Untitled, (Grid), 1966, Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 in
Dan Christensen
20-Year Survey: 1969-1989
MAY 16 - JUNE 21, 2025
cover: Untitled (detail), 1982, acrylic on canvas, 80 x 75 in
Dan Christensen: 20-Year Survey (1969-1989)
Dan Christensen (1942-2007) has long been celebrated as a gifted abstract painter whose art seems ever in motion. Christensen’s lifelong interest in using new and innovative painting methods and tools, along with his inclination to work in series, resulted in innumerable exciting variations over the long span of his career. Early on, the critical acclaim he received for his linear spray paintings established Christensen’s reputation as a “painter’s painter.” The rapid acquisition of his works by leading museums, including the Guggenheim and the Whitney, rightfully underscored his importance and strengthened Christensen’s confidence and resolve. In the field of Post Painterly Abstraction—a term developed by the renowned art critic Clement Greenberg—he was a key figure, which Greenberg himself affirmed by pronouncing Christensen “one of the painters on whom the course of American art depends.” One of the most original artists of his generation, Christensen transformed the American art scene of his time and remains influential today.
When Christensen arrived in New York City in 1965 he had $90 in his wallet and a goal in mind: to become an important American artist. “I think if anybody can do it, I can,” he later told an interviewer, “although I’ve had my doubts.” Those doubts, which motivated Christensen to constantly re-invent his art, were part of his strength. Christensen, who at 23 years old was considered a “Boy Wonder,” was from North Platte, Nebraska, and had been Valedictorian of his class at the Kansas City Art Institute. After a year of graduate work at the University of Indiana, he dropped out to move to New York City, another kind of grad school. “He was the best young artist I met,” recalls his friend Ronnie Landfield, who shared a studio with Christensen in 1966; “Something about his paintings was really, really good.”
Encountering a Jackson Pollock painting in Denver had electrified Christensen as a teenager. During his studies at the Kansas City Art Institute, he and his classmates debated and discussed the merits of Abstract Expressionism. He took an interest in European modernism and tended to favor Cézanne and Matisse over Picasso. Mentored by representational painters, Christensen arrived in New York making paintings that resembled Bay Area figurative art. In short order, he began experimenting with Minimalist Abstraction, which at the time was popular with many younger New York artists.
The New York art scene of the 1960s was vibrant, competitive, thrilling and dizzying. The legacy of post-war Abstract Expressionism, which had established New York as the center of the international art market, could be seen in the increasing number of museums, galleries and publications. The social hub for artists had moved from the smoky Cedar Bar to a nightclub and celebrity hangout called Max’s Kansas City. New artistic directions included Pop, Minimalism and Conceptualism. In many respects, these new developments presented challenges to the values of Abstract Expressionism which had emphasized the importance of an artist’s actions—expressed through drips and active brushwork—and the vivid depiction of inner states and worlds. Pop, for example, responded to consumer culture by incorporating familiar imagery taken from advertisements or comics. Minimalism, with its predilection for geometry and reduced color, argued that abstraction needed to be restrained by formal rigor. Conceptualism, the most rarefied approach of all, prioritized ideas over imagery.
Essay continues on page 6
Hong Kong I, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 97 x 131 in
Dan Christensen: 20-Year Survey (1969-1989)
Christensen, who friends remember as quiet and thoughtful, rapidly found his bearing in this turbulent situation. He was a naturally gifted artist whose intelligence and curiosity helped him integrate diverse influences. Christensen’s first major series, the “Grids and Bars,” fused aspects of Minimalism and Color Field Painting, and was executed with water-based acrylic paint, which allowed for the creation of fast-drying layers of color while using masking tape to define linear forms. These massive paintings, which measured 100 inches square, or sometimes 100 x 200 inches, manifested the young artist’s ambition. Painted on deeply toned grounds— black, charcoal or dark grey—they were developed further by adding a second coat of a second tone, often a tan or green. The final compositions include processions of slightly irregular stripes of underpainting defined by short strips of masking tape that Christensen removed after brushing on a final painterly layer. These rhythmic canvases, with their horizontal pulses, echo Piet Mondrian’s early 20th-century “Plus and Minus” paintings.
By 1966, after several years of supporting himself by bartending and working for the New York Welfare Department, Christensen’s art began attracting attention. Legendary art dealer Richard Bellamy, who he met at Max’s Kansas City, offered him representation and a $100 advance—roughly a month of studio rent—and soon brought author James Michener for a studio visit that resulted in Christensen’s first sale. In 1967 Christensen was featured in two gallery exhibitions, including a solo show at the Noah Goldowsky Gallery, which Bellamy managed. In December of 1967, Christensen showed a painting titled “4 Great Jones Street,” (his studio address)
in the prestigious Whitney Annual. This sprawling exhibition, devoted entirely to painting, featured one work each by 165 artists who were listed alphabetically in the catalog, from Albers to Zox. Even in this crowded environment, Christensen’s work made a powerful impression, and the Whitney Museum soon acquired the first of three Christensen paintings that would enter its permanent collection.
