SAM HUNTER
ART HISTORIAN, 1923 - 2014
Curriculum Vitae:
Selected Activities, Publications, Exhibitions
Above and below, one of Sam's earliest typewritten CVs, 1957
CV continued, by Sam and Maïa Hunter:
1956-58
Museum of Modern Art, Associate Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture. Wrote the introduction for, and edited, The Museum of Modern Art, New York: The History and the Collection, which is the museum’s principal catalog of its vast artistic holdings. Arranged and wrote the catalog for Jackson Pollock’s first solo exhibition in 1956, and a major David Smith retrospective in 1957, and organized exhibitions of works by Joan Miro and Juan Gris, among others.
1958
Art Since 1945, co author, book, Harry Abrams, NY.
1958-60
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Chief Curator and Acting Director. Organized a major retrospective of Nicolas Poussin. Was responsible for organizing many outstanding exhibitions, including European Art Today, which traveled to a number of American museums. Was also responsible for numerous major acquisitions during his tenure. Smith, Guston, Francis, Kadish, Frankenthaler, Goldberg, Kohn, Leslie, Marca-Relli, Metcalf, Mitchell, Rauschenberg exhibition catalogs.
1959
Commissioner, organized the American section, V Sao Paolo Bienal exhibition in Brazil.
1959
Modern American Painting and Sculpture, book, Dell Books, NY
1960-65
Brandeis University, Founding Director of both the Rose Art Museum and Poses Institute of Fine Arts, Associate Professor of Art History. Selected exhibitions, Century of Modern European Painting, Franz Kline Memorial exhibition, James Brooks, Larry Rivers, Jack Tworkov, Not Seen and/or Less Seen of/by Marcel Duchamp/Rose Selavy 1904-1964, Recent Acquisitions Gevirtz-Mnuchin Collection. Taught class, organized and moderated panel discussions such as 'Continuity and Change in Contemporary American Art' with participants Lawrence Alloway, Dore Ashton, Henry Geldzahler, Clement Greenberg, Peter Selz; As Founding Director of the Rose Art Museum, formed the Gevirtz-Mnuchin Collection, one of the outstanding vanguard art collections in a university museum, with important contemporary works by De Kooning, Motherwell, Francis, Frankenthaler, Louis, Noland, Kelly, Katz, Rauschenberg, Johns, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rosenquist, Wesselman, Indiana, Marisol and others. Complete scrapbook in archive.
1962
Harvard University, Visiting Professor
1962
Seattle World's Fair, Organized a major exhibition of contemporary American art. Co-author Art Since 1950, book, Seattle, WA.
1964
Jury Member, 1964 Venice Biennale. Part of the group that awarded a controversial international prize to Robert Rauschenberg, and that divided another prize between Arnaldo Pomodoro and Andrea Cascella. Only American Juror.
1966-67
Columnist, wrote a syndicated monthly column on art, published by the Register and Tribune Syndicate of the Cowles publications. It appeared in 20 newspapers, including The Philadelphia Bulletin and the Detroit Free Press.
1967
New Art Around the World, co -author, Harry Abrams, NY.
1965-68
Jewish Museum, New York, Director. Organized numerous exhibitions, and wrote catalogs on contemporary artists, including Philip Guston, Jean Tinguely, Max Ernst, Larry Rivers, Yves Klein, and Ad Reinhardt, among others. Under his leadership the museum developed a diversified program of exhibitions including ‘Primary Structures’, symposia, lectures, research and community relations, both in areas of contemporary culture and Judaica. During Sam Hunter’s administration the museum doubled its attendance and acquired an international reputation as a unique and pioneering institution for its lively programs in contemporary art.
"While the Museum of Modern Art took a look at itself in the trauma of middle age, New York's two secondary museums of modern art, the Jewish Museum and the Guggenheim, stepped up their battle for title of most-up-to-date. The Jewish Museum came off better with successful shows of Kinetic Art and Primary Structures...."
