Ralph Humphrey (April 14, 1932 – July 14, 1990) was an American abstract painter whose work has been linked to both

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

and

Minimalism In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

. He was active in the New York art scene in the 1960s and '70s. His paintings are best summarized as an exploration of space through color and structure. He lived and worked in New York, NY. He is not to be confused with the percussionist Ralph Humphrey, best known for being the drummer of

The Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as the Mothers) were an American rock music, rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an ...

from 1973 until 1974.

Biography

Ralph Humphrey studied at

Youngstown State University Youngstown State University (YSU or Youngstown State) is a public university in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1908 and is the easternmost member of the University System of Ohio. The university is composed of six undergrad ...

. He moved to New York in 1957 and immediately became a part of the art scene that was known, at the time, for

. He met artists such as

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko ( ; Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz until 1940; September 25, 1903February 25, 1970) was an American abstract art, abstract painter. He is best known for his color field paintings that depicted irregular and painterly rectangular reg ...

Theodoros Stamos Theodoros Stamos (Greek: Θεόδωρος Στάμος) (December 31, 1922 – February 2, 1997) was a Greek-American painter. He is one of the youngest painters of the original group of abstract expressionist painters (the so-called " Irasc ...

Frank Stella Frank Philip Stella (May 12, 1936 – May 4, 2024) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker, noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. He lived and worked in New York City for much of his career befor ...

, Robert Ryman, and

Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, col ...

, who would end up having a large influence on his work. Humphrey was a prominent member of the generation of artists who laid the groundwork for American art in the 1970s and 60s. From 1966 until his death in 1990, he taught painting in the graduate department at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

Artistic style

Humphrey's artistic style went through several phases and developments, which can be roughly outlined in the following way: monochromes from 1957 to 1960; frame paintings 1961–65; shaped canvases 1967–70; constructed paintings 1971–1990. Throughout these phases, Humphrey kept a keen eye on color, light, and space while he moved between abstraction and representation. As Kenneth Baker explains in Art in America in 1984, “Each of his works defines an ideal viewing distance that can be discovered only by patient observation of the focus of the details, the resolution of the image and the proper relationship between body and object. Finding the apt distance from which to contemplate Humphrey’s new paints is thus not something you do discursively: it is an exercise in feeling your way silently towards a correct spatial interval.”

1957–1960

Reviewing Humphrey's show at Tibor de Nagy in 1960,

Donald Judd Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism.Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In his work, Judd sought autonomy and clarity for ...

said, of his monochromes, “They are large, subtle and single-colored. This is Purism of a sort, in which generality does not contain variables but excludes them, in which the basic diagram or color, the only continuity, is exposed, here the essence of a confused sequence of perceptions.” Donald Judd also likened these canvases to the work of

Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

, and

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

1961–1965

Neil A. Levine wrote in 1965 about Humphrey's solo exhibition at

Green Gallery The Green Gallery was an art gallery that operated between 1960 and 1965 at 15 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City. The gallery's director was Richard Bellamy, and its financial backer was the art collector Robert Scull. Green Gallery ...

, where he showed some of his frame paintings. Levine said, “His new work is serious and demanding. All the paintings are variations on one theme. The theme is, simply stated, an expansive, lightly brushed, large grey field…surrounded by a painted framing edge…” Here, Neil, too, references Albers, as well as TV screens, unfilled billboards, and Rothko.

1967–1970

Robert Pincus-Whitten reviewed Humphrey's 1969 show at Bykert Gallery, where his shaped canvases were hung. Pincus-Whitten explains how Humphrey created “a luminous cosmos of fragile exhalations, painted on large squares or horizontal rectangles, softly turned at the corner and curved back into the stretcher.” These canvases are noteworthy, too, for their use of day-glow colors. At this time, his work becomes increasingly more atmospheric than his previous efforts; multi-colored wavy lines and sprayed colors replace solid geometric fields of single colors.

