biography of Balcomb GREENE (1904-1990)

Birth place: Niagara Falls, NY

Addresses: NYC, 1932-42; Pittsburgh, PA, 1943-59; NYC, 1973

Profession: Painter, teacher, writer, editor

Studied: Syracuse Univ., 1926 (A.B., philosophy); Univ. Vienna, 1926-28 (psychology); Columbia Univ.1928; independently, at the Acad. de la Grand Chaumière, Paris, 1931-32; S. Grabowski, Paris; New York Univ., 1940 ( A.M., art history)

Exhibited: WMAA, 1938-65; WFNY, 1939 (mural for Fed. Hall Medicine); MoMA, 1939, 1940; PAFA, 1944, 1951-54, 1962 (gold), 1964 ; CI; CAM; SFMA; AIC; CPLH; Am. Abstract Artists; Milwaukee AI; Nelson Gal., Kansas-City; Corcoran Gal., 1957, 1959; AC Los Angeles, 1964; Tampa Art (FL) Inst., 1966; Santa Barbara (CA) Mus. Art, 1966; Phoenix (AZ) Art Mus., 1966; Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, Chicago, 1969; Forum Gal., NYC, 1970s; Bednarz Gal., Los Angeles, 1970s; NYC WPA Art" at Parsons School Design, 1977. Awards: Carol H. Beck Medal; Critic's Choice, ArtNews, (four times)."

Member: Am. Abstract Artists (first chairman, 1936-37, 1938-41); CAA; Fed. Mod. P&S.;Pittsburgh AA; Am. Soc. Aesthetics; Comm., Cultural Freedom; AFA; fellow, Int. Inst. Arts & Letters; Century Club.

Work: MoMA; WMAA; MMA; Guggenheim Mus., NYC; BM; AIC; BMA; CI; NMAA. Commissions: WPA mural, Williamsburg Housing Project, NYC, 1939

Comments: Greene did not pursue painting until 1931, while living in Paris with his wife Gertrude Glass Greene. By 1935 his work had become totally abstract; during the 1940s he reintroduced the human figure into his work, often set against a fragmented background. Teaching: Dartmouth College, 1928-31 (English Lit.); art history & aesthetics, Carnegie Inst. Technology, 1942-59. Publications: editor, Art Front, 1935-36.

Sources: WW73; WW47; Baigell, Dictionary; Robert Beverly Hale and NikÈ Hale, The Art of Balcomb Greene (1976); New York City WPA Art, 37 (w/repros.); American Abstract Art, 185; Falk, Exh. Record Series.