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Peter Voulkos - Artists - Paul Thiebaud Gallery

Peter Voulkos

Walking Man, 1990

wood fired stoneware

28 x 20 x 16 in.

Peter Voulkos came of age during the 1940’s and 50’s at a time when Abstract Expressionist painting held sway in the art world centered in New York City. Born in 1924 in Montana, Voulkos attended Bozeman State College on the GI Bill. It was there that he took a ceramics class and discovered the medium that became synonymous with his name.

Voulkos’ first direct experience with the artists who were redefining the art world, the Abstract Expressionists, came during a summer teaching job in 1953 at the legendary Black Mountain College in North Carolina where he met Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage and Merce Cunningham. In New York, he encountered Willem de Kooning, Philip Gustin and Franz Kline. These artists and their philosophy reinforced his own beliefs and influenced the direction he was to pursue for a lifetime.

Peter Voulkos obtained an MFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and remained on the west coast, where he first taught at Los Angeles County Art Institute (now Otis) (where John Mason, Ken Price, Billy Al Bengston, Paul Soldner came to study and work with him) and later at the University of California at Berkeley. In California, inspired by the scale and spontaneity of the New York School, Voulkos began to push the expressive qualities of clay into new uncharted and unexplored territory. In the process, he broke down the divisions between fine art and craft, transforming and re-defining the medium of ceramic sculpture.

Often referred to as the Father of Contemporary American Ceramics, the influence of Peter Voulkos is hard to overstate. The force of his personality and the power of his art influenced generations of artists and ultimately reshaped the history of contemporary art. Roberta Smith described the magnitude of his impact when she wrote, “few artists have changed a medium as markedly or as single-handedly as Mr. Voulkos.”

Peter Voulkos died on February 15, 2002 from a heart attack. During his lifetime, he was honored with countless awards and fellowships, and has exhibited in nearly 100 solo shows around the world. His work is represented in major museum collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

“When I went to school, I studied painting because I wanted to be a painter.  But, I was forced into doing a clay course to get out of school.  So, I took a class and that completely changed my life right there.  As soon as I started feeling that clay, it was a big change for me.  I couldn’t paint anymore.  It was just gone, completely.”

PETER VOULKOS

Born  Bozeman, MT, 1924

Died  Oakland, CA, 2002

EDUCATION


1952     Master of Fine Arts, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland
1951     Bachelor of Science in Applied Art, Montana State College, Bozeman


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS


2015     Peter Voulkos: Sculpture, Pottery, Prints, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2013     Peter Voulkos: Works, 1956 – 1997, Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York
2011     A Survey, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2009     The Montana, Otis & Berkeley Years, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
2005     Peter Voulkos, Bronze: 1986-2002, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
             Peter Voulkos: Echoes of the Japanese Aesthetic, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California
2004     Works on Paper, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
2003     Selected Work: 1953-2000, Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
             Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
             Osceola Gallery, Emeryville, California
             LongHouse Reserve, East Hampton, New York
2002     Galerie Yoramgil, Beverly Hills, California
2001     Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
             Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
             Art Foundry Gallery, Sacramento, California
2000     Gallerymateria, Scottsdale, Arizona
             Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri
             Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
             Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University at Logan, Logan, Utah
1999     Frank Lloyd Gallery, Santa Monica, California
             Mussi Artworks Foundry & Gallery, Berkeley, California (catalogue)
1998     Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
             Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
1997     Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
             University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida
1996     Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
             Kenji Taki Gallery, Nagoya, Japan (catalogue)
             William Traver Gallery, Seattle, Washington
1995     Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo, traveled to: the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan (catalogue)
             Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
             Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, traveled to: the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Fisher Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand; and the Dowse Art Museum, Wellington, New Zealand (brochure)
             The Oakland Museum, Oakland, California, traveled to: the Newport Harbor Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California; and the American Craft Museum, New York
             Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1993     Hordaland Kunstnersentrum, Bergen, Norway, traveled to: Ram Galleri, Oslo, Norway; Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway; and Kunstnernes Hus, Salthomsgade, Denmark;
             Grimmerhus Center for International Studiokeramik, Middledfart, Denmark
             Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
             Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1992     Louis Newman Galleries, Beverly Hills, California
1991     Leedy/Voulkos Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
             Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California (catalogue)
1990     Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
1988     Twining Gallery, New York (catalogue)
             Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1987     Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1986     Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1985     Bancho Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (brochure)
             Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
1984     Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery, Hope, Idaho (catalogue)
             Magnolia Gallery, Oakland, California
             Gallery 181, College of Design, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
             Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
             Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1983     Art Center, Tokyo; traveled to Kyoto Art University, Kyoto, Japan; and the Tokoname Ceramic Research Center, Tokoname, Japan (brochure)
             Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
             Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
1982     Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
             Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut
1981     Charles Cowles Gallery, New York
             Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida (brochure)
             Thomas Segal Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
             Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
1980     Okun-Thomas Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
             Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri
1979     Foster/White Gallery, Seattle, Washington
             Northern Arizona University Art Gallery, Flagstaff, Arizona (brochure)
             Hill’s Gallery of Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1978     Exhibit A, Chicago, Illinois
             Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
             San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; traveled to Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas; Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York; and the Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (book)
             Exhibit A, Evanston, Illinois
1977     Contemporary Crafts, Portland, Oregon
1976     Exhibit A, Evanston, Illinois
             Yaw Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan
             Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan (catalogue)
1975     Kemper Gallery, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri; traveled to Helen Drutt Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
             Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1974     Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
1972     San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, California (catalogue)
1968     Quay Gallery, San Francisco, California
             David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1967     David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1965     Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California (catalogue)
1964     Hack Light Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona
             Art Unlimited, San Francisco, California
1963     David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1961     Primus-Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, California
1960     Museum of Modern Art, New York (brochure)
1959     Felix Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California (catalogue)
1958     Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, California

1957     Bonnier’s, New York
             Downstairs Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
1956     Landau Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1954     American House Gallery, New York
1953     Art Gallery, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

 

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Nagoya, Japan
Albany Mall, Albany, New York
American Museum of Ceramic Arts, Pomona, California
The Anderson Collection at Stanford University, Stanford, California
Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, Montana
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
The Art Gallery, Paul Creative Arts Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland
Banff Centre, School of Fine Arts, Alberta, Canada
Boise Art Museum, Boise, Idaho
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Philadephia
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cinncinati, Ohio
City and County of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
City of Fresno, Fresno, California
City of Highland Park, Illinois
Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, State Fair Community College, Sedalia, Missouri
David & Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Den Permanente, Copenhagen, Denmark
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, Alabama
Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden, University of California, Los Angeles, California
Fredrick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Het Kruithuis, Museum of Contemporary Art‘s Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Museum of American Art at the Renwick Gallery of Contemporary Crafts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana
Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
Ichon World Ceramic Center, Ichon, Kyonggi Province, Korea
Indiana University Art Museum, Bloomington, Indiana
International Museum of Ceramic Art, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach California
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, Minnesota
Montana State University School of Art Permanent Collection, Bozeman, Montana
Musée des Arts Decoratifs de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Museum of Arts and Design (formerly the American Craft Museum), New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Japan
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama, Japan
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas
National Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Japan
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Nordenfjield Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland California
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadephia, Pennsylvania
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building and United States Courthouse, Honolulu, Hawaii
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California
Scripps College, Claremont, California
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery & Scultpure Garden, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
Southern Illinois University Art Museum, Carbondale, Illinois
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stedelijk Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, Netherlands
Tokyo Folk Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, California
University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida
University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan
Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana

Peter Voulkos Untitled (Cup), 1961 glazed stoneware 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 x 3 in.

Peter Voulkos
Untitled (Cup), 1961
glazed stoneware
4 1/4 x 4 1/4 x 3 in.

Inquire
Peter Voulkos Untitled (Cup), 1961 glazed stoneware 4 1 /4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.

Peter Voulkos
Untitled (Cup), 1961
glazed stoneware
4 1 /4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.

Inquire
A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract II: Ironhead" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract II: Ironhead, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

33 x 22 3/4 in.

Inquire
A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract V: Flyface" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract V: Flyface, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

31 1/4 x 23 1/2 in.

Inquire
A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract VI: Checks in the Mail" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract VI: Checks in the Mail, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

34 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.

Inquire
A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract VII: Give Us a Break" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract VII: Give Us a Break, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

34 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.

Inquire
A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract VIII: I Got the Cobalt Blues" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract VIII: I Got the Cobalt Blues, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

32 1/2 x 24 in.

Inquire
A bronze sculpture by Peter Voulkos titled "Key West S15," made in the year 2000. It is edition. 1 of 5  and measures 43 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 26 inches

Peter Voulkos
Key West S15, 2000
bronze, ed. 1/5
43 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 26 in.
SOLD

 

Peter Voulkos Untitled (Cup), 1961 glazed stoneware 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 x 3 in.

Peter Voulkos
Untitled (Cup), 1961
glazed stoneware
4 1/4 x 4 1/4 x 3 in.

Peter Voulkos Untitled (Cup), 1961 glazed stoneware 4 1 /4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.

Peter Voulkos
Untitled (Cup), 1961
glazed stoneware
4 1 /4 x 4 1/2 x 3 1/2 in.

A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract II: Ironhead" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract II: Ironhead, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

33 x 22 3/4 in.

A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract V: Flyface" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract V: Flyface, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

31 1/4 x 23 1/2 in.

A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract VI: Checks in the Mail" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract VI: Checks in the Mail, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

34 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.

A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract VII: Give Us a Break" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract VII: Give Us a Break, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

34 1/2 x 23 1/2 in.

A color lithograph by Peter Voulkos, titled "Abstract VIII: I Got the Cobalt Blues" from 1979, depicting an abstracted stacked from.

Peter Voulkos

Abstract VIII: I Got the Cobalt Blues, 1979

color lithograph, ed. of 200

32 1/2 x 24 in.

A bronze sculpture by Peter Voulkos titled "Key West S15," made in the year 2000. It is edition. 1 of 5  and measures 43 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 26 inches

Peter Voulkos
Key West S15, 2000
bronze, ed. 1/5
43 1/2 x 25 1/2 x 26 in.
SOLD