1971–1990

The last definable phase of his artistic style approaches representation at times, sometimes calling to mind an open window. These constructed paintings also border on sculpture, often coming ten inches out from the wall, directly confronting the viewer in real space. The paint, too, is considerably built up, giving the surface of the paintings considerable texture that was not previously seen in his work. Ellen Schwartz writes in 1977 about his show at John Weber, where his constructed paintings were still abstract: “Humphrey’s latest works, meditative rather than communicative, require the suspension of conscious efforts to grasp them before they will yield their secrets, which lay within ourselves all the while. The rich blue variegated surfaces are like blotters onto which we pour our own fantasies.” D Phillips, writing about his Willard Gallery show in 1982, explains how his constructed paintings are natural extensions of the earlier frame paintings: “Frames-within-frames have long provided the structural basis for Humphrey’s colorful designs; he has simply made his window allusion literal.” She explains, too, that these paintings are a step forward: “The shift does, however, bring greater variety and complexity to the artist’s constructions. There is a more explicit sense of space, of indoors and outdoors.” Beyond content, we see Humphrey using a brighter color palette and inserting vaguely figurative, whimsical patterns onto the surface. Yet, by the mid 1980s, the paintings return to a more ambiguous, abstract state.

Exhibitions

Since his first solo exhibition at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York City in 1959, Humphrey's work has been the subject of 40 solo shows. During his lifetime, he had been represented by

, Bykert Gallery, Andre Emmerich Gallery, Willard Gallery, and John Weber Gallery. Solo exhibitions have continued to be mounted since his death in 1990, including Ralph Humphrey: Frame Paintings, 1964 to 1965 at

Mary Boone Mary Boone (born 1952) is an American art dealer and collector. As the owner and director of the Mary Boone Gallery, she played an important role in the New York art market of the 1980s. Her first two artists, Julian Schnabel and David Salle, b ...

Gallery, New York City, September 8–October 6, 1990 and Ralph Humphrey: Conveyance at Gary Snyder Gallery, April 2 – May 16, 2015. Other exhibitions have been held elsewhere in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston. Humphrey's paintings have also been in group shows such as Systemic Painting at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Street (Manhattan), 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent coll ...

, New York, 1966, The Structure of Color at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, New York, 1971, the 1979 Biennial at the

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

, and High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting, 1967–1975 at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, 2006.

Solo exhibitions

1959 *Ralph Humphrey, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, February 3–21 1960 *Ralph Humphrey, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, February 2–21 1961 *Ralph Humphrey: Recent Paintings, Mayer Gallery, New York, March 14 – April 1 1965 *Ralph Humphrey,

, New York, May 5–29 1967 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, January 10 – February 24 1968 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, February 3–29 1969 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, February 1–27 Galerie Alfred Schmela, Düsseldorf 1970 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, April 4–25 1971 *Ralph Humphrey, André Emmerich Gallery, New York, March 20 – April 8 1972 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, May 2–23 1973 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, May 12 – June 2 *Ralph Humphrey: Survey of Paintings, Texas Gallery, Houston, May 15 – June 9 1974 *Ralph Humphrey, Bykert Gallery, New York, April 20 – May 15 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, November–December 1975 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1974, Bykert Gallery, New York, February 4–26 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1958–1966, Bykert/ Downtown, New York, February 4–26 1976 *Ralph Humphrey, John Weber Gallery, New York, January 31 – February 25 1976–1977 *Ralph Humphrey: Recent Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, December 16, 1976 – January 22, 1977 1977 *Ralph Humphrey, John Weber Gallery, New York, February 9–26 1980 *Ralph Humphrey, Willard Gallery, New York, April 5 – May 7 1982 *Ralph Humphrey, Willard Gallery, New York, April 3–May 8 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1975–1982, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, October 6–30 1983 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, May 14 – June 11 1984 *Delahunty Gallery, Dallas *Ralph Humphrey, Willard Gallery, New York, April 7 – May 12 1985 *Ralph Humphrey: Recent Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, October 16 – November 2 1987 *Ralph Humphrey, Jay Gorney Modern Art, New York, January–February 1990 *Ralph Humphrey: 1990,

