Artist Biography & Facts

Robert Gordy

Robert Gordy (American, 1933-1986)

He was known for his complex acrylic paintings which featured patterning and repetition, and linear shapes in a flat pictorial space in closely-keyed colors. In the early 1980s, the human head began to emerge as an important element in his paintings and in a series of monotypes created in Santa Fe. (Institute for Research and Art)

Born October 13, 1933, Jefferson Island, Louisiana, he died September 25, 1986.

Education:
1956  M.A., Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
1955  B.A., Lousiana State Univeristy, Baton Rouge, LA
1953  Studied with Hans Hoffman

Professional Experience:
1965 Instructor, University of New Orleans, LA
1963 Instructor, The Putney School, Putney, VT
1962 Instructor, Sterling College, Sterling, KS
1957 Instructor, University of Southern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA

Selected Awards:
1978, 1967 Fellowship, National Endowment of the Arts Purchase Award, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX
1973 Award Winner, "Artists Biennial," New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1971 Purchase award, "Artists of the Southeast and Texas Biennial," New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1971 Ford Foundation Fellowship
1954 Yale-Norfolk Fellowship, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Selected Solo Exhibitions:
1992, 1988, 1986, 1984 Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1987 Texas Gallery, Houston, TX
1986 New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1986 Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
1985-86 "Monotypes of Robert Gordy," University of South Florida, Tampa, FL (traveling exhibition)
1985, 1979 Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY
1984-85 "Prints and Paintings of Robert Gordy," New Orleans Museum of Art (traveling exhibition)
1984 The Fine Arts Museum of the South, Mobile, AL
1984 "Artworks '84," Louisiana World Exposition, New Orleans, LA
1983 Carol Shapiro Gallery, St. Louis, MO
1982-81 "Robert Gordy, Paintings and Drawings: 1960-1980," New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1982-81 Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
1982-81 Jacksonville Museum of Fine Arts, Jacksonville, FL
1982-81 Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
1982-81 Cincinnati Museum of Contemporary Art, Cincinnati, OH
1982-81 Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
1979, 1977 Delahunty Gallery, Dallas, TX
1976 Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL
1975 Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
1974, 1972 New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
1974 Pyramid Galleries, Washington, D.C.
1973, 1971, 1969 Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, LA
1973, 1971, 1969 Hank Baum Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1972 "Drawings and Prints," Glascow College of Arts, Scotland
1970 Cranfill Gallery, Dallas, TX
1968 Atelier Chapman Kelley, Dallas, TX
1968, 1967 Glade Gallery, New Orleans, LA

Selected Group Exhibitions:
1986 "Artist/Printmaker," The Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD
1985 "The Exhibition at 112 Greene Street," Arthur Roger Gallery, New York, NY
1984 "Monotypes," The Weintraub Gallery, New York, NY
"The Art of New Orleans," Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC
1983 "The Human Figure," Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
"New Decorative Art," The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA and The University Art Gallery, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY
"Southern Fiction," Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX
"The American Artist as Printmaker: 23rd National Print Exhibition," Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
1980 "Image into Pattern," P.S.1 Gallery, New York, NY
"American Painting of the Sixties and Seventies: The Real, The Ideal, The Fantastic-Selections from the Whitney Museum of American Art," Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL
"The Figurative Tradition: Paintings and Sculpture from the Permanent Collection," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
"American Figure Painting: 1950-1980," Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
"American Drawings in Black and White: 1970-1980," Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
"Louisiana Major Works," Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA, curated by Linda L. Cathcart, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX
1978 "21st National Print Exhibition," Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
"The 1970's: New American Painting," The New Museum, New York, NY (traveling exhibition)
1975 "Art USA: The South," New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (traveling exhibition)
1973 "Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Art," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
"Divergent Representation: Five Contemporary Artists," National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.
"Extraordinary Realities," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1968 "14 Artists, Award Winners in the Southeast and Southwest Regions Selected by the National Endowment for the Arts," Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX
"New Acquisitions," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1967 "Annual Exhibition of American Painting and Sculpture," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Selected Collections:
Alexandria Museum and Visual Art Center, Alexandria, LA
American Express Corp, New York, NA
Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Dallas Museum, Dallas, TX
Fort Worth Art Center, Fort Worth, TX
Gibber Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY
National Collection of Fine Art, Washington, D.C.
Oklahoma Fine Arts Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Sources include:
Biographic information provided by Sarah Foltz, Austin Galleries from invoices and information provided in 1992 by Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans
ira.usf.edu