The Abstract Expressionism Chronology
G. Comenas (London, 2008)
Abstract Expressionism | Contents | 1800-1899 | | 1900-1909 | 1910-1919 | 1920-1924 | 1925-1927 | 1928-1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 (a) | 1945 (b) | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 (a) | 1948 (b) | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970-1974 | 1975-1979 | 1980+ | Contact | Sources | Search | Warholstars
Table of Contents
(Page Five: 1965 - 1980+)
Page One: 1800-1934 | Two: 1935-1944 | Three: 1945-1954 | Four: 1955-1964
Click on a year:
Milton Avery dies.
Robert Motherwell creates the Lyric Suite series.
Adolph Gottlieb receives American Academy of Achievement award in Dallas, Texas.
Burgoyne Diller dies.
Barnett Newman makes his first steel sculpture.
Mark Rothko signs a $250,000 contract for the Houston Chapel murals.
"The Decisive Years, 1943 to 1953" at the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Willem de Kooning formally ends his relationship with Sidney Janis.
Mark Rothko receives a Creative Arts Award medal from Brandeis University.
Willem de Kooning sues Sidney Janis.
Willem de Kooning and Susan Brockman move.
Willem de Kooning retrospective at Smith College.
David Smith dies in an automobile accident.
"New York School: The First Generation: Paintings of the 1940s and 1950s" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Robert Motherwell visits Paris, Venice, Dubrovnik, Athens, the Greek Islands and London.
Susan Brockman moves back to New York.
Willem de Kooning sorts out legalities, including a Will.
Willem de Kooning hires Michael Wright.
Willem de Kooning has an affair with Molly Barnes.
"The New York School: The First Generation, Paintings of the 1940s and 1950s" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
"Lee Krasner; paintings, drawings and collages" exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.
Barnett Newman travels to Brazil to see his work at the Eighth São Paulo Bienal.
"Robert Motherwell" retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art.
The director of the Tate in London visits Mark Rothko.
Robert Scull sells thirteen Abstract Expressionist paintings at auction.
Barnett Newman's mother, Anna, dies.
Mark Rothko hires Roy Edwards to be his assistant.
Philip Guston has an affair.1966: Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue?
Robert Motherwell executes large mural for the John F. Kennedy Federal Building.
Adolph Gottlieb's studio and its contents are destroyed by a fire.
Barnett Newman completes Here III.
"Philip Guston: recent paintings and drawings" at the Jewish Museum.
Mark Rothko hires Ray Kelly as an additional assistant.
Willem de Kooning is admitted to Southampton Hospital after a binge.
De Kooning attends Lisa's birthday party in NY and returns to Long Island alone.
André Breton dies in Paris.
Barnett Newman has his first solo exhibition in a museum.
Barnett Newman defends the Stations of the Cross in a public discussion with Thomas Hess.
Barnett Newman "confronts" the primary colours, blue, red and yellow.
Frank O'Hara is hit by a car on Fire Island.
Willem de Kooning paints new women.
Mark Rothko visits the Tate Gallery in London.
Philip Guston ends his affair and returns to Woodstock.Robert Motherwell begins his Open series.
Adolph Gottlieb is appointed to The Art Commission for the City of New York.
Robert Motherwell becomes Fellow in Perpetuity of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
New York: The New Art Scene is published.
Barnett Newman continues his "Who's Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue" paintings, completing one in acrylics.
Mark Rothko's worth is estimated to be $207,538.
Walker and Company publishes twenty-four charcoal drawings by Willem de Kooning from 1966.
Willem De Kooning joins M. Knoedler and Company.
Mark Rothko agrees to donate paintings to the Tate Gallery in London.
Willem de Kooning paints.
News of Mark Rothko's bequest to the Tate Gallery in London appears in The New York Times.
Mark Rothko calls John de Menil to tell him the chapel paintings are finished.
Joan Ward and Lisa return to the Springs.
Barnett Newman's Voice of Fire is exhibited in the U.S. Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal, Canada.
An open letter is published in The New York Times signed by Barnett Newman and Adolph Gottlieb.
Barnett Newman speaks on "The Spiritual Dimension of Contemporary Art."
Ad Reinhardt dies.
Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk is unveiled.
"Sculpture in the Environment" exhibition includes Broken Obelisk.
Barnett Newman visits the opening of ROSC '67 in Dublin.