Gallery, New York, March 3–31 *Ralph Humphrey: Frame Paintings, 1964 to 1965,

Gallery, New York, September 8–October 6 *Ralph Humphrey: A Retrospective View, 1954–1990, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, November 8– December 5 1991 *Ralph Humphrey: The Late Paintings on Paper, Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery,

, City University of New York, September 19 – October 26 *Ralph Humphrey: Paintings, 1975–1985, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, October–November 1996 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco, August 17 – October 17 1998 *Ralph Humphrey, Danese Gallery, New York, January 16 – February 14 2000 *Ralph Humphrey: Early Paintings, 1957–1967, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, November 1 – December 9 2001 *Ralph Humphrey: Later Paintings, 1975–1982, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, April 5 – May 26 2008 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Works from the Estate, Nielsen Gallery, Boston, May 17 – June 14 *Ralph Humphrey: Selected Paintings, 1957–1980, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, May 31 – June 28 2012 *Ralph Humphrey, Gary Snyder Gallery, New York, September 13 – October 27 2015 *Ralph Humphrey: Conveyance, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, April 2–May 16

Group exhibitions

1961 *American Abstract Expressionists and Imagists,

, New York, October–December 1966 *Systemic Painting,

, New York, September–November 1967 *Selected N.Y.C. Artists 1967, Ithaca College Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York, April 4 – May 27 *Focus on Light,

New Jersey State Museum The New Jersey State Museum is located at 195-205 West State Street in Trenton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The museum's collections include natural history specimens, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, and cultural history and fin ...

, Trenton, May 20 – September 10 *Highlights of the 1966–1967 Art Season, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, June 18 – September 4 *A Romantic Minimalism, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia September 13 – October 11 1968 * Bykert Gallery, New York *The Art of the Real: USA, 1948–1968,

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York, July 3 – September 8 1968–1969 *The Pure and Clear: American Innovations,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

, November 13, 1968 – January 21, 1969 1969 *American Painting: The 1960s,

Georgia Museum of Art Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, University of Georgia, Athens, September 22– November 8 *Current Minimal Painting, Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York 1969–1970 *1969 Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting,

, New York, December 16, 1969 – February 1, 1970 1970–1971 *Color and Field, 1890–1970,

Albright-Knox Art Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum located adjacent to Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York, United States. The museum shows modern art and contemporary art. It is directly opposite Buff ...

, Buffalo, September 15 – November 1, 1970; Dayton Art Institute, Ohio, November 20, 1970 – January 10, 1971; Cleveland Museum of Art, February 4–March 28, 1971 1971 *The Structure of Color,

, New York, February 25 – April 18 *Spray,

Santa Barbara Museum of Art The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) is an art museum located in downtown Santa Barbara, California. Founded in 1941, it is home to both permanent and special collections, the former of which includes Asian art, Asian, Visual arts of the United ...

, California, April 24–May 30 * Bykert Gallery, New York *Art of the Decade, 1960–1970: Paintings from the Collections of Greater Detroit, University Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, November 14–December 17 1972 *Painting and Sculpture Today,

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park, the Garden at Newfields and more. It is located at the corner of No ...

, April 26 – June 4 *Current American Abstract Painting, Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York *Dealers’ Choice, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California, July 15–September 27 1973 *Drawings, Bykert Gallery, New York, January 6–24 *Gallery Toselli, Milan 1974 *New Painting: Stressing Surface, Katonah Gallery, Katonah, New York, May 4 – June 23 *Painting and Sculpture Today,

, May 22 – July 14; Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, September 12–October 24 *Ten Painters in New York, Michael Walls Gallery, New York, June 15 – July 6 *Seventy-First American Exhibition,

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, June 15 – August 11 1975 *22 Artists, Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York, January 4–25 *Fourteen Abstract Painters, Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, March 25 – May 25 *Fourteen Artists,

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of modern art, ...