During this period Christensen, always interested in new tools and methods, developed a series of large abstractions, “Sprays and Loop/Freeforms,” that were painted with an automotive spray gun. The rhythmic, loops, ovals and ribbons Christensen sprayed onto his canvases were both an homage to Jackson Pollock, who had painted with auto enamel, and an opportunity to experiment with blurred forms. It was these paintings that brought the artist critical acclaim and connected him with Lyrical Abstraction, an approach that was first mentioned in post-war France and emerged as a movement in the United States, Canada and Britain in the mid1960s. Formed largely in reaction to Minimalism and Pop Art, Lyrical Abstraction brought together artists who created gestural and atmospheric abstractions and were interested in both re-invigorating the painterly side of American art and extending the range of contemporary abstraction towards a greater sensuousness.
Christensen’s paintings from 1968, which contain suspended forms, including stacked loops, bars and unruly ribbons of color, were vital and expressive. As Artforum critic Max Kozloff observed: “He (Christensen) has developed an impressive, blurring fluency with the spray gun as a painting instrument…” Kozloff also commented that Essay continues on page 10
Magellan's Gravy, 1969, Enamel on canvas, 79.75 x 76.75 in
Untitled (Plaid), 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 62 x 60.5 in
Dan Christensen: 20-Year Survey (1969-1989)
Christensen was a “virtuoso in execution.” The spray gun paintings helped establish Christensen’s reputation as a gifted colorist. One newspaper critic complimented his color sense by calling Christensen a “spray can Monet.” Another critic described the “lush, even biting brilliance of color” present in a Christensen red and blue abstraction. As Butler Museum Director Louis Zona later wrote: “It is in his application of color that we come to understand the essence of Christensen’s genius. For him color is not a component of his work - it is the work.”
In 1969 27-year-old Christensen had the kind of year that he had dreamed about when he arrived in New York four years earlier. His first solo show opened in May at the Andre Emmerich Gallery, which represented leading abstract artists including Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, and Helen Frankenthaler. During the same month, four of his paintings were exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in a show of nine artists, each of whom had received $1,000 Theodoron awards for promising young artists. Christensen was again in good company, as were other artists who would go on to major careers, including Richard Serra, Bruce Nauman and Gerhard Richter. Collectors were rapidly scooping up his work, and three of the Christensen paintings on view at the Guggenheim belonged to Robert Scull, arguably the most important collector of contemporary art at that time. The following year a 1968 Christensen spray gun painting, “Hitchhike,” was featured in a traveling exhibition titled “Lyrical Abstraction” organized by the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Connecticut.
“Hitchhike,” which consists of four meandering bands of sprayed color on an 8-foot wide canvas, has a freshness and vitality that dispels the rigor of the era’s minimalist
abstraction. Christensen’s sensitivity to color and materials, which was so apparent in his spray pieces like this one, gained him the admiration of his peers and made his work influential. An admiring critic reviewing his 1969 exhibition at Andre Emmerich Gallery commented on the “delicacy of perception” in Christensen's work and wrote of one of his spray paintings that it hovered “between the sensuous and the formal in the control of lighted color, slightly offbeat in harmony.”
A lesser painter might have responded to this wave of commercial and critical success by repeating himself. Christensen, who was committed to innovation, did the opposite and by late 1969 he had already moved on from his spray gun series to making semi-geometric paintings called “Plaids.” These paintings, which included canvases in a new vertical format, were painted on the floor with brushes and rollers in semi-transparent overlays, using both oil-based enamel and acrylic. Their stripes and rectangular forms, which waver just slightly as the result of being painted by hand, challenge the perfectionism of hardedge minimalism. Rich and earthy colors—sometimes traversed by a pulse of deep red— generate sonorous harmonies, highlighting Christensen’s original color sense.
The brown and white “Slabs” of the early 1970s demonstrate Christensen’s continuing interest in finding new ways to manipulate paint. His use of a squeegee and a knife to scrape and remove paint to reveal under-painted layers endows each finished painting with traces of the artist’s efforts to manipulate his materials while searching for a sense of rightness. Subtle and sensitive, these canvases invite intimate inspection and invite viewers to admire the artist’s engagement with paint itself and appreciate his ability to conjure fresh relationships of form and color.
Essay continues on page 14
New Arctic, 1972 - 1973
Acrylic on canvas, 88 x 46 in
Feather Dancer, 1972
Acrylic on canvas, 99.5 x 55 in
Dan Christensen: 20-Year Survey (1969-1989)
Christensen’s early “Scrapes,” painted between 1974 and 1977, introduce some of the forms that would populate his later work including orbs and ovals. Color re-asserts itself in these canvases, often interwoven with underpainting revealed by the scraping process. Rhythmic, flowing zones of color, created by tools including brushes, fingertips and various scrapers, surround pulses of color that are assertively simple and sometimes unexpected. “You have to surprise yourself,” he once philosophized, “and if the surprise holds up you may have got something.” The “Scrapes” show Christensen reveling in a new expressive freedom brought on by a shift in methods, and the resounding response to these works showed that he had indeed “got something.”
Beginning in 1976, Christensen worked on two major bodies of work that he thought of as calligraphic, meaning that the physical gestures were recorded in paint. The “Calligraphic Stains,” which were produced by pouring layers of paint into raw canvas laid on the floor, stimulated Christensen to improvise shapes that often have a connection to nature and landscape. By working his surfaces as the paint soaked in and dried, he was able to find forms that were intuitively right for the mood of each developing composition. The "Calligraphic Scrapes,” extend the improvisational quality of the earlier scrapes, adding drips, linear flurries, and groups of parallel lines made using a rake. The energy of these works reflects Christensen’s affection for the tradition of “Action Painting,” while also contrasting its energies with a restraint gleaned from Minimalism.
In 1988, when he returned to using the spray gun, to create his “Sprays/Portraits” series, Christensen’s years of experimentation enriched the results. Luminous, mysterious, and strikingly spiritual, they are portals to a personal universe of creation and experience. These late spray paintings have a sense of Zen that stems from Christensen’s commitment to the experience of painting as a practice that requires continued dedication and growth. These late spray works rank among Christensen’s finest and most desirable creations.
Dan Christensen's fresh and expressive protean creativity captured the attention of major collectors and museums early on and throughout his career. His remarkable gift as a superb colorist, his virtuosic command of lighting, and his commitment to constant experimentation continue to make his works of enduring value today to newer generations of art world aficionados.
- John Seed
Low Rider, 1981
Acrylic on canvas, 98 x 57.50 in
Voodoo Trucker, 1970, Enamel on canvas, 90 x 79.25 in
Cloud 9, 1984
18
Acrylic on canvas, 66 x 55.50 in
Georgica Prince, 1984, Acrylic on canvas, 66.5 x 57.5 in
20 Night Garden, 1984
Acrylic on canvas, 80.25 x 38.50 in
21 Untitled, 1986, Acrylic on canvas, 89 x 67 in
Cairo, 1985
Acrylic on canvas, 78.25 x 51.25x 1 in
Jungle Dance, 1985
Acrylic on canvas, 78.50 x 44 in
3-Panel Folding Screen, 1989
Acrylic on wood panel on alumninum frame, 65.50 x 75 in
Luna Moth, 1972
Acrylic on canvas, 100.50 x 52 in
Shinnecock II, 1972
Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 42 in
Bayshore Baby, 1984, Acrylic on canvas, 54.50 x 50 in
Evergreen Midway, 1983, Acrylic on canvas, 52 x 50 in
Land's End,
1971, Acrylic and enamel on canvas, 78 x 116.5 in
Doxy II, 1980, Acrylic on canvas, 66.50 x 51 in
Feax, 1981, Acrylic on canvas, 59.25 x 66.25 in
Piranah Salad, 1981
Acrylic on canvas, 100.50 x 55 in
Rough Rider, 1981
Acrylic on canvas, 88.5 x 67 in
Pendulum Cove, 1975, Acrylic on canvas, 40.25 x 26 in
Lunar Light,
1972, Acrylic on canvas, 91.50 x 48.50 in
38 Changzhou, 1981, Acrylic on canvas, 68 x 58.5 in
Cannon Green, 1972, Enamel and acrylic on canvas, 90.75 x 75.75 in
Creek Treaty, 1982
Acrylic on canvas, 28.50 x 81.50 in
South
Street, 1982, Acrylic on cavns, 59.75 x 51.75 in
43 Electric Avenue, 1983, Acrylic on canvas, 66.5
x 55.5 in
Razorback, 1984
Acrylic on canvas, 65.5 x 45.75 in
Congo Blues, 1984
Acrylic on canvas, 49.25 x 86.75 in
Untitled, 1978, Acrylic on canvas, 57 x 59 x 1 in
Untitled, 1982, Acrylic on canvas, 83 x 79 in
Laurel Canyon, 1969, Acrylic on canvas, 23 x 115 in
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
Born: 1942, Cozad, NE
Died: 2007, East Hampton, NY
Museum Collections:
Albrecht Art Gallery, St. Joseph, MO
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA
The Butler Institute Of American Art, Youngstown, OH
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Detroit Institute of the Arts, Detroit, MI
Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Kunstmuseum, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Ludwig Collection in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne, Germany
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Robert Rowan Collection, Pasadena, CA
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Awards:
1992 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant
1986 Gottlieb Foundation Grant
1969 Guggenheim Fellowship Theodoran Award
1968 National Endowment Grant
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2024 Calligraphic Stains & Scrapes, Berry Campbell, New York, NY
2022 The Painter’s Painter, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
The Harmonious Turbulence of the Universe, Berry Campbell, New York, NY
2019 Stains and Loops, LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
Early Spray Paintings, Berry Campbell, New York, NY
2017 Late Calligraphic Stains, Berry Campbell, New York, NY
2015 Berry/Campbell, New York, NY
LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2014 Spanierman Modern, New York, NY
2013 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2011 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2011 Spanierman Modern, New York, NY
2011 The Armory Show at the Chelsea Piers (Spanierman Modern), New York, NY
2010 Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
2009 Dan Christensen: Forty Years of Painting, Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE
Spanierman Modern, New York, NY
LewAllen Galleries at the Railyard, Santa Fe, NM
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
2008 Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL: Dan Christensen: Paintings
2007 Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
Spanierman Modern, New York, NY
2006 Pamela Williams Gallery, Amagansett, NY
2005 Skot Foreman Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2004 Ed Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
2002-03 Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY (retrospective)
2001-02 Dan Christensen: A 40 Year Survey, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
2001 Dorothy Blau Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
2000 Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
CS. Schulte Galleries, Millburn, NJ
1999 Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
1998 Dorothy Blau Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
CS. Schulte Galleries, Millburn, NJ
1995 Jaffe Baker Blau, Boca Raton, FL
CS. Schulte Galleries, Millburn, NJ
1994 Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
Gallery ISM, Seoul, Korea
1993 ACA Galleries, New York, NY
Eva Cohon Gallery, Chicago, IL
Vered Gallery, East Hampton, NY
1991 Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, Beverly Hills, CA (with John Griefen)
1990 Vered Gallery, East Hampton, NY
1989 Vered Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, FL
1988 Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
1987 Lincoln Center Gallery, New York, NY
Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
1984 Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
Lincoln Center Gallery, New York, NY
Meredith Long and Company, Houston, TX
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Bank of America, San Francisco, CA
Il punto blu, Southampton, New York, NY
Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS
1983 Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
Lincoln Center Gallery, New York, NY
Carson Sapiro Gallery, Denver, CO
1982 Ivory/Kimpton Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
1981 Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
Gallery 700, Milwaukee, WI
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Meredith Long and Company, Houston, TX
Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, FL
Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
1980
1979
Meredith Long Contemporary Gallery, New York , NY
Meredith Long and Company, Houston, TX
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
University of Nebraska at Omaha Art Gallery, Omaha, NE
Meredith Long Contemporary Gallery, New York, NY
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Meredith Long and Company, Houston, TX
1978
1977
1976
Meredith Long Contemporary Gallery, New York, NY
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Meredith Long and Company, Houston, TX
Gloria Luria Gallery, Miami, FL
B.R. Kornblatt Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
Watson/de Nagy Gallery, Houston, TX
1975 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
1974
Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis, MO
Rothman’s Art Gallery, Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
Jared Sable Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1973 Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1972 Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
1971 Galerie Ricke, Cologne, Germany
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
1970 Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
1969 Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY
1968 Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Ricke, Cologne, Germany
1967 Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2025 "Grafitti," Museion, Bolzano, Italy
2024 "In Focus: Color Field," Berry Cambell, New York, NY
"Art Market Miami," Sponder Gallery, Miami, FL
2023 "East End Collected," Southampton Art Center, Southampton, NY
2022 "Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary," West Palm Beach, FL
2021 "Market Art + Design," Bridgehampton, NY
2019 "Art on Paper," Sponder Gallery, Pier 36, New York, NY
2013 “New York Color Field,” LewAllen Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ
2011 “It’s All Good!” Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
2010 “Painterly Abstraction: 7 Painters,” LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2010 “Colorscope: Abstract Painting, 19601979,” Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2010 “Spray,” D’Amilio-Teras Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY
2010 “Max’s Kansas City: Macho-aholic Painters and Some Women, Too,” Loretta Howard Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY
2009 “Expanding Boundaries: Lyrical Abstraction: Selections from the Permanent Collection,” Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
“Gallery Selections: Dan Christensen, Jasmina Danowski, Elaine Grove, Frank Wimberley,” Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
2008 “An East End Tradition: Six Artists,”
Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Gallery Selections: Modern Exposure,” Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
2007 “Das Kapital. Blue Chips & Masterpieces,” Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
“High Times, Hard Times: New York
Painting 1967-1975,” National Academy Museum, New York, NY
Los Angeles Art Show (exhibited by LewAllen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM) at Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, CA
2006 Pamela Williams Gallery, Amagansett, NY
“On Paper – From Sketch to Showpiece,” Spanierman Modern, New York, NY
“Long Island Abstraction 1950s to Present,” Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting 1967-1975,” Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
“War Is Over,” Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
2005 “Sweet Temptations – Dialogue mit der Sammlung Rolf Ricke,” Kunstmuseum
St. Gallen, Switzerland
“Art and the Garden,” Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Artists and Nature on Eastern Long Island: 1940s to the Present,” Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Works on Paper,” Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
“Wilder—A Tribute to the Nicholas Wilder Gallery,” Joan T. Washburn Gallery and Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY
“Then and Now—Artists of the East End,” Remy Toledo Gallery, New York NY
Pamela Wilson Gallery, East Hampton, NY
2004 Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
Lizan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
“Springs Invitational,” Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, NY
2003 “Black and White,” Lizan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
“Big Canvas - Paintings from the Permanent Collection,” Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE
The Hamptons-Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY
2002 Sideshow Gallery, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York
Lizan Tops Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Einfach Kunst. Sammlung Rolf Ricke,” Neues Museum, Nürenberg, Germany
2001 “Clement Greenberg: A Critic’s collection,” Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
1999 “The Art of Absolute Desire,” New York, NY
1998 “Richard Bellamy Memorial Show,” P.S.1, Queens, NY
“Abstraction II,” Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
“The Fanelli Show,” O.K. Harris Gallery, New York, NY
“Regatta 98,” Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1997 “New York - Abstract,” Gershwin Gallery, New York, NY
1995 “Seven Painters,” Nicholas Alexander Gallery, New York, NY
1994 “1969: A Year Reconsidered,” Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY
Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
1993 “Important Works by Modern Masters,” CS. Schulte Galleries, Millburn, NJ
Small Paintings: Big Issues,” Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
“Eight Painters: Abstraction in the Nineties,”
Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
1992 “Les heros de la peinture americaine: L’exhibition inaugurale,” Galerie Gerald Piltzer, Paris, France
Vered Art Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Celebrating Formalism,” CS. Schulte Galleries, South Orange, NJ