- John Canaday, The New York Times
1969-1991
Professor, Department of Art and Archaeology, and Faculty Curator for Modern Art, The Art Museum, Princeton University
1970
American Art Since 1960, survey including Christo, Tom Wesselman, Larry Bell, James Rosenquist, Robert, Indiana, Wen-Ying Tsai, Charles Hinman and others. Exhibition and catalog, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, N.J.
1971
"Josef Albers", "Jean Dubuffet”, Vogue Magazine.
1971
"Jean Dubuffet", New York Times, Sunday art page.
1972
“Josef Albers”, exhibition and catalog in collaboration with Princeton graduate students, Princeton University Art Museum.
1973
Chryssa, book, Harry N. Abrams, Inc..
1973
American Art of the 20th Century, book, by Sam Hunter and John Jacobus, Published by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1973
1974
Director of exhibition “Monumenta: a biennial exhibition of outdoor sculpture”, in collaboration with Princeton University graduate students, and catalog introduction. Included artists Christo, Willem De Kooning, David Smith, Claes Oldenburg and Barnett Newman among others. Newport, RI.
1974
Director and author, Arnaldo Pomodoro, retrospective exhibition, Rotunda di via Besano, Milan, Italy.
1974
William Copley, CPLY-X-rated, exhibition and catalog, New York Cultural Center, NY, NY.
1975
Lectures at Dartmouth, Kansas City Art Institute, Whitney Museum of American Art, University of Massachusetts, articles in Arts, Vogue, New York Times Magazine.
1974-5
USIA Lecture tour on contemporary American Art, Tokyo, Kyoto, Sapporo, Fukuaka, also directed and wrote the catalog for De Kooning retrospective, Fuji Gallery, Tokyo (August and September 1975).
1975
Articles and interview with Willem De Kooning, Jardin des Arts and L'Oeil, Paris.
1975
Article, "Howard Kanovitz, Photo-Realist", Arts Magazine, NY.
1975
Introduction, Christo's Ocean/Front, Princeton University Art Museum, exhibition catalog.
1975
Modern Art, from Post Impressionism to the Present: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, (with John Jacobus), Harry Abrams, NY
1976
“Critical Perspectives in American Art”, one of three contributors to essay and exhibition for the 1976 American Section of the Venice Biennale exhibition, with Marcia Tucker and Rosalind Krauss, exhibition catalog with essays. "Field Painting" and "Narrative Art". Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, and Venice Biennale (official American representation).
1976
"Narrational Imagery: Beckley, Ruscha, Warhol" exhibition organized by Sam Hunter at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
1976
Member of Carter/Mondale Campaign "Arts and Humanities Task Force"; assisting formulating and writing position papers.
1976
The Last Time I Saw Ferus. catalog, Rosalind Krauss, Sam Hunter and Marcia Tucker. Newport Beach, California: Newport Harbor Art Museum.
1976-77
Robert Sterling Clark Visiting Professor, Clark Art Institute and Williams College Graduate Program in Art History. Prepared exhibition and catalog with Clark Institute graduate students "The Dada Surrealist Heritage in Contemporary Art" to be shown during the 1977 commencement period at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
1977
Art Consultant for New Jersey Nightly News, PBS-TV, produced programs on "Corporate Support of the Arts", "George Segal's Kent State Memorial", "Arshile Gorky's Rediscovered Murals", 1977-78
1977
Sam Hunter, "Motherwell on a Wide Screen," Art News (December 1977)
1977
Lectures: "American Abstract Expressionist Painting", San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas and "The American Contribution to Modern Art", The Alumni College, Princeton
1977
Book review, ARTnews, Dec 1977, "Robert Motherwell" (Harry Abrams, NY)
1977
Fernando Botero, exhibition catalog, Marlborough Gallery (Harry Abrams, NY)
1977-78
Art Consultant for New Jersey Nightly News, PBS-TV, produced programs on "Corporate Support of the Arts", "George Segal's Kent State Memorial", "Arshile Gorky's Rediscovered Murals".
