Kenneth Price
Ken Price, 1965. Image courtesy Ken Price Studio
Kenneth Price was born in California in 1935 and is noted primarily for his work in ceramics, though he also established a reputation as a printmaker. Price worked at Gemini GEL between 1970 and 1971 where he created his Figurine cup series, from which several prints feature in the Kenneth Tyler collection. Price's creative influences range from Mexican and indigenous American Indian folk pottery, to Japanese ceramics. His print and ceramic work features bright, pure colour.
This is well demonstrated by the Figurine cup series, in which bold colour is employed in geometric patterns reminiscent of Mexican weaving. Drawing inspiration from his ceramic practice, Price slyly included a ceramic cup with an erotically posed female nude acting as its handle against these geometric backdrops.
Emilie Owens
Works in the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection
-
Figurine cup III
1970
Chronology
1935 Born in Los Angeles, California, United States of America; as a child becomes fascinated with Mexican folk pottery and Oriental ceramic art
1956 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Southern California, Los Angeles; attends Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles to study with Peter Voulkos
1959 Masters of Fine Arts, New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University
1962 Included in exhibition, Fifty Californian artists, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York; travels to Japan to study Japanese ceramic methods
1968 Makes first prints at Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Los Angeles
1969 Solo exhibition, at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
1970 Included in exhibitions: Contemporary American sculpture, Whitney Museum of Art; Nine print portfolios, Museum of Modern Art, New York City; completes Figurine cup series at Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles
1971 Included in exhibitions, Contemporary ceramic art, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan; Technics and creativity: Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles, Museum of Modern Art, New York City; moves to Taos, New Mexico; renews interest in Indian and Mexican folk pottery; completes Interior series at Gemini G.E.L.
1972 Included in exhibition, Contemporary American art: Los Angeles, Fort Worth Art Center Museum, Texas
1974 Included in exhibition, Clay, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
1975 Included in exhibitions: Sculpture: American directions 1945–1975, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; 30 years of American printmaking, Brooklyn Museum, New York City; completes editions of Frog cup and Mediterranean lizard cup
1976 Included in exhibition, 200 years of American sculpture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
1979 Included in exhibitions: Contemporary sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York City; Directions, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC; A century of ceramics in the United States: 1878–1978, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York
1981 Included in exhibition, Ceramic sculpture: six artists, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
1984 Included in exhibition, An international survey of recent painting and sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York City
1986 Included in exhibitions: Individuals: a selected history of contemporary art 1945–1986, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Poetry of the physical craft today, American Craft Museum, New York City
1994 Included in exhibition, Ceramic sculpture and drawings, Harwood Foundation, Museum of the University of New Mexico, Taos
2012 Kenneth Price died in New Mexico
Barbara Delano © Tyler Graphics Ltd.
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.
Further Reading
EXHIBITIONS
California Cool: Art in Los Angeles, 1960s-70s, 2018–19
NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS
- California Cool, exhibition catalogue, 2018
- Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015
KENNETH TYLER ARCHIVE
- Interior Series, 1971
