robert arneson
Guardians of the Secret II, 1989–1990

Stringhalt J, 1987

Blueprint for a Self Portrait, 1968–69

Untitled Drawing #4, 1981

A Latter day Bob, 1981

Untitled (ME), 1991

Blue Eyes, 1991

Head Lamp, 1992

White Mask, 1992

Tulip Vase, 1992

Hand Brick, 1991

Book Head, 1991

Local Service Call, 1992

All American, 1992

Biography
1930
Born in Benicia, California
1954
BA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California
1958
MFA, Mills College, Oakland, California
1962-1991
Faculty, University of California, Davis
1992
Died in Benicia, California
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2016
Robert Arneson: Guardians of the Secret II, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco
2012
Self-Portraits in Bronze, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco
2008
From the 60's, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco
2004
Political Drawings, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco
Arneson and the Object, Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC; George Adams Gallery, NY
2000
"This Head is Mine," The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
1999
Robert Arneson: Double Portraits, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA (catalogue)
Robert Arneson: Bronze Self-Portraits and Drawings, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA (catalogue)
1998
Robert Arneson: Guardians of the Secret II, George Adams Gallery, New York, NY
1997
Robert Arneson: Self-Reflections, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA (catalogue)
1996
Robert Arneson: Drawing, George Adams Gallery, New York, NY (catalogue)
1995
Robert Arneson: The Late Bronzes, Frumkin/Adams Gallery, New York, NY
1993
Arneson and Politics: A Commemorative Exhibition, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, CA (catalogue)
Robert Arneson: The Last Works, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA (catalogue)
1992
Robert Arneson: Guardians of the Secret II, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1991
Robert Arneson: The Jackson Pollock Series, List Visual Arts Center, MIT, Cambridge, MA
1988
Robert Arneson: Art and Artists, Fuller Gross Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1987
Robert Arneson: Portrait Sculpture, Cleveland Museum of Art, OH (catalogue)
1986
Robert Arneson: A Retrospective, Des Moines Art Center, IA; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Portland Art Museum, OR; The Oakland Museum, CA (catalogue)
1979
Robert Arneson: Self-Portraits, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA (catalogue)
1974
Robert Arneson, (retrospective exhibition), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA (catalogue)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
FRAMED 2: Works by Peter Alexander, Robert Arneson, Andrew Belschner, Roy De Forest, Adam Fowler, and Paul Sarkisian, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
FRAMED: Works by Peter Alexander, Robert Arneson, Andrew Belschner, Roy De Forest, Adam Fowler, Dana Hart-Stone, Robert Hudson, Ed Moses, Ruth Pastine, Paul Sarkisian and Andrea Way, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2020
30th Anniversary Exhibition, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA; exhibition catalog
2019
Landscape Without Boundaries: Selections from the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis
About Face: Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture, Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, AL
2018–19
HINDSIGHT/INSIGHT: Reflecting on the Collection, University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
The Incongruous Body, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
2018
30 Years: Frumkin/Adams – George Adams Gallery, George Adams Gallery, New York, NY
40 by 40, Sonoma State University Art Gallery, Rohnert Park, CA, 2018.
2017–18
Figuratively Speaking, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Rise Up! Social Justice in Art from the Collection of J. Michael Bewley, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
2017
Bay Area Clay: A Legacy of Social Consciousness, Arts Benicia, Benicia CA
Piss and Vinegar, New York Academy of Art, New York, New York
2016–17
Out Our Way, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, University of California, Davis
2016
Over the Golden Gate: 1960-1990 Tajan ArtStudio, Paris, FR, 2016.
Mustard Road, The Battery SF, San Francisco, CA
The Butterfly Effect: Art in 1970s California, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
2015
The Ceramic Presence in Modern Art, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to the Present, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY
2014
What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to the Present, RISD Museum, Providence, RI
2007
Jackson, Contemporary Art Galleries, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
Dialogues: The Enigmatic Object, George Adams Gallery, New York, New York
Inside/Outside, George Adams Gallery, New York, New York
CCA at di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature, Gatehouse Gallery, Napa, California
2006
2006 Collector's Show & Sale, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
The Artful Jester, The Painting Center, New York, New York; Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Vermont
2005-06
Art of Engagement: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, and Sculpture, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, California
2005
Fired at Davis: Figurative Ceramic Sculpture from the Paula and Ross Turk Collection, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, California
Body Language, George Adams Gallery, New York, New York
Paint on Metal: Modern and Contemporary Explorations and Discoveries, Tuscon Museum of Art, Arizona
2004–05
The True Artist is an Amazing Luminous Fountain: Selections from The di Rosa Preserve — Art and Nature, The Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC; di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA; Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA; Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
2004
"Bush-Whack!", George Adams Gallery, New York, NY
2001
Poetics of Clay: An International Perspective, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philladelphia, PA
1999
The Art of Craft: Contemporary Works from the Saxe Collection, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
1998
Leonardo Lives: The Codex Leicester and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Legacy of Art and Science, Seattle Art Museum, WA
1995
Facing Eden: 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
Inside Out: Psychological Self-Portraiture, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1994
Black Male: Representations of Masculinity, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Elvis + Marilyn: 2 X Immortal, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; travelled
1992
Arneson, De Forest, Hudson, Wiley, San Jose Museum of Art, CA
1986
California Figurative Sculpture, Palm Springs Desert Museum, CA
1984
The Human Condition: Biennial III, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
1981
Ceramic Sculpture: Six Artists, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY
1980
Sculpture in California 1975-1980, San Diego Museum of Art, CA
1979
West Coast Ceramics, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
A Century of Ceramics in the United States, 1878-1978, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; travelled
1977
Sculpture: American Directions 1945-75, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
1970
Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Sculpture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1969
The Spirit of Comics, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
1968
Dada, Surrealism, & Their Heritage, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1967
Funk Art, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Arts of San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
Selected Public Collections
Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Aichi, Japan
Akron Art Museum, OH
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH
Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA
Birmingham Museum of Art, AL
Boise Art Museum, ID
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH
Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
The de Groot Foundation, Chicago, IL
Denver Art Museum, CO
Des Moines Art Center, IA
di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
The Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York, NY
Hammer Museum at University of California Los Angeles
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Honolulu Museum of Art, HI
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum, University of California at Davis
Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, NM
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL
Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
Mildura Arts Center, Mildura, Australia
Milwaukee Art Museum, WI
Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporart Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary
Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Japan
Richard Nelson Gallery and Fine Arts Collection, University of California, Davis
National Gallery of Australia, Parkes Australia
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, KS
Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
Oakland Museum of California, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
Palm Springs Art Museum, CA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PN
Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
Pollock-Krasner Study Center, East Hampton, New York, NY
RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Modern Art, CA
Seattle Art Museum, WA
Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, IL
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Saint Louis Art Museum, MO
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stedelijk Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Toledo Museum of Art, OH
University of California, Davis
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Virlane Foundation, New Orleans, LA
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT