LARRY ZOX (1937-2006)

Committed to abstraction throughout his career, Larry Zox played a central role in the Color Field discourse of the 1960s and 1970s. His work of the time, consisting of brilliantly colored geometric shapes in dynamic juxtapositions, demonstrated that hard-edge painting was neither cold nor formalistic. He reused certain motifs, but he did so less to explore their aspects than to “get at the specific character and quality of each painting in and for itself,” as James Monte stated in his essay for Zox’s solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1973. By the 1970s, Zox was using a freer, more emotive method, while maintaining the autonomy of color, which increasingly became more important to him than structure in his late years. 

Zox began to receive attention in the 1960s, when he was included in several groundbreaking exhibitions of Color Field and Minimalist art, including Shape and Structure (1965), organized by Henry Geldzahler for the Gallery of Modern Art, New York, and Systemic Painting (1966), organized by Lawrence Alloway for the Guggenheim Museum. In 1973, the Whitney’s solo exhibition of Zox’s work gave recognition to his significance in the art scene of the preceding decade. In the following year, Zox was represented in the inaugural exhibition of the Hirshhorn Museum, which owns fourteen of his works. 

Zox was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended the University of Oklahoma and Drake University. While studying at the Des Moines Art Center, he was mentored by George Grosz, who despite his own figurative approach encouraged Zox’s forays into abstraction. In 1958, Zox moved to New York, joining the downtown art scene. His studio on 20th Street became a gathering place for artists, jazz musicians, bikers, and boxers. He occasionally sparred with the visiting fighters. He later established a studio in East Hampton, where he painted and fished including using a helicopter to spot fish. 

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Zox’s works were collages consisting of painted pieces of paper stapled onto sheets of plywood. He then produced paintings that were illusions of collages, including both torn- and trued-edged forms, to which he added a wide range of intense hues that created ambiguous surfaces. Next, he omitted the collage aspect of his work and applied flat color areas to create more complete statements of pure color and shape. 

From 1962 to 1965, he produced his Rotation Series, at first creating plywood and Plexiglas reliefs, which turned squares into dynamic polygons. He used these shapes in his paintings as well, employing white as a foil between colors to produce negative spaces that suggest that the colored shapes had only been cut out and laid down instead of painted. The New York Times noted in 1964: “The artist is hip, cool, adventurous, not content to stay with the mere exercise of sensibility that one sees in smaller works.” 

In 1965, he began the Scissors Jack Series in which he arranged opposing triangular shapes with inverted Vs of bare canvas at their centers that threaten to split their compositions apart. The Diamond Cut and Diamond Drill paintings followed. In these, Zox used regularized formats as a means of revealing how color can change our perception of shape. In a single work he often combined industrial epoxy paints with acrylic to set up tensions between colors that would not exist otherwise. At the time, Peter Schjeldahl observed in The New York Times: Zox “is one painter who shows an ability to play by the rules without cramping at all an essentially romantic and exuberant sensibility.” His art of the period was equated with that of Frank Stella and Kenneth Noland. 

In the late 1960s, Zox’s paintings, such as in his Gemini Series, became brushier and he often incorporated powdered mica into his paints to increase their visual effect. In the early 1970s, he explored a variety of new means of applying paint, including squeegees and other large tools. With these means, he moved away from preconception, while introducing a drawing procedure in which the outside limits of a painting were determined by cutting or cropping the canvas. 

Zox’s work is included in many important public collections. In addition to the Hirshhorn, it belongs to the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Tate Modern, London; the Neues Museum, Bremen, Germany; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts; and many others. 

CV

1937, born, Des Moines, Iowa

2006, died, Colchester, Connecticut

1955, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

1956, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa

1956, Des Moines Art Center (studied with Geoge Grosz)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Kornblee Gallery, New York, 1962

Kornblee Gallery, New York, 1964

Kornblee Gallery, New York, 1965

Kornblee Gallery, New York, 1966

JL Hudson Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, 1967

Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, 1968

Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne, Germany, 1968

Kornblee Gallery, New York, 1968

Kornblee Gallery, New York, 1969

Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1970

Akron Art Institute, Ohio, 1971

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1973

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1973

Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, 1974

Janie C. Lee Gallery, Dallas, Texas, 1974

Rush Rhees Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 1974

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1975

Daniel Templeton Gallery, Paris, 1975

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1976

Medici-Berenson Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida, 1978

Allen Rubiner Gallery, Royal Oak, Michigan, 1979

Ivory/Kimpton Gallery, San Francisco, California, 1981

Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, 1981

Meredith Long & Co., Houston, Texas, 1981

Salander-O’Reilly Gallery, New York, 1982

Rubiner Gallery, West Bloomfield, Michigan, 1985

Images Gallery, Toledo, Ohio, 1986

Percival Gallery, Des Moines Iowa 1987

Percival Gallery, Des Moines Iowa, 1989

Images Gallery, Toledo, Ohio, 1990

Rubiner Gallery, West Bloomfield, Michigan, 1990

Gallery One, Toronto, Canada, 1991

Percival Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, 1991

Robert Stein Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri, 1992

Harnett Museum of Art, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, 1993