1991 “Present Tense,” Ashawagh Hall (Springs), East Hampton, NY
“Berlin: Inaugural Exhibition,” SalanderO’Reilly Galleries, Berlin, Germany
1990 Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
“Before the Field: Paintings from the 60s,”
Daniel Newburgh Gallery, New York, NY
1989
Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
Deson-Saunders Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Important Works on Paper,” Meredith Long & Company, Houston, TX
1988 Vered Art Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Farbfeldmalerei New York 1968” (with Lawrence Stafford and Peter Young), Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne, West Germany
1987 “10th Season Gala Opening,” Vered Art Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Opening Exhibition,” Douglas Drake Gallery, New York, NY
Soghor, Leonard & Associates, New York, NY
Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, MI (with sculptor Jay Lefkowitz)
“Gone Fishing,” Graham Modern Gallery, New York, NY
1986
1985
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
“Artists of the Region Invitational,” Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO
“Color Abstraction,” Baruch College Gallery, New York, NY
Vered Gallery, East Hampton, NY
“Pop Op Plus,” Spencer Museum, Lawrence, KS
“Philip Johnson: Selected Gifts,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1983 “Special Projects,” P.S. 1, Long Island City, Queens, NY
Adam L. Gimbel Gallery, New York, NY
Sarah Y. Rentschler Gallery, Bridghampton,
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
NY
Oil & Steel Gallery, New York, NY
Carson Sapiro Gallery, Denver, CO
1982 “Color II,” Martha White Gallery, Louisville, KY
“Points of View: 1982,” The University of Oklahoma at Norman, Norman, OK
Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
“Miro in America,” The Museum of Fine Arts
Houston, Houston, TX
“Contemporary Paintings and Sculpture II: 1950-1981,” Oil & Steel Gallery, Long Island City, Queens, NY
“Americans on Paper,” Meredith Long and Company, Houston, TX
“46th Annual National Midyear Show,” Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, OH
1981 “New Work on Paper I,” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (also shown at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and at The La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art)
“Works on Paper,” Harcus Krakow Gallery, Boston, MA
Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, NY
“Kansas City,” Sheldon Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
“Dealer’s Choice,” University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO
Oil & Steel Gallery, Long Island City, Queens, NY
Sarah Y. Rentschler Gallery, Bridghampton, NY
1980 “Dan Christensen/Carl Gliko - Recent Paintings,” Carson Sapiro Gallery, Denver, CO
“Works on Paper,” Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY
1979 “Intrigue in Form and Structure” (with sculptor Marilyn Gelman-Pereira), Zolla/Liberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
1978 “Expressionism in the 70’s,” University of Nebraska, Omaha, NE
1977
1976
1975
“American Masters of the 60’s and 70’s,”
Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, TN
“Collector’s Choice,” Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
“New Abstract Art,” Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
“Bannard, Christensen, Olitski, Poons,” Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
“Works on Paper,” Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
“Freedom in Art,” Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
“El lenguaje del Color,” Museo Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
B.R. Kornblatt Gallery, Baltimore, MD
“Report from SoHo,” Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY
“Image, Color and Form,” Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
“American Art since 1960,” Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
1974
“Contemporary American Colorfield
Painting,” Douglas Drake Gallery, Kansas City, MO
Greenberg Gallery, St. Louis, MO
1973
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Gallery Alexandera Monett, Brussels, Belgium
“Paintings,” Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA
1972 “Abstract Painting in the 70’s,” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
“New Abstract Painting,” Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
1973
Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
“Color-Field Painting to Post-Color
Abstraction,” Sales & Rental Gallery, NelsonAtkins
Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
1971
“Group Show,” Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York, NY
“Art of the Decade 1960-70: Paintings from the Collections of Greater Detroit,”
Oakland University, Rochester, MI
“The Structure of Color,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
“Lyrical Abstraction,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
“Six Painters,” Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY (also shown at The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1971-72, and at the Milwaukee Art Center, 1972)
“The Deluxe Show,” Houston, TX
“Spray,” Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1970 “Color and Field 1890-1970,” Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY (also shown at Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH, 1971, and at the Cleveland Museum, Cleveland, OH, 1971)
“Color,” The Katonah Gallery, New York, NY
“Young Artists/New York,” Locksley Shea Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
1969 Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Corcoran Museum Biennial, Washington, DC
“Theodoran Award Group,” Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
“Here and Now,” Washington University Gallery of Art, St. Louis, MO
“Contemporary American Painting & Sculpture from the Collection of Mr. & Mrs. Eugene M. Schwartz,” Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
(also shown at the University Art Gallery, Albany, NY, 1969-70)
“Highlights of the 1968-69 Art Season,” The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
The George Waterman Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
1968 “Recent Acquisitions,” Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York, NY
Galerie Ricke, Kassel, Germany
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
1967 Galerie Zwiner, Cologne, Germany
Whitney Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1966 Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH
Bianchini Gallery, New York, NY
Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York, NY
1965 Green Gallery, New York, NY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(in chronological order):
Kozloff, Max. “Light as Surface: Ralph Humphrey and Dan Christensen.” Artforum February 1968: 26-30.