Willem De Kooning's first exhibition opens at M. Knoedler and Company.
"Don Quixote in Springs" appears in Newsweek.
Mark Rothko gives Sketch for Mural 6 (1958) to the Tate Gallery in London.
Mark Rothko's chapel paintings go into storage.
Willem de Kooning ends up in Southampton Hospital (again) after a binge.
An open letter against anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union is published in the New York Review of Books.Robert Motherwell makes silkscreens for the Spoleto Festival.
Barnett Newman completes Anna's Light.
Barnett Newman writes the foreword for a new edition of Prince Kropotkin's memoirs.
Barnett Newman travels to Europe.
Willem de Kooning visits Europe.
Adolph Gottlieb retrospective runs concurrently at the Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney.
"Dada, Surrealism and Their Heritage" at The Museum of Modern Art.
Martin Luther King is assassinated.
Barnett Newman is asked to do Martin Luther King prints.
Barnett Newman is awarded an honorary professorship in drawing from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Mark Rothko is admitted into hospital with an aneurysm.
Mark Rothko is inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Mark Rothko's contract expires with the Marlborough Gallery.
Barnett Newman moves his studio to 35 White Street.
The Rothkos go to Provincetown for the summer.
Mark Rothko writes to the Tate Gallery about his bequest of the Seagram murals.
Michael Wright resigns.
The 1968 National Convention of the U.S. Democratic Party is held in Chicago, Illinois.
Mark Rothko hires Jonathan Ahearn as an assistant.
Pace Gallery negotiates with Mark Rothko.
Mark Rothko visits Dr. Grokest.
Mark Rothko writes a new Will.
Willem De Kooning retrospective in Holland opens at the Stedelijk.
Willem de Kooning visits his mother.
Marcel Duchamp dies in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.
Willem de Kooning's mother dies.
The director of the Tate Gallery writes to Mark Rothko about the Seagram murals.
Artists protest Mayor Daley's actions at Richard Feigen Gallery, Chicago.
Mark Rothko begins an inventory of his works.
Willem de Kooning and Joan Ward survive a car crash.
Willem de Kooning retrospective opens at the Tate Gallery in London.
Mark Rothko sees a psychiatrist.
Robert Motherwell begins incorporating images of Gauloises cigarette packets into his paintings.
Mark Rothko proposes giving the Phillips Collection "first choice of a group" of paintings.1969: A Separation and a Party
Mark Rothko separates from Mell and moves into his 69th Street Studio.
Robert Motherwell creates a silkscreen for the International Rescue Committee.
Robert Motherwell separates from Helen Frankenthaler.
Mark Rothko signs his second contract with the Marlborough Gallery.
Dore Ashton visits Mark Rothko in his studio.
Mark Rothko hires Oliver Steindecker as an assistant.
Mark Rothko begins an affair with Ad Reinhardt's widow, Rita.
Rita Reinhardt negotiates with Marlborough.
Barnett Newman solo exhibition opens at M. Knoedler and Company.
Opening night gala for the Willem de Kooning retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art.
The director of the Tate Gallery writes to Rothko regarding the conditions of his bequest.
Willem de Kooning builds a door that leads to nowhere.
The first meeting of the directors of the Mark Rothko Foundation takes place.
John and Dominique de Menil donate money toward the purchase of Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk.
Mark Rothko is awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University.
"The New American Painting and Sculpture: The First Generation" exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art.
The Mark Rothko Foundation is incorporated.
Barnett Newman speaks at anti-expressway rally at the Whitney Museum.
Willem de Kooning goes to Italy.
Barnett Newman exhibits Zim Zum I at "The First International Exhibition of Modern Sculpture" in Japan.
Mark Rothko receives a cardboard model of the planned Rothko room at the Tate Gallery.
Willem de Kooning sculpts.
The director of the Tate Gallery visits Mark Rothko in his studio.
Barnett Newman travels to Houston to discuss a site for Broken Obelisk.
Barnett Newman speaks at Dan Flavin retrospective in Canada.
"New York Painting and Sculpture: 1940 - 1970" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The director of the Tate Gallery visits Rothko again to view ten of the Seagram murals.
Bernard Reis advises Rothko to consumate his agreement with the Tate.
Mark Rothko signs a letter of agreement with the Tate Gallery.
18 Mark Rothko paintings are sold to the Marlborough Gallery.
Mark Rothko has a party.