, April 15 – June 1 *A Group Show Selected by Klaus Kertess, Texas Gallery, Houston, September 15 – October 11 *Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, Missouri 1975–1976 *Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture of the ’60s and ’70s from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, October 7–November 18, 1975; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, December 17, 1975 – February 15, 1976 1976 *Ideas on Paper: 1970–1976,

Renaissance Society The Renaissance Society, founded in 1915, is a leading independent contemporary art museum located on the campus of the University of Chicago, with a focus on the commissioning and production of new works by international artists. The kunsthalle- ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, May 2 – June 6 *Daniel Weinberg Gallery, San Francisco 1977 *Paintings on Paper, Drawing Center, New York, January 15–26 *Galerie Jean-Paul Najar, Paris *’75, ’76, ’77: Painting, Part I, Sarah Lawrence College Art Gallery, Bronxville, New York, February 19–March 10; American Foundation for the Arts, Miami, April–May; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, June–July *A View of a Decade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, September 10–November 10 *John Weber Gallery, New York 1977–1978 *Works from the Collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel,

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) is one of the largest university art museums in the United States, located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with . Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alu ...

, Ann Arbor, November 11, 1977 – January 1, 1978 1978–1979 *Late Twentieth Century Art from the Sydney and Frances Lewis Foundation, Anderson Gallery,

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a Public university, public research university in Richmond, Virginia, United States. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virgin ...

, Richmond, December 5, 1978 – January 9, 1979; Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, *March 22 – May 2, 1979 1979 *1979 Biennial Exhibition,

, New York, February 6–April 1 *Generation, Susan Caldwell Gallery, New York *The Reductive Object: A Survey of the Minimalist Aesthetic in the 1960s,

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple name chang ...

, March 7 – April 29 *The Implicit Image: Abstract Painting in the ’70s, Nielsen Gallery, Boston, April 29 – June 1 *Color and Structure, Hamilton Gallery, New York, May 5 – June 2 *Texas Gallery, Houston 1980 *Black, White, Other, R.H. Oosterom Gallery, New York, January 17 – February 17 *Current/New York: Recent Works in Relief, Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery,

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, Syracuse, New York, January 27–February 24 *Painting in Relief,

, Downtown Branch, New York, January 30 – March 5 *Painting and Sculpture Today,

, June 24 – August 17 *3 Dimensional Painting,

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art art gallery, museum near Water Tower Place in the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is on ...

, August 2 – November 9 *Planar Painting: Constructs, 1975–1980, The Alternative Museum, New York, October 18–November 15, 1980 *The Image Transformed, Art Latitude Gallery, New York, November 4–29 1981 *A Seventies Selection: An Exhibition of Works from the Collection of the

, Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio, February 14 – June 14 *Abstract Mythologies, Nielsen Gallery, Boston, March 1–31 *Between Painting and Sculpture, Pam Adler Gallery, New York, March 31 – April 25 1981–1982 *Drawing Invitational 1981, Harm Bouckaert Gallery, New York, December 2, 1981 – January 2, 1982 1982 *The Erotic Impulse, Roger Litz Gallery, New York *Postminimalism, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, September 19–December 19 1983 *Abstract Painting: 1960–1969, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, January 16 – March 13 *New Work, New York: Newcastle Salutes New York, Newcastle Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, October 8–November 4 1984 *Parasol and Simca: Two Presses/Two Processes, Center Gallery,

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, February 3–April 4, 1984; Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, April 15–May 13 *The Meditative Surface,

at the

, April 1 – May 16 1985 *Abstract Painting Redefined, Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, February 16 – March 30 *Now and Then: A Selection of Recent and Earlier Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, June 1 – August 31 *American Abstract Painting: 1960–1980, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, June 19 – August 24 1986 *The Purist Image, Marian Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, November 1986–1987 *The Window in Twentieth-Century Art,

Neuberger Museum of Art The Neuberger Museum of Art (the NEU) is located at the centre of the Purchase College campus in Purchase, New York. With a collection of nearly 7,000 works of modern, contemporary and African art, it is one of the nation's largest academic mus ...