Martin, Ann Ray, and Howard Junker. “The New Art: It’s Way, Way Out.” Newsweek 29 July 1968: 56-63.
Rose, B[arbara]. “Gallery without Walls.” Art in America March/April 1968: 71.
Wasserman, Emily. “Corcoran Biennial.” Artforum April 1969: 71-74.
Welish. “Art.” Manhattan East 23 May 1969: 2.
Anonymous. “To See, To Feel, Painting—Dervish Loops.” Time 30 May 1969: 64.
Glueck, Grace. “Like a Beginning.” Art in America May/June 1969: 116-19.
Terbell, Melinda. Arts Magazine June 1969: 2.
Anonymous. “Art in New York, Midtown, Dan
Christensen.” Time 6 June 1969: 2.
Gruen, John. “The Whoosh in the Work.” New York Magazine 9 June 1969: 57.
Hager, Moses. “Christensen Paintings—Splashy.” The Jersey Journal 9 July 1969.
Wasserman, Emily. “New York.” Artforum Summer
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
1969: 61-62.
Anonymous. Arts Magazine Summer 1969: 60.
Anonymous. Highlights of the 1968-69 Art Season. Ridgefield, Connecticut: Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Summer 1969.
Davis, Douglas M. “This Is the Loose-Paint Generation.” The National Observer 4 August 1969: 20.
Burton, Scott. Art News September 1969: 16.
David, Marilyn. “Thedford at the Guggenheim.” Omaha World Herald Magazine of the Midlands 28 September 1969: 30.
Aldrich, Larry. “Young Lyrical Painters.” Art in America November/December 1969: 104-113.
Robbins, Daniel. Beyond Minimalism. The George Waterman Collection, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, October 22-November 23, 1969 [catalogue]
Anonymous. “Dan Christensen.” Nine Young Artists, Theodoran Awards. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1969.
Anonymous. Kunstmarkt 1969. Cologne, Germany, 1969.
Ratcliff, Carter. “The New Informalists.” Art News February 1970: 46-50.
Curtis, Charlotte. “When Ethel Scull Redecorates, it is Art News.” The New York Times 27 February 1970: 33.
Colt, Priscilla. Some Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Painting.” Dayton Art Institute Bulletin 28 (March 1970): 14.
Davis, Douglas. “The New Color Painters.” Newsweek 4 May 1970: 84-85.
Plagens, Peter. Artforum May 1970: 82-83.
Channin, Richard. “New Directions in Painterly Abstraction.” Art International September 1970; 6264.
Domingo, Willis. “Color Abstractionism: A Survey of Recent American Paintings.” Arts Magazine
December 1970: 39.
Glueck, Grace. “A Happy New Year?” Art in America January/February 1971: 26-27.
Mikotaynh, A. Review. Arts Magazine March 1971: 63-64.
C. R. “Reviews and Previews.” Art News March 1971: 17.
Pincus-Witten, Robert. “New York.” Artforum April 1971: 75.
Henning, Edward B. “Color and Field.” Art International May 1971: 46-50.
Ratcliff, Carter. “New York Letter: Spring, Part III.” Art International Summer 1971: 95-99, 105.
Siegel, Jeanne. “Around Barnett Newman.” Art News October 1971: 42-43.
Anonymous. Galeriehaus Koeln 4 (1971): 24-25.
Tucker, Marcia. The Structure of Color. New York: Whitney Museum, 1971.
Wood, James N. Six Painters. Buffalo, New York: Albright-Knox Gallery, 1971.
Coe, Ralph T. [Catalogue.] Kansas City, MO: NelsonAtkins Museum of Art, 1972.
Elderfield, John. Art International Summer 1972:
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
85-95.
Kramer, Hilton. The New York Times 28 October 1972: 23.
Siegel, Jeanne. Art News November 1972: 79.
Moffett, Kenworth. Abstract Painting of the 70s. Boston, Massachusetts: Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 1972.
Masheck, Joseph. Artforum January 1973: 91-92.
Anonymous. Art International February 1973: 44-45.
Bowling, Frank. “A Modest Proposal.” Arts Magazine February 1973: 58.
Monte, James K. Six New York Artists. Paintings. Phildelphia, Pennsylvania: Moore College of Art, 1973. Von Baron, Judith. Arts Magazine June 1974: 68.
Wilkin, Karen. “Dan Christensen: Recent Paintings.”
Art International Summer 1974: 57.
Baker, Kenneth. Art in America Summer 1974: 107.
Bell, Jane. Arts Magazine May 1975: 7.
Anonymous. Artforum May 1975: 74.
Anonymous. “Ausstellung.” Art International June 1975: 74.
Marshall, W. Neil. Arts Magazine June 1975: 21. Crossley, Mimi. “Art: Reginato and Christensen at Watson/de Nagy.” Houston Post 19 February 1976: 6BB.
Moser, Charlotte. “New York Artists Contrast Points of View.” Houston Chronicle 20 February 1976: 2.
Hoffman, Donald. “Color in Paints, Markers, Lights and Fabrics.” Kansas City Star 22 February 1976: 6E.