1978
"Isamu Noguchi: The Landscape of Vision", Detroit Institute of Art
1978
Isamu Noguchi, book, Abbeville Press, NY
1978
"Isamu Noguchi", ARTnews, May 1978
1978
Book Review, "Jackson Pollock: catalog Raisonne", ARTnews, Nov 1978
1978
Co-Director and Speaker, Conference and exhibition, Business and the Arts. The Corporation and the visual arts: the Princeton University Conference, meeting number 138, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, March 23-24, 1978, by Sam Hunter; Robert Geddes; Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.; Included participants, museum directors Tom Messer of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and Tom Armstrong of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Professor Daniel Bell of Harvard, artists Isamu Noguchi and Louise Nevelson, corporate executives Irwin Miller (Cummins Engine Co.) and George Weismann (Philip Morris), among others.
1978
Kunst der Gegenwart, Propylaen Kunstgeschichte, Berlin, co author with Edward Lucie Smith and Max Vogt of the contemporary series of art history studies.
1978
Consultant on Exhibition Proposals for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
1978
Christo "Wrapped Book (Modern Art)", Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrap Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture co authored by Sam Hunter and John Jacobus with polyethylene and twine, limited edition.
1979
American Art, co author with Milton Brown, J. Jacobus et al, book, Harry Abrams, NY.
1979
Art in Business, book, Harry Abrams, NY.
1979
Twentieth Century Painting, book, Abbeville Press, NY.
1979
Lectures: "The Work of Isamu Noguchi", San Francisco Museum of Art and "Marca-Relli and Modern American Art", Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, Florida
1979
Selected to lead National Endowment for the Humanities "Summer Seminar for College Teachers" on the Princeton University Campus, on "Art Since Mid-Century".
1979
Tony Smith: Ten Elements and Throwback, exhibition catalog, Pace Gallery, NY.
1979
"Incomparable Lucidity and Passion", book review of Meyer Schapiro's Modern Art; 19th and 20th centuries, selected papers, ARTnews, April 1979
1979
Introduction to Donald Thalacker's The Place of Art in the World of Architecture, Chelsea House/RR Bowker, NY.
1979
"The Paintings of Sean Scully", Artforum Magazine, NY Nov 1979
1979
Beverly Pepper in Todi, exhibition catalog co author in connection with Sculpture Conference, Todi, Italy.
1979
Twentieth Century Painting, Abbeville Press, NY.
1980
Masters of Twentieth Century Art, book, Abbeville Press, NY.
1980
50 Masters of Modern Art, book, Abbeville Press, NY.
1980
"American Art of the Twentieth Century”, Elsevier/Phaidon Encyclopedia of the Visual Arts, 10,000 word entry.
1980
"Isamu Noguchi: 75th Birthday Exhibition”, Andre Emmerich Gallery, NY and Pace Gallery, NY. Catalog by Sam Hunter, Isamu Noguchi. Publ. by the galleries.
1981
"Aspects of Post-modernism: Decorative and Narrative Art", Squibb Gallery (Princeton, NJ); Holly Solomon Gallery (N.Y.). Exhibition and catalog by Sam Hunter. December 7, 1981-January 10, 1982.
1981
"New directions: a selection from the Commodities Corporation Art Collection", Princeton, New Jersey, exhibited at the Sidney Janis Gallery, NY. Exhibition and catalog by Sam Hunter.
1981
La Peinture Américaine Contemporaine, book, publ. Pully, Gonthier.
1982
Arnaldo Pomodoro, book, Abbeville Press, NY.
1983
Green Honors Visiting Professor, Texas Christian University.
1983
"American Abstract Expressionist Paintings, from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation", Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA. Publ. Sarah Campbell Blaffer Collection. Essay by Sam Hunter.
1983
Valerie Jaudon, Sidney Janis Gallery, NY. Catalog.
