Forrest Bess, who was shown at the Betty Parsons Gallery alongside Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, but spent the bulk of his life painting obscurity only having his first museum shows in 1981:
Christie’s is proud to present Forrest Bess, a unique private selling exhibition of the Harry Burkhart Collection of works by Forrest Bess, to be sold to benefit the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The show will feature an extraordinary grouping of approximately forty works and will afford a rare and comprehensive view of the artist’s oeuvre, one that in its thorough originality continues to feel new today, affirming Bess’s self-categorization as one who saw beyond his time. This exceptional five week exhibition will take place on the 20th floor of 1230 Avenue of the Americas, at Rockefeller Center beginning March 1st, 2012. It coincides with the Armory Show and the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, complete with original texts by the writer and cultural critic Wayne Koestenbaum and the art historian and Dean of the Yale University School of Art Robert Storr.