Mark Rothko attends Katherine Kuh's Christmas party.
Mark Rothko donates three paintings to the Museum of Modern Art.Rothko's Seagram paintings are shipped to the Tate Gallery in London.
Robert Motherwell moves.
Adolph Gottlieb has a stroke.
Barnett Newman signs a "Declaration of Solidarity with Soviet Jews.
"Jackson Pollock's psychotherapist sells his pictures.
Art News publishes a feature honouring the Metropolitan Museum of Art on its hundredth anniversary.
Willem de Kooning goes to Japan.
Mark Rothko has dinner with Rita Reinhardt.
Mark Rothko commits suicide.
Henry Moore visits Willem de Kooning.
The New York Times Magazine publishes an account of Mark Rothko's death.
Mark Rothko's Will is admitted to probate.
The Mark Rothko room opens at the Tate Gallery in London.
Barnett Newman receives a medal from the Brandeis University.
Executors of Rothko's estate sell all of his paintings to the Marlborough Gallery.
Barnett Newman dies.
Willem de Kooning does lithography.
Mark Rothko's widow dies.
Willem de Kooning meets Emilie Kilgore.
Philip Guston solo exhibition at the Marlborough Gallery.
Bernard Reis is shocked by the condition of the Mark Rothko's Harvard murals.
The Mark Rothko Foundation directors amend the certificate of incorporation.
The Whitney Museum shows 65 drawings by Jackson Pollock previously owned by his psychotherapist.
The Phillips Collection sells Mark Rothko's Mauve Intersection through Park-Bernet.
The Rothko Chapel is dedicated.
Bernard Reis visits Rothko's Harvard murals again - this time with Alan Thielker, a restorer for Marlborough Galleries.
Willem de Kooning sculpts Clamdigger.
Willem de Kooning leaves the Accabonac house and moves into his studio.
Barnett Newman retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art opens.
Kate Rothko and Christopher Rothko's guardian file a lawsuit against the owner of the Marlborough Galleries and the executors of Rothko's estate.
"Seven by de Kooning" exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art.
Robert Motherwell marries photographer Renate Ponsold.
Robert Motherwell signs with Knoedler's.
Xavier Fourcade leaves the Knoedler gallery to open the Fourcade, Droll Gallery.
Willem de Kooning and Mimi attend the Venice Biennale.
The Surrogate Court issues a temporary restraining order against the Marlborough Gallery and the executors of Mark Rothko's estate regarding the sale of his paintings as contracted on May 21, 1970.
The Surrogate Court issues a preliminary injunction preventing the sale of Rothko's paintings by the Marlborough Gallery and Rothko's executors.
Willem de Kooning has a final exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery.
Willem de Kooning's daughter, Lisa, moves to New York.
A seven-inch tear is found in Panel Four of Mark Rothko's Harvard murals.
John de Menil dies.
Willem de Kooning is admitted into hospital (again).
"Lee Krasner: Large Paintings" exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
The "New York Collection for Stockholm" at the Moderna Museet.
Willem de Kooning goes to rehab.
Robert Motherwell is diagnosed with severe cardiac illness and has surgery.
Fourcade, Droll organizes a traveling exhibition of Willem de Kooning's lithographs.
Exhibition of Willem de Kooning's drawings and sculpture at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Adolph Gottlieb dies in New York City.
The Australian National Gallery buys de Kooning's Woman V for $850,000.
John McMahon quits his job as Willem de Kooning's assistant.1975 - 1979: The Same Letter Seven Times
Robert Motherwell retrospective at the Museo de Art Moderna in Mexico City.
Kate Rothko wins her lawsuit against the Marlborough Gallery and the executors of Rothko's Will.
Willem de Kooning exhibitions in Japan and Paris.
Willem de Kooning asks Mimi Kilgore to marry him.
Willem de Kooning completes twenty works in six months.
Willem de Kooning exhibition at Fourcade, Droll, Inc.
Matta's son dies.
Robert Motherwell retrospectives in Dusseldorf and Stockholm.
A major traveling exhibition of de Kooning's work is planned with sponsorship by the Hirshhorn Museum and the U.S. Information Agency.
Xavier Fourcade becomes Willem de Kooning's exclusive dealer.
Willem de Kooning visits the Rothko Chapel.