1983
"The apocalyptic vision : four new images : paintings by Nancy Chunn, Peter Dean, Micheal Dvortcsak, Robert Morgan", Gallery Bellman, NY. Catalog.
1983
"Osvaldo Romberg", Gallery Bellman, NY. Catalog.
1983
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan. "New Image/Pattern and Decoration". (from the Morton G. Neumann Family Collection), (catalog essay: Sam Hunter) March 18-May, 1983. Traveled: Madison Art Center, Wisconsin; University of Chicago, Illinois; Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan; University of Rochester, New York
1984
The Museum of Modern Art, New York: The History and the Collection, book. The Museum of Modern Art's primary catalog, first edition, published jointly by Abrams and the Museum of Modern Art.
1984
"Arman, the Day After", Marisa Del Re Gallery, NY. Exhibition and catalog by Sam Hunter.
1984
"Masters of the Sixties: from the New Realism to Pop Art", Marisa Del Re Gallery, NY. Exhibition and catalog.
1984
72nd Annual Meeting of the College Art Association of America Seminar: Response to Modernist Art, 1900-1946 : Sam Hunter, Art and Anarchy: The Sculpture of Adolph Wolf, Francis M. Naumann, Parsons School of Design, The Role of “The Little Review” in the introduction of Modernism to New York on the 1920’s, Susan Noyes Platt, Mills Collage
1984
The Education of an Artist at the End of the Twentieth Century a symposium co-sponsored by the Departments of Art and Educational Studies. University of Delaware, to be held March 15-16, 1984. Panelists will include Janet Fish, Sam Hunter, Robert Pincus-Witten, Peter Plagens, Dorothea Rockburne, Osvaldo Romberg, Joel Shapiro, Gary Stephan, and Marcia Tucker.
1984-85
"American Impressionism, The New Hope Circle", Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art and Richard Start Gallery, FL. Exhibition and catalog by Sam Hunter. Publ. Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.
1985
Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, book, by Sam Hunter and John Jacobus. Second edition, Published by Harry N. Abrams and Prentice Hall.
1985
"Selections from the Ileana and Michael Sonnabend Collection: Works from the 1950's and 1960's", Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ. Traveled to Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, Austin, TX, 8.9.-27.10.1985; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 23.11.1985-9.3.1986). Exhibition and catalog by Sam Hunter et al., Publ. by Princeton University Art Museum.
1985
Panel member, controversial Richard Serra ‘Tilted Arc’ sculpture at Federal Plaza, NYC.
1986
"An American Renaissance, Painting and Sculpture Since 1940", Curated by Sam Hunter; catalog by Sam Hunter and Malcolm R. Daniel. Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, FL, with support from American Express Co. Publ. by Abbeville Press.
1986
"Je Suis Le Cahier, The Picasso Sketchbooks", essay, Pace Gallery, NY.
1986
Rotella : décollages 1954-1964, Publ. Electa, Milan.
1986
"Karel Appel: Paintings 1980-85", Curated by Sam Hunter; catalog Recent Paintings and Sculpture: Clouds, Windmills, Nudes and Other Mythologies, Sam Hunter, George Bolge and Wim A. Beeren. Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, FL.
1986
"Transcending Abstraction: Richard Pousette-Dart, Paintings: 1939- 1985", Curated by Sam Hunter; catalog by Sam Hunter, Judith Higgins, Paul Kruty, Richard Pousette-Dart. Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, FL.
1987
Jean Arp, Marisa Del Re Gallery, NY. Exhibition and catalog.
1987
"Jean Arp: Centenary exhibition: Sculpture, Reliefs, and Graphic Work", Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Exhibition and catalog by Sam Hunter and Susan C. Larsen. Published by Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.
1987
Consulted on establishment of Praemium Imperiale Prize, Fujisankei Corp. and Nobutaka Shikanai, chairman Fujisankei Media, Tokyo, Japan.
1988
Amerikanische Avantgarde von Roy Lichtenstein bis Andy Warhol, by Sam Hunter and Otto Wilck. Book, Publisher, Herrsching.
