ROBERT INDIANA

BORN:         1928, New Castle, IN (born Robert Clark)

EDUCATION:

1953-54       BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL   
1954            Attended the Edinburgh College of Art, Scotland, on the George Brown Traveling Fellowship

OVERVIEW

Although Robert Indiana came to prominence during the 1960s as a Pop artist, his concerns have always differed greatly from those of his contemporaries. National cultural identity has always held more interest for Indiana than the mass media and trappings of consumer culture. As a self-styled American icon, his influences, methods, and outlook mirror that of his native country. What distinguishes Indiana from his Pop colleagues is the depth of his personal engagement with his subject matter: America and American life.

Indiana's works all speak to the vital forces that have shaped American culture in the last half of the 20th century: personal and national identity, political and social upheaval and stasis, the rise of consumer culture, and the pressures of history. In a word, the American Dream.
                                From the essay, “Love and the American Dream: The Art of Robert Indiana,” Portland Museum of Art, Maine

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

2009            “Robert Indiana and the Star of HOPE,” Farnsworth Art Museum, Vinalhaven, Maine

2008            "Pressing Issues", Des Moines Art center, Des Moines, IA
                    "Pop and Op", Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY

2007            "Art Market Now", The Columns, Seoul, South Korea          

2006            "Life as a Legend - Marilyn Monroe", Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL     

2005            "Made in USA – Ausgewählte Graphik", Galerie & Edition Bode GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany
                    "Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era", Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
                    "Do it yourself - Positionen von den sechziger Jahren bis Heute", Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum
                                    für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
                    "40 Jahre Galerie Thomas", Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany      

2004–05      "Robert Indiana 66: Paintings and Sculpture", Price Tower Arts Centers, Bartlesville, OK

2003            "Letters, Words and Numbers", L & M Gallery, New York, NY
1999            “Love and the American Dream: The Art of Robert Indiana,” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME

1998            Retrospective, Musée d'Art Moderne Contemporain, Nice, France

1991            "Prints Retrospective", Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York, NY

1990            "Prints as Process", Baxter Gallery, Portland School of Art, MA

1986            "Vinalhaven Press 1985-1986", Portland Museum of Art, MA

1982            "Indiana's Indianas: A 25 Year Retrospective of Paintings and Sculptures from the Collection of
                                    Robert Indiana", National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

1978            "Art about Art", Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY               

1977-78       Museum retrospective traveling to: University Art Museum, University of Texas, Austin, TX;
                        Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, VA; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN;
                        The Neuberger Museum, State University of NY, Purchase, NY; The Art Center, South Bend, IN       

1976            "Thirty Years of American Art", Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY, curated by Gene Baro,

1975-76       Solo Exhibition, Galerie Denise Rene, New York, NY (also 1972)

1975            "American Art Since 1945", Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

1972            "The Modern Image", High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

1969-70       "The Prints and Posters of Robert Indiana", New England tour originating at St. Mary's College,
                        Notre Dame, Indiana. Traveling to: Colby College of Art Museum, Waterville, ME; Currier Gallery
                        of Art, Manchester, NH; Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Bowdoin College Museum
                        of Art, Brunswick, ME; and Brandeis University, Waltham, MA    

1969            "70 Years of American Art", Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY               

1968            First solo museum exhibition, traveling to The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA;
                                    Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; and Herron Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
                     "Word and Image", Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY     

1967            Ninth Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil    

1966            "LOVE" Exhibition at Stable Gallery, New York, NY
                    "1966 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Sculpture", Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY
                    Galerie Alfred Schmela, Dusseldorf, Germany
                    Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany      

1965            "Word and Image", Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
                    "1965 Annual Exhibition of American Paintings", Whitney Museum of Art, NY

1964            Solo Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

1963            "Americans 1963", Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY                          
                     Two-Person Exhibition with Richard Stankiewicz, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis,
                           MN, traveling to The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
                    "New Realists", Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY       

1962            First Solo Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

1961            "The Art of Assemblage", Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY     

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

Albright-Knox Gallery of Art, Buffalo, New York
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
Allentown Museum of Art, Allentown, PA
Baltimore Museum of Art, MD
Brandeis Museum, Waltham, MA
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Detroit Institute of Art, MI
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA               
Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam, The Netherlands
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

SELECTED AWARDS & HONORS

1981            Received Honorary Doctoral Degree from Colby College, Waterville, MA   

1977            Awarded Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree, University of Indiana, Bloomington, IN

1973            Designed the famous multi-colored "Love" United States postage stamp                     

1970            Received Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA    

1964            Worked with Andy Warhol on the film Eat, and created a six meter sign reading EAT
                        for The New York State Pavilion during the New York World's Fair 

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2006            Wilmerding John, Pissarro Joachim, Robert Pincus-Witten and Peter Halley.
                    Robert Indiana: The Artist and His Work 1955 - 2005. New York: Rizzoli           

2000            Ryan, Susan E. Robert Indiana: Figures of Speech. Connecticut: Yale University Press
                    Pissarro, Joachim, Depotte, Helene. Robert Indiana: Retrospective 1958-1998.
                    Washington: University of Washington Press

1999            Indiana, Robert. Love and the American Dream: The Art of Robert Indiana.
                    Portland: Portland Museum of Art  

1992            Sheehan, Susan . Robert Indiana Prints: A Catalogue Raisonne 1951-1991. New
                           York: Susan Sheehan Gallery

1990            Carl J Weinhardt. Robert Indiana. New York: Harry N. Abrams

1969            Indiana, Robert. Robert Indiana: Graphics. Indiana: Department of Art of Saint Mary's College

1968            Indiana, Robert. Robert Indiana, Connecticut: Falcon Press

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