 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. | |
| The Responsive Eye, The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Catalogue published. Also shown at City Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri; Seattle Art Museum, Washington; Pasadena Art Museum, California; The Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland. | |
| Twelfth Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign. Catalogue published. | |
| Eighteenth Annual Creative Arts Exhibition, Henderson Fine Arts Gallery, University of Colorado. | |
| 1966 | 1966 Invitational, California '66 Painters and Sculptors, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California. Catalogue published. |
| New Modes in California Painting and Sculpture, La Jolla Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published. | |
| Contemporary California Art from the Lytton Collection, Lytton Center of The Visual Arts, Los Angeles. Catalogue published. | |
| The Search/Ten Leading California Artists in Pursuit of a Personal Vision, Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Los Angeles. Catalogue published. | |
| 1967 | Artists' Artists, Lytton Center of the Visual Arts, Los Angeles. Catalogue published. |
| Cubism, Its Impact in the USA, 1910-1930, sponsored by University of New Mexico Art Museum and Junior League of Albuquerque. Catalogue published. Also shown at Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas; San Francisco Museum of Art, California; Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. | |
| 1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalogue published. | |
| West Coast Invitational, 1967, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California. Catalogue published. | |
| 1968 | 1968 Invitational, West Coast '68 Painters and Sculptors, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California. Catalogue published. Group Exhibition, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles. |
| 1969 | Color in Control, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida. Catalogue published. Also shown at the Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, Florida. |
| Microcosm '69, Long Beach Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published. | |
| West Coast 1945-1969, Pasadena Art Museum, California. Catalogue published | |
| Group Exhibition, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles. | |
| 1970 | American Contemporary Art, organized under the auspices of the International Council at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Also shown at the American Embassy, Moscow. Catalogue published in Russian and English. |
| American Painting 1970, Virginia Museum, Richmond. | |
| A Century of California Painting 1870-1970, E.B. Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, California. Catalogue published. | |
| Looking West, 1970, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska. Catalogue published. | |
| Group Exhibition, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles | |
| 1972 | Los Angeles Painters of the Nineteen-Twenties, Pomona College Gallery, Montgomery Art Center, Claremont, California. Catalogue published. |
| Group Exhibition, Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Barnsdall Park. | |
| West Coast Art from the Permanent Collection, Pasadena Art Museum, California. | |
| Renewal Art of the 1930's-1940's: Southern California Artists, Los Angeles Art Association Galleries | |
| 1974 | Nine Senior Southern California Painters, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art. Catalogue published in Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art Journal, December 1974 pages 45-53. |
| 1975 | Avant-Garde Painting and Sculpture in America 1910-1925, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware. Catalogue published. |
| 1976 | American Artists '76: A Celebration, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas. Catalogue published. |
| Los Angeles: A Continuing Frontier 1940-1961, Occidental College Gallery, Los Angeles. | |
| New Deal Art: California, de Saisset Art Gallery and Museum, University of Santa Clara, California. Catalogue published. | |
| Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California. Catalogue published. Also shown at National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. | |
| Symbolism, Los Angeles Art Association Galleries. | |
| 1977 | Los Angeles Hard-Edge: The Fifties and Seventies, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Catalogue published under the title of "California: 5 Footnotes to Modern Art History." |
| Surrealism and American Art: 1931-1947, Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Catalogue published. | |
| 1978 | Selections from the Frederick Weisman Company Collection of California Art, The Art Museum and Galleries, California State University, Long Beach, California. Catalogue published. Also shown at The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; The Albuquerque Museum of Art, History and Science, New Mexico. |
| 1979 | Black and White are Colors: Paintings of the 1950's-1970's, Montgomery Art Gallery, Pomona College, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1980 | 50's Abstract: A Summary of Los Angeles Painting from 1957-1960, Conejo Valley Art Museum, Thousand Oaks, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1982 | Drawings and Illustrations by Southern California Artists before 1950, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published |
| 1984 | The Frederick Weisman Collection of California Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. |
| 1985 | Colorforms, Security Pacific National Bank, Gallery at the Plaza, Los Angeles. Also shown at Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles. |
| 1986 | Aspects of California Modernism 1920-1950, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington D.C., Catalogue published. |
| 1990-92 | Turning the Tide: Early Los Angeles Modernists 1920-1956, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published. Also shown at Laguna Art Museum, California; Oakland Museum of Art, California; McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas; Nora Eccles Harrison Art Museum, Utah State University, Logan; Palm Springs Desert Museum, California. |
| 1992 | California Painting: The Essential Modernist Framework, California State University, Los Angeles. Also shown at California State University, San Bernardino, California. |
| 1994 | Independent Visions: California Modernism, Long Beach Museum of Art, California. |
| 1995 | Pacific Dreams, UCLA Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles. Also shown at Oakland Museum of Art, California. Catalogue published. |
| 1997 | On the Edge of America: California Modernist Art, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles. |
| 1999 | Gold Rush to Pop: 200 Years of California Art, Orange County Museum of Art, California. |
| 2000 | Four Abstract Classicists Plus One, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles. |
| 2001 | American Surrealism, Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago. Catalogue published. |
| California Modernism, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles. | |
| Four Abstract Classicists, Gary Snyder Fine Art, New York. | |
| 2002 | Post Surrealism, Pasadena Museum of California Art, California. Catalogue published. |
| 2002-03 | Post Surrealism, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Utah. |
| 2003 | The Not-So-Still Life: A Century of California Painting and Sculpture, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California. Catalogue published. |
| 2004 | Conversations with the Collection: A Selection from the Permanent Collection, Long Beach Museum of Art, California. |
| 2004-05 | The Los Angeles School, Otis College of Art + Design, Los Angeles, California. |
| 2005 | Surrealism USA, National Academy Museum, New York |
| California Gold, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California | |
| 2006 | Driven to Abstraction: Southern California and the Non-Objective World, 1950-1980, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California |
| Drawings: The Hand of the Artist, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, California | |
| Masters, Mentors and Metamorphosis, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton College, Fullerton, California | |
| 2006-07 | Married 2 Art: Exciting Works by Famous Couples in the Arts, Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara, California |
| 2007 | Burgoyne Diller and Hard Edge Abstraction: Underpinnings and Continuity, Spanierman Modern, New York, New York. |
| Optic Nerve - Perceptual Art of the 1960's, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. | |
| 2007-09 | Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Midcentury, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California; Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts; Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri; The Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin. |
| 2008 | A Seed of Modernism: The Art Students League of Los Angeles, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, California. |
| 2008-09 | Circa 1958: Breaking Ground in American Art, Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. |
| 2010 | Colorscope: Abstract Painting, 1960-1979, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California. |