1988
Wrote introduction to book “A Life in Art” on Barnett Newman in consultation with Annalee Newman and Foundation. Unpublished.
1988
"Black and White", Marisa Del Re Gallery, NY. Exhibition and catalog.
1988
"Visions/revisions: contemporary representation", Sam Hunter; Susannah Wolfson. Marlborough Gallery, NY. Exhibition and catalogue.
1988
Amerikanische Avant-garde von Roy Lichtenstein bis Andy Warhol, by Sam Hunter and Otto Wilck. Publisher, Herrsching.
1988
“The Art of Exhilarated Despair “, Elle Paris, October 1988. pp. 208-14. Essay on Francis Bacon by Sam Hunter.
1989
"The Linear image: American master works on paper", Marisa del Re Gallery, NY. Exhibition and catalog.
1989
Larry Rivers, book, Rizzoli, NY.
1989
The Cybernetic Sculpture of Tsai Wen-Ying, exhibition catalog, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1989, p. 67
1989-90
Francis Bacon: Catalog of the exhibition held Oct. 12, 1989-Jan. 7, 1990 at the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Feb. 5-Apr. 22, 1990 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and May 24-Aug. 28, 1990 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. “In association with Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution."
1990
"American Masters of the Sixties", exhibition and catalog, Tony Shafrazi Gallery.
1990
Larry Rivers, book, Poligrafa.
1991
“Larry Rivers: Public and Private”, an exhibition organized by the Butler Institute of American Art and the American Federation of Arts. Exhibition tour: Butler Institute, Norton Gallery Of Art, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Scottsdale Center for the Arts and J.B. Speed Art Museum.
1991
"A View From the Sixties: Selections from the Leo Castelli and Michael and Ileana Sonnabend Collections", Guild Hall Museum, Easthampton, NY. Exhibition with catalog.
1992
“Arte Americana, 1930-1970”, Consulted on comprehensive exhibition of American Art, at Il Lingotto in Torino, Italy, and wrote the catalog essay “The New York School.”
1992
Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Third edition, co-author John Jacobus, book, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
1992
Marino Marini, book, Harry N. Abrams, NY and Fabbri Editore, Milan
1993
Alex Katz, book, Poligrafa.
1993
Lachaise, book, with David Finn, Cross River Press, NY.
1993
“The Fujisankei Biennal: International exhibition for Contemporary Sculpture”, Utsukushi-Ga-Hara Open Air Museum, Published by Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan.
1994
Very Special Arts: Part 1, Very Special Arts; Part 2, An American Master: Jackson Pollock; Part 3, "The Healing Powers of Art". Exhibitions organized by Ueno Royal Museum, Tokyo, and the Hakone Open Air Museum, Hakone, Japan.
1994
Completed commissioned 400 page manuscript chronicling the history of Knoedler Gallery, and linking its story to the rise of the American Art world. In consultation with primary source material from the Knoedler archive and former staff of M. Knoedler & Co. Book, Unpublished.
1994
Tom Wesselmann, book, Rizzoli, NY.
1995
Arnaldo Pomodoro, book, Rizzoli, NY and Fabbri Editore, Milan
1995
La Tradicion de lo Neuva, Obras Maestras de la Coleccion Guggenheim, 1945-1990, Museuo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, Spain. Sponsored by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY. "The Tradition of the New”.
1995
"The Mobile, the Stabile, the Animal: Within the Art of Alexander Calder", Bruce Museum, CT, 1995, catalog.
1995
"The Popular Image: Pop Art in America", Marisa del Re Gallery; O'Hara Gallery, New York, N.Y.
1996
"Tom Wesselmann, a survey, 1959-1995", exhibition catalog, Fred Hoffmann Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA.
1996
"The Rise of the Art world in America: Knoedler at 150", an historical exhibition commemorating Knoedler & Company's 150th anniversary, December 5, 1996 to January 12, 1997, by Sam Hunter, Melissa de Medeiros. Published by M. Knoedler & Co.