Anonymous. Art International April/May 1976: 55-56.
Hoesterey, Ingeborg. “Ausstellung.” Art International
Summer 1976: 31-32.
Gold, Barbara. “Not Better, Just Better Packaged.” Baltimore Sun 21 November 1976: D2.
Fenton, Terry. New Abstract Art. Edmonton, Alberta: Edmonton Art Gallery, 1977.
Melcher, Victoria. Kansas City Magazine Feb. 1978. Dunn, Marietta. “Painter Swimming in Mainstream of Art.” Kansas City Star 16 April 1978.
Walling, Michael. “Dan Christensen at the Douglas Drake Gallery.” Forum. Kansas City Artists Coalition, 1978.
Doe, Donald. Expressionism in the Seventies. Omaha, Nebraska: University of Nebraska at Omaha Gallery, 1978.
Anonymous. American Masters of the Sixties and Seventies: Selections from the Collection of Jan and Ronald Greenberg. Memphis, Tennessee: Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, 1978.
Glueck, Grace. “Dan Christensen.” The New York Times 16 March 1979: 24.
Ashbery, John. “Out of Left Field.” New York Magazine 2 April 1979: 68.
Sturges, Hollister. “Interview with Dan Christensen.” Forum. Kansas City Artists Coalition, Summer 1979.
Monte, James K. “Art.” Adelina Magazine Vol. 14, No. 1 (January 1980).
Doe, Donald. Dan Christensen: Paintings from the 70s. Omaha, Nebraska: University of Nebraska at Omaha, 1980.
Tatransky, Valentin. “Dan Christensen at Meredith Long Contemporary.” Arts Magazine April 1980.
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
Elderfield, John. New Work on Paper. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1981.
Kramer, Hilton. “Art: Show of New Works Sets Example at Modern.” The New York Times 13 February 1981.
Kramer, Hilton. The New York Times 27 February 1981.
Larson, Kay. “Drawing on Strength.” New York 9 March 1981: 58-61.
Ashbery, John. “Pleasures of Paperwork.”
Newsweek 16 March 1981: 93-94.
Tatransky, Valentin. “New Work in New York.” Museum Magazine July/August 1981: 64-68.
Carpenter, Ken. The Heritage of Jack Bush: A Tribute. Oshawa, Ontario: The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 1981.
Glowen, Ron. Vanguard [Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia] April 1982: 33-34.
Anonymous. Mirò in America. Houston, TX: The Museum of Fine Arts, 1982.
Tatransky, Valentin. Review. Arts Magazine May 1982: 11.
Hoffmann, Donald. “Masterly Technique Distilled.” Kansas City Star 23 May 1982: 10G.
Anonymous. 46th Annual National Midyear Show: 1982. Youngstown, Ohio: The Butler Institute of American Art, 1982.
Price, Max. “Abstract Art Proves To Be Alive and Well.” Denver Post 31 July 1983
Dalphonse, Sherri. “The Season: Art & Artist.” Hamptons Newspaper/Magazine 14 June 1984: 8.
Anonymous. “At ‘Il punto blu’: Dan Christensen.” Suffolk Summer Life 15 June 1984: 16.
Siegel, Jeanne. Artwords: Discourse on the 60s and 70s. Studies in the Fine Arts: The Avant-Garde, No. 47. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1985.
Long, Robert. “Three at Vered.” East Hampton Star 9 May 1985: 8.
Anonymous. “Guild Hall Spotlights 11 East Enders.”
Southampton Press 7 August 1986: B7.
Slivka, Rose C.S. “From the Studio.” East Hampton Star 21 August 1986, Sec. II: 9.
Anonymous. “Bank Wins Works From Eleven Painters Exhibit.” The Light 21 August 1986: 13.
Lipson, Karin. “Works by the East End’s ‘New Blood.’” Newsday/Weekend 22 August 1986: 25.
Braff, Phyllis. “11 East End Painters Illustrate Bold New Trends.” The New York Times 14 September 1986.
Long, Robert. “Perspectives: 11 Painters on View at Guild Hall.” The Southampton Press 18 September 1986: B4.
Slivka, Rose C.S. “From the Studio.” East Hampton Star 4 June 1987, Sec. 2: 9.
Moffett, Kenworth. Moffett’s Artletter Vol. 2., No. 10 (Dec. 1987): 75.
Long, Robert. “Perspective.” Southampton Press 2 June 1988: B7.
Slivka Rose C.S. “From the Studio.” East Hampton Star 2 June 1988: MacMillan, Kyle. “Nebraska Native Is Successful in N.Y. as Abstract Painter.” Sunday World-Herald
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
[Omaha] 11 December 1988: 21.
Moffett, Kenworth. Moffett’s Artletter Vol. 3, No. 4 (Dec. 1988): 160-61.
Cameron, Dan. Review of “Before the Field: Paintings from the 60s,” at the Daniel Newburgh Gallery. Flash Art 152 (May/June 1990).
Sansegundo, Sheridan. “At the Galleries.” East Hampton Star 31 May 1990, Sec. II: 10.
Leigh, Candace. “Dan Christensen.” Hamptons Magazine 1 June 1990: 27.