, Purchase College, State University of New York, September 21, 1986 – January 18, 1987; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, April 24– June 29, 1987 1997 *A Lasting Legacy: Selections from the Lannan Foundation Gift,

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...

, September 9–December 14 2004 *A Minimal Future?: Art as Object, 1958–1968,

, March 28 – July 26 2006–2007 *High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting, 1967–1975, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, August 6–October 15, 2006;

American University Museum The American University Museum is located within the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. History and description The American University Museum consists of a three-story, museum and sculpture garden. The region’s ...

at the

Katzen Arts Center The Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center is home to all of the visual and performing arts programs at American University and the American University Museum. It is located at Ward Circle, the intersection of Nebraska Avenue and Massachusetts Aven ...

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2006 – January 21, 2007;

National Academy Museum and School The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Frederick Styles Agate, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, an ...

, New York, February 13 – April 27, 2007 2008 *The Idea of Nature, 33 Bond Gallery, New York, June 12–July 31 *Into the Void: Abstract Art, 1948–2008, Tucson Museum of Art, July 17–September 26 2008–2009 *Steve DiBenedetto, Ralph Humphrey, Chris Martin, and Andrew Masullo/Paintings, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, December 6, 2008 – January 31, 2009 2009 *Image Matter,

Gallery, New York, February 21 – March 28 *Not New: Vincent Fecteau Selects from the Collection,

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

, July 25 – November 8 2010 *Wall-to-Wall, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, June 5 – August 14 2011 *Surface Truths: Abstract Painting in the Sixties,

Norton Simon Museum The Norton Simon Museum is an art museum located in Pasadena, California. It was previously known as the Pasadena Art Institute and the Pasadena Art Museum and displays numerous sculptures on its grounds. Overview The Norton Simon collections ...

, Pasadena, California, March 25 – August 15 2011–2012 *The Language of Less: Then and Now,

, October 8, 2011 – April 8, 2012 2012 *Susan Hartnett, Ralph Humphrey, Marilyn Lerner, and Dona Nelson,

Gallery, New York, March 22 – April 28 2014–2015 *The Avant-Garde Collection, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, September 7, 2014 – January 4, 2015 2015 *Pretty Raw: After and Around Helen Frankenthaler, Rose Art Museum,

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

, Waltham, Massachusetts, February 11 – June 7, 2015

Collections

Humphrey's work can be found in prominent collections in America and Australia, including the following: *

Addison Gallery of American Art Addison may refer to: Places Canada * Addison, Ontario, a community United States * Addison, Alabama, a town * Addison, Illinois, a village * Addison, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Addison, Maine, a town * Addison, Michigan, a vil ...

Allen Memorial Art Museum The Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM) is an art museum located in Oberlin, Ohio, and it is run by Oberlin College. Founded in 1917, the collection contains over 15,000 works of art. Overview The AMAM is primarily a teaching museum and is aimed at ...

* Butler Institute of American Art *

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located ...

Dayton Art Institute The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, United States. The Dayton Art Institute has been rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for children. The museum also ranks in the top 3% ...

Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is an art museum in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. It is focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present. Binatio ...

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...

* Oklahoma City Museum of Art * Orange County Museum of Art *

Palm Springs Art Museum The Palm Springs Art Museum (formerly the Palm Springs Desert Museum) is a visual and performing arts institution with several locations in the Coachella Valley, in Riverside County, California, United States, founded in 1938. PSAM has been focu ...

* Parrish Art Museum *

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

* Rose Art Museum *

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds one of the world's lar ...

* Tucson Museum of Art *

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the supp ...

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

* Weatherspoon Art Museum *

References

External links

Ralph Humphrey on Artsy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Humphrey, Ralph American abstract artists 20th-century American painters American male painters Painters from Ohio 1990 deaths 1937 births Artists from Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown State University alumni Painters from New York City 20th-century American male artists