1996
Guest Curator, 150th Anniversary exhibition of old and modern masters, Knoedler Gallery, New York, NY.
1997
"Alex Katz: landscapes and figures", Fred Hoffman Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA.
1997
Charles Seliger : biomorphic drawings, 1944-1947. Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, NY.
1998
“Francis Bacon”, exhibition of works in the estate at Tony Shafrazi Gallery, NY. Exhibition catalog.
1998
"George Segal Pastels", exhibition catalog, Sidney Janis Gallery, NY.
1998
"The Surrealist Vision: Europe and The Americas", exhibition and catalog, Bruce Museum, with Nancy Hall Duncan. Greenwich, CT.
1998
"Masterpieces of American Modernism: The Rambach Collection", catalog essay, Butler Institute of Art, OH.
1999
“Isamu Noguchi”, Bryan Ohno Gallery, Seattle, WA. Exhibition and catalog.
1999
Organized exhibition of works by Isamu Noguchi for the Locks Gallery, Philadelphia.
1999
Expression and meaning: the marine paintings of John Marin, exhibition catalog essay, Eaton Fine Arts, West Palm Beach, FL.
1999
Tony Rosenthal, Sam Hunter, Edward Albee, book, Rizzoli, NY.
1999
Robert Rauschenberg, book, Rizzoli, NY.
1999
John Raimondi, by Sam Hunter; William Corbett. Publisher, Hudson Hills Press, NY.
2000
George Segal: nightscapes, April 14-May 27, 2000, exhibition catalogue, Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.
2000
Lecture: The Haskell Collection, The Birmingham Museum of Art, AL.
2001
Lecture: "Contemporary American Art; Selections from the collection of The Whitney Museum of American Art", Hood Museum, Dartmouth College, May selections.
2001
“A Defining Generation: Then and Now, 1961-2001.” Symposium inaugurating the Lois Foster Wing at The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University with Al Held, Sam Hunter, James Rosenquist (Sept 2001).
2002
Hans Hofmann, book, Publisher: New York: Rizzoli; London: Troika.
2003
Board member, Richard Pousette-Dart Foundation. Engaged to write book on this highly regarded American Abstract Expressionist.
2004
Modern art: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, book goes into fourth edition, by Sam Hunter; John M. Jacobus; Daniel Wheeler, published by Harry N. Abrams and Prentice Hall, then Pearson.
2006
Richard Pousette-Dart: The New York School and Beyond, book, edited by Sam Hunter; with essays by Sam Hunter, Pepe Karmel; et al. Published by Skira, Milan.
2006
Robert Rauschenberg: works, writings and interviews, book, Ediciones Poligrafa, Barcelona, Spain.
2008-9
"Francis Bacon”. Photographs of Francis Bacon and studio ephemera by Sam Hunter appeared in exhibition graphics and accompanying exhibition catalog. Exhibition of Francis Bacon's work. Tate Britain, London; Museo Prado, Barcelona; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
2009
Francis Bacon, book, Ediciones Poligrafa, Barcelona, Spain.
2009
Larry Rivers, essay for exhibition, Guild Hall, Easthampton, NY.
2009-2024
Excerpts from Sam Hunter’s writings on various artists such as Sean Scully, Willem DeKooning, Frank Bowling and Francis Bacon included in several books, exhibition catalogues, lectures, social media posts by museums, galleries, art historians, PhD. candidates and artists. Sam’s photographs of Francis Bacon Studio source material and portraits appeared in scholarly publications through October 2024. Some of Sam’s photographs of Francis Bacon and studio source material included in 2021 exhibition at the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation, Monaco.
2024
“Francis Bacon: Human Presence” exhibition, October 10, 2024 - January 19, 2025. Two photographic prints of portraits of Francis Bacon by Sam Hunter © 1950 included. National Portrait Gallery, London, UK. Accompanying exhibition catalogue.