CS Shulte Gallery, Millburn, New Jersey, 1994

Percival Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, 1995

Percival Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, 2000

Olson Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, 2002

Olson Larsen Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, 2003

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2005

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2006

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2007

Rocket Gallery, London, 2007

DTR Modern Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts, 2007

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2008

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2010

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2011

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2013

Berry Campbell Gallery, New York, 2017
Berry Campbell Gallery, New York, Open Series (1972-1975), 2019

Berry Campbell Gallery, New York, Gemini (1963-1979) 2023

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

The American Gallery, New York, 1963

Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 1964

Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1964

Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, 1965

Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, 1965

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1965

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1966

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1967

Riverside Museum, California, 1968

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1968

Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1969

Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, 1969

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1970

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1972

Palm Spring Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California, 1973

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1973

Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, 1975

Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada, 1977

Allen Rubiner Gallery, Royal Oak, Michigan, 1979

Ryngwood, Old Brooklyn, New York, 1979

Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, 1980

Meredith Long & Co., Houston, Texas, 1980

Meredith Long & Co., Houston, Texas, 1980

Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Massachusetts, 1981

Richard F. Brush Art Gallery, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, 1981

Salander-O’Reilly, New York, 1981

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1981

Rubiner Gallery, West Bloomfield, Michigan, 1985

Percival Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, 1987

Charles H. MacNider Museum, Mason City, Iowa, 1988

Muscatine Art Center, Iowa, 1988

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, 1991

CS Shulte Gallery, Millburn, New Jersey, 1993

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, 1994

Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, 1994

Percival Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa, 1995

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, 1998

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2001

Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida, 2005

Guild Hall, East Hampton, New York, 2006

Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio, 2006

Terrain Gallery, New York, 2006

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida, 2009

Munson Williams Proctor Museum of Art, Utica, New York, 2009

Price Tower Arts Center, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 2009

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2009

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2009

Deutsche Guggenheim Museum, Berlin, Germany, 2010

Donna Beam Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2010

Loretta Howard Gallery, New York, 2010

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2010

Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, 2010

Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain, 2011

Museum Gallery of Modern Art, Sofia, Bulgaria, 2011

Museum of Modern Art Weserburg, Bremen, Germany, 2011

Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California, 2011

Leepa-Ratner Museum of Art, Tarpon Springs, Florida, 2012

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2012

Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, 2012

Art Miami, Miami, Florida, 2015.

Berry Campbell, New York, Summer Selections, 2015.

Berry Campbell, New York, Summer Selections, 2016.
Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, Montauk Highway: Postwar Abstraction in the Hamptons, 2017.

Berry Campbell, New York, Summer Selections, 2017.
Cavalier Galleries, New York, 57th Street: America’s Artistic Legacy, Part I, 2018.
Alpha 137 Gallery, New York, The Mid Century Modern Aesethetic, 2018.

Berry Campbell, New York, Summer Selections, 2018.
Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, New York, Montauk Highway II: Postwar Abstraction in the Hamptons, 2018.
Alpha 137 Gallery, New York, Staff Favorites, 2018.
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Annual 50th Collectors Show and Sale, 2018-2019.
Berry Campbell, New York, Summer Selections, 2019. 

Rollins Museum of Art, Rollins College, Orlando, Florida, Line, Color, Shapes, and Other Stories, 2022.
Upsilon Gallery, New York, Hard-Edged Geometric Abstraction, 2022.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, Community, 2022. (Organized by Berry Campbell)
Kinosaito, Verplanck, New York, Kikuo Saito and Friends: New York City Downtown and Beyond, 1970s and 1980s, 2023.

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio

Akron Art Institute, Ohio

Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois

Baum Gallery of Fine Art, University of Central Arkansas, Conway

Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida

Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York

Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida

Dallas Museum of Art, Texas

Daimler Art Collection, Stuttgart, Germany

Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri

Des Moines Art Center, Iowa

Empire State Art Collection, New York

Fred Jones Jr Museum of Art, Norman, OK

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire

Indianapolis Art Museum, Indiana

Kresge Art Museum, East Lansing, Michigan

Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Miami University Art Museum, Oxford, Ohio

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Museum of Modern Art, New York

The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Neues Museum Weserburg Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida

Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma

Palm Springs Desert Museum, California

Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, Hamilton, New York

Portland Art Museum, Oregon

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

Tate Modern, London

University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan

University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington

University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville

Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

AWARDS/GRANTS

Guggenheim Fellowship, 1967

National Council of the Arts, 1969

Adolph Gottlieb Foundation Grant, 1985