Paul Wonner
Fruit and Kitchen Towels (Two Tables), 2001
acrylic and graphite on paper
24 7/8 x 38 1/2 in.
Best known as a member of the then radical Bay Area Figurative Painting Movement of the 1950s, Paul Wonner’s (1920-2008) career stretched over six decades and had a significant second act twenty-five years after he first emerged. Wonner, with his longtime partner and fellow painter, William Theophilus Brown, were equally radical in their personal life, living openly as a gay couple beginning in the 1950s, a period when queerness and homosexuality were socially shunned and illegal under the law.
Wonner’s early works were largely abstract, a result of his attending UC Berkeley for his MFA, which he earned in 1954. Later categorized with Brown as part of the “bridge generation” of the Bay Area Figurative Painting Movement, Wonner’s transition from abstraction to figuration began in 1954 and was going fully in that direction in 1955, at around the same time Richard Diebenkorn’s Berkeley paintings began evolving away from gestural abstraction though Diebenkorn is considered a first generation artist.
Wonner’s work was included in the historic 1957 exhibition Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting, curated by Paul Mills at the Oakland Art Museum, which later travelled to the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art; Dayton Art Institute; and the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center. Wonner’s explorations of figuration continued well into the 1960s, however by the end of the decade they had yielded a series of compositionally spare still lifes, featuring a few objects painted at a small scale on large canvases.
The 1970s initially found Wonner searching for a new direction in his work, as can be seen in the series of surrealistic watercolors he made that are loosely connected to literature and poetry. However, by 1976 had found his next major series in the large-scale still life paintings of contemporary objects in acrylic, which were inspired by Wonner’s love of 17th century Dutch still life painting. Wonner would paint these celebrated works for the next twenty-five years.
The turn of the millennium also brought with it a transition by Wonner to working primarily on paper in acrylic, watercolor, and gouache. Among the important series in the final decade of Wonner’s life, is a group of intimate watercolors depicting the artist working in his studio with models, titled The Youth and Old Age Series. Other series include Bathers After Cezanne, and many works depicting friends, strangers, and dogs in parks around San Francisco. Paul Wonner died in San Francisco in 2008.
All sales of works from the Estate benefit The Paul Wonner and William Theophilus Brown Endowment Fund at the Crocker Art Museum, which supports projects relating to emerging artists or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI+) artists. Proceeds go to the acquisition, care, exhibition, scholarship, and publication of art by emerging and LGBTQI+ artists, along with related public programs.
PAUL WONNER
Born
Tucson, Arizona,1920
Died
San Francisco, CA, 2008
EDUCATION
1956
Master of Library Science, University of California, Berkeley
1953
M.A. in Art, University of California, Berkeley
1952
B.A. in Art with Honors, University of California, Berkeley
1948-50
Subjects of the Artist School (later Studio 35), New York, NY
1947
Art Students League of New York, New York, NY
1941
B.A. in Art Education, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA (now California College of the Arts, San Francisco)
TEACHING
1987
University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
1985
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM
1983-84
University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI
1982
Laguna Beach School of Art, Laguna Beach, CA
1981
California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
1978-79
University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
1975-76
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA
1975
California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
1973
Art Center College of Design, Los Angeles, CA
1968-71
College of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA
1965-68
Otis Art Institute of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA
1961-63
University of California, Los Angeles, CA
1959-60
David Art Center, Davis, CA
AWARDS
2004
Elder Artist of the Year, conferred by Eldgergivers of Napa County in collaboration with di Rosa Preserve: Art and Nature, Napa, CA
1960
First Place (later rescinded), Los Angeles All-City Art Festival
1958
Prize, Seventy-Seventh Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of the San Francisco Art Association
1955
Second Prize, Fifth Annual Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Art
1954
Walter Haas Award for promising young artists, San Francisco Museum of Art
1953
Anne Bremer Prize in Art, San Francisco Art Institute
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Paul Wonner: Landscapes of Objects, 1966–2001, Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2020
The Cone Family Legacy, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC
2008
Paul Wonner: A Memorial Exhibition, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
Art20, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
2004
Paul Wonner: Bay Area Elder Artist of the Year 2004, di Rosa Preserve: Art & Nature, Napa, CA
2004
Paul Wonner: Forty Years of Paintings on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003
Paul Wonner, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
2001
Paul Wonner: Selected Works from the Sixties, Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2000
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Interiors, The Gallery on the Hudson, Irvington, NY
1999
Paul Wonner, DC Moore Gallery, New York, NY
1998
Paul Wonner: Recent Work, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Paul Wonner: Still Lifes, Ettinger Gallery, Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA
1997
Paul Wonner: Small Format Paintings and Watercolors, 1958-1965, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992-93
Larry Evans Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
1992
Paul Wonner, Coe Kerr Gallery, New York, NY
1988
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1987-88
Paul Wonner: Small Paintings on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery at The Monadnock Building, San Francisco, CA
1987
Paul Wonner, Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
1985-86
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1983
Paul Wonner, Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, NY
1982
Laguna Beach School of Art, Laguna Beach, CA
1981-82
Paul Wonner: Abstract Realist, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (October- November 1981); Travels to: Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX (March-May 1982), and Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (August- September 1982)
1981
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Paul Wonner, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
1980-81
Studies for Romantic Views of San Francisco, James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1979
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings and Drawings, James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1978
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1975
Art Galleries, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
1974