Slivka, Rose C.S. “From the Studio.” East Hampton Star 7 June 1990, Sec. 2: 11.
Long, Robert. “One-Man Shows at 2 Galleries Feature Well-Established Artists.” Southampton Press 7 June 1990: 17.
Braff, Phyllis. “Social and Political Situations.” The New York Times, Long Island Weekly [supplement], 17 June 1991: 17.
Bard, Elin A. “Various Mediums at the Springs Gallery.” Dan’s Papers 7 June 1991: 29.
Braff, Phyllis. “Contemporary Styles and Directions.” The New York Times, Long Island Weekly [supplement], 16 June 1991: 12.
Slivka, Rose C.S. “From the Studio.” East Hampton Star 20 June 1991, Sec. 2: 9.
Monte, James [K.]. Dan Christensen: The Circular Paintings. New York: Salander O’Reilly Galleries, Inc., 1991.
Smith, Roberta. “A Color Field Painter from the 60’s to Now.” The New York Times 2 August 1991: C23.
Bass, Ruth. “Dan Christensen.” Art News Nov. 1991:
136.
Kandel, Susan. “L.A. in Review.” Arts Magazine Nov. 1991: 97.
Adams, Brooks. “Dan Christensen at Salander-O’Reilly and Douglas Drake.” Art in America December 1991: 107-108.
Slivka, Rose C.S. “From the Studio.” East Hampton Star 4 June 1992.
Rosenbaum, Lee. “If It’s Not Popular, That’s Just Too Bad.” The New York Times 7 March 1993, Sec. H: 3334.
Sunward, Justin H. “Incredibly Delicious.” Gay Chicago 1 July 1993: 33.
Wei, Lilly. “Dan Christensen at ACA Galleries.” Art in America July 1993: 99.
Anonymous. “Dan Christensen, Rhythmical Color.” Sun Storm Summer 1993: 32-33.
Schwabsky, Barry. “Dan Christensen: ACA Galleries.” Artforum October 1993: 91.
Kennedy, Donald. “Art Facts & Artifacts.” The Independent [East Hampton, NY] 6 October 1993: 27. Cotter, Holland. “Art in Review—‘1969: A Year Revisited.’” The New York Times 15 July 1994: C23. Cotter, Holland. “Art in Review.” The New York Times 22 July 1994: C24.
Moffett, Kenworth. Preface. Dan Christensen [catalogue]. Seoul, Korea: Gallery ISM, 1994.
Pardee, Hearne. “Dan Christensen.” ARTnews 94.1 (January 1995): 165-66.
Lawrence, Josh. “Dan Christensen-Overdue For A Resurgence.” East Hampton Star, 3 August 1995.
Dan Christensen (1942–2007)
Wilkin, Karen, “At The Galleries.” Partisan Review, Fall 1999: pp. 640-652 (photo).
Heartney, Eleanor, “Dan Christensen and Ronnie Landfield at Salander O”Reilly.” Art in America, February 2001: pp.146-147 (photo).
Ernst, Eric. “Three Galleries Reflect Healthy Art Scene.” Southampton Press, 29 August 2002.
Long, Robert. “Literal to Literary.” East Hampton Star, 5 September 2002.
Slivka, Rose. “From the Studio.” East Hampton Star, 14 November 2002.
Rogers, Pat. “Christensen Reflects on Retrospective at Parrish.” Southampton Press, 14 November 2002.
Harrison, Helen A. “Landscapes of Fantasy, and a Devotion to Color.” The New York Times 8 December 2002.
Ernst, Eric. “Artists, Not Ideas are Focus at Parrish.” Southampton Press 19 December 2002.
Crum, Katherine B. Dan Christensen—Reflections on a Retrospective. Southampton, NY: The Parrish Art Museum, 2002.
Gilmore, Jonathan. “Dan Christensen at Ed Thorp.” Art in America 1 March 2005.
Long, Robert. “Variations on a Theme.” East Hampton Star, 20 July 2006.
LaRocco, Ben. “High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting 1967-1975.” Brooklyn Rail, February 2007. Smith, Roberta. “Painting in the Heady Days, After It Was Proclaimed Dead.” New York Times, 16 February 2007.
Saltz, Jerry. “Get Me A Brush, Stat!” New York Magazine, 15 April 2007. Wilkin, Karen. “Dan Chrsitensen: Funky Line, Fluid Beat.” Art in America, June-July 2007.
Rubinstein, Raphael. “It’s Not Made by Great Men.” Art in America, September 2007. Elle Décor, “Color Your World,” Elle Décor, Jan-Feb. 2009, p. 99
Landfield, Ronnie. “Remembering Dan Christensen.” Linea, Vol 13, No. 1, Spring 2009.
Plagens, Peter. “Preview: Dan Christensen: Forty Years of Painting.” Artforum, May 2009. Wilkin, Karen. Dan Christensen: Forty Years of Painting, Kemper Museum of Art, 2009.
MacMillan, Kyle. “Reviews: Dan Christensen at the Kemper Museum of Art,” Artforum, November 2009. Smith, Roberta. “Spray! Paula Apfelbaum/ Nicole Cherubini,” The New York Times, July 16, 2010.
Dan Christensen in his studio, c. 1960s
