Untitled
1957 · Oil on canvas with wood frame
9 7/8 x 14 1/4" (25.1 x 36.2 cm)
Museum of Modern Art
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Forrest Bess
1911
PaintingAbstract Expressionism
Representation
None documented
0
Institutional Exhibitions
3
Works in Collection
8
Assets Indexed
6
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
80%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Movements
- • Abstract Expressionism
Related Artists
No edges recorded
Influence Graph
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About
Why this artist matters now
Forrest Bess made small, densely layered oil paintings whose quasi-abstract forms derived from hallucinatory visions and his intensive research into Jungian theory, sexology, and Aboriginal ritual. Working in near-isolation from Bay City, Texas, he showed with gallerist Betty Parsons from 1949 to 1967. His paintings and accompanying "medical thesis" notebooks were presented at the 2012 Whitney Biennial in a display curated by Robert Gober.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
Abstract Expressionism
Medium
Painting
Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (3)
Record
Images
Related artists
Adjacent in the graph
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Shared movement
Michael Goldberg
Shared movement
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Shared movement
Peter Voulkos
Shared movement
Lisa Yuskavage
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Richard Artschwager
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Record
Movements and affiliations
Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
Art Institute of Chicago
Background
Education
Bay City High School
Visual Arts
Record
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