Paul Wonner: Illustrations for an Imaginary Book of Poems Called "Lunacy," Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1973
Jodi Scully Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1972
Paul Wonner Paintings, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
Paintings and Drawings by Paul Wonner, Charles Campbell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1971
Poindexter Gallery, New York, NY
Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1969
Watercolors by Paul Wonner, Gump's Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1968
Recent Paintings and Drawings by Paul Wonner, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1967
Paul Wonner: Oils and Watercolors; Still Life, Landau-Alan Gallery, New York, NY
1965
Paul Wonner: Paintings, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX
Paul Wonner: Watercolours, 1963-1964, Waddington Galleries, London, United Kingdom
1964-65
Paul Wonner: Recent Paintings, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1964
Paul Wonner: Gouaches, Poindexter Gallery, New York, NY
1963
Recent Paintings/Paul Wonner, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1962
Paul Wonner, Poindexter Gallery, New York
Watercolors: Paul Wonner, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Paintings by Paul Wonner, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, Ca
1960
Paintings by Paul Wonner, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1959
Paintings by Paul Wonner, Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1956-57
Paul Wonner, San Francisco Art Association Gallery, California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1956
Paintings by Paul Wonner, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
1944
Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023-24
Breaking the Rules: Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA (April-August 2023); Travels to: Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA (October 2023-January 2024); Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN (January-March 2024)
1989-90
Bay Area Figurative Art, 1950–1965, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (December 1989-February 1990); Travels to: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (June-September 1990), and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (October-December 1990)
1967-68
1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1964-65
The 1964 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
1959-61
1959 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (December 1959-January 1960); Travels to: Richmond Art Museum, Richmond, IN (January-February 1960); J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY (May 1960); Cedar Rapids Art Association Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA (September 1960); Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, TN (December 1960); and East Tennessee State College Student Center, Johnson City, TN (February-March 1961)
1957-58
Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA (September 1957); Travels to: Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science and Art, Los Angeles, CA (November-December 1957); Dayton Art Institute, Ohio (January-February 1958); and Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO (March 1958)
1955-57
Pacific Coast Art, III Bienal do Museu de arte moderna, São Paulo, Brazil (June-October 1955); Travels to: Mesbla Department Store, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (October-December 1955); San Francisco Museum of Art (June-July 1956); Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio (1956); Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, Colorado (August-September 1956); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (October-November 1956); and Dayton Art Institute, Ohio (December 1956-January 1957)
1955-56
Vanguard 1955, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (October-December 1955); Travels to: Stable Gallery, New York, NY (December 1955-January 1956)
1955
Action 1 (The Merry-Go-Round Show), Looff Hippodrome (Santa Monica Pier Carousel Building), Santa Monica, CA
1954-56
Younger American Painters, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (May – July 1954); Travels to: Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (September-October 1955); Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (October-November 1955); San Francisco Museum of Art (November 1955-January1956); Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art (February 1956); Fine Arts Center Gallery, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AK (March-April 1956); and Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (April-May 1956)
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Stanford, CA
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley, CA
California State University Art Museum, Long Beach, CA
Capitol Records, Los Angeles, CA
Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA
Federal Reserve Bank, San Francisco, CA
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Flood Family Collection, San Francisco, CA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Oakland Museum of California, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA
Pacific Bell Collection, Los Angeles, CA
The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, AZ
Philip Morris Corporation, New York, NY
Reader’s Digest Association, New York, NY
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NB
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
The Buck Collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The Putt-McCann Art Collection
University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
Utah Museum of Art, Salt Lake City, UT
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Paul Wonner
Untitled (Table with Fruit, Potatoes, Meats and Flowers, 2000
acrylic and charcoal on paper
38 1/2 x 27 in.
Paul Wonner
Fruit and Kitchen Towels (Two Tables), 2001
acrylic and graphite on paper
24 7/8 x 38 1/2 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Flowers in Bottles: Hyacinths, 2002
acrylic, watercolor, and charcoal on paper
19 x 7 3/8 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Flowers in Bottles: Iris #1, 2000
acrylic and charcoal on paper
19 x 6 7/8 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Superstition Mountain, Phoenix, Arizona, 1962-1963
casein on paper
11 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Bathers after Cezanne II, 2003
acrylic, watercolor, and graphite on paper
11 1/2 x 16 1/2 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Bathers After Cezanne III, 2002
watercolor and graphite on paper
14 x 14 1/2 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Bathers after Cezanne, 2002
acrylic, watercolor, and graphite on paper
12 x 13 3/4 in.
Paul Wonner
Study for "In a Park", 2003
watercolor, acrylic, and graphite on paper
9 1/2 x 14 1/2 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Park with Figures Around a Tree, 2004
acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, and graphite on paper
22 1/4 x 30 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Steps in Lafayette Park, 2005
acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, and graphite on paper
15 x 22 1/4 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Artist Drawing the Model, 2004
acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, and graphite on paper
12 x 10 1/4 in. (image)
Paul Wonner
Book of Daniel, No. 39, In the Lion's Den, 1972
casein, charcoal, and pencil on paper
16 7/8 x 13 7/8 in. (image)