Fourcade mounts show of twelve new works by Willem de Kooning.
Robert Motherwell retrospective exhibitions in Vienna, Edinburgh and Paris.
Robert Motherwell works on mural for the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Elaine de Kooning helps Willem de Kooning go to Alcoholic Anonymous.
Robert Motherwell retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
"Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: A Retrospective" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.
"Willem de Kooning in East Hampton" exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Elaine de Kooning gives up the right to control de Kooning's estate and resigns from the University of Georgia.
"American Art at Mid-Century: The Subjects of the Artist" opens the new East Building at the National Gallery in Washington.
Harold Rosenberg dies.
Thomas Hess dies.
Willem de Kooning goes on a binge.
Matta's son dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 38.
Abstract Expressionism retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Robert Motherwell retrospective exhibition at the William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut.
Philip Guston suffers a major heart attack.
The damage to Mark Rothko's Harvard murals is reported.
Willem de Kooning stops painting.
Willem de Kooning writes his last letter to Mimi.Irving Sandler is appointed as a trustee of the Mark Rothko Foundation.
Philip Guston retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Art.
Philip Guston dies.
Tom Ferrara works as Willem de Kooning's assistant.
Willem de Kooning's daughter, Lisa, begins building her own house on the grounds of her father's studio.
Willem de Kooning revises his Will.
Arshile Gorky retrospective at the Guggenheim.
Willem de Kooning starts painting again.
"Krasner/Pollock: A Working Relationship" at the Grey Art Gallery, New York University.
Dedication of the Motherwell Gallery at the Bavarian State Museum of Modern Art, Munich.
"Willem de Kooning: I Am Only Halfway Through" by Avis Berman is published in the February issue of Art News.
"Robert Motherwell: A Selection From Current Work," at M. Knoedler & Co.
Willem de Kooning attends the premiere of a documentary about his life and art.
Willem de Kooning attends a White House dinner in honour of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
Exhibition of Willem de Kooning's new work, "New Paintings: 1981-1982," at the Fourcade, Droll Gallery.
Jack Tworkov dies.
Frank Lloyd, the owner of the Marlborough Gallery, is convicted of tampering with evidence in Rothko trial.
Robert Motherwell retrospective exhibition at the Albright -Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
Willem de Kooning finishes fifty-one paintings.
Frank Lloyd, owner of the Marlborough Gallery, is sentenced in the Rothko case.
Exhibition of de Kooning's sculpture in "The Complete Sculpture: 1969-1981" at Fourcade, Droll.
Art dealer Allan Stone buys Willem de Kooning's Two Women for $1.2 million.
"Lee Krasner: A Retrospective" at Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
"William de Kooning: Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture" opens at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art.
During 1984 Willem de Kooning finishes fifty-one paintings.
Conrad Fried films Willem de Kooning painting.
Lee Krasner dies."Lee Krasner Memorial Installation" at The Museum of Modern Art.
Willem de Kooning paints a triptych.
Willem de Kooning paints sixty-three paintings.
Willem de Kooning shows symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
Elaine de Kooning changes colour(s).
Exhibition of de Kooning's recent work from 1984 - 1985 at Fourcade, Droll.
Willem de Kooning produces forty-three works of art.
Robert Motherwell is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Exhibition of Willem de Kooning's work from 1983-1986 at the Anthony d'Offay Gallery in London.
The alleged driver of the car behind Jackson Pollock's car objects to accounts of Pollock's death.
The de Menil Collection opens in Houston, Texas.
Willem de Kooning paints twenty-six paintings.
Willem de Kooning's Pink Lady is sold for $3.63 million.
Xavier Fourcade dies of AIDS.
Elaine de Kooning's health worsens.
Tom Ferrara resigns from the de Kooning household due to health problems.
Willem de Kooning paints twenty-seven paintings.
Elaine de Kooning authorizes a series of prints by her husband.Elaine de Kooning attempts to change her husband's Will.
Elaine de Kooning is admitted into Sloan-Kettering for radiation therapy.
Elaine de Kooning dies at the age of 70.
Willem de Kooning's daughter, Lisa, and John Eastman file a court petition asking that de Kooning be declared mentally incapable of looking after his affairs.
Willem de Kooning is admitted into Southampton Hospital for a hernia operation.
Willem de Kooning is hospitalised for prostate surgery.
Willem de Kooning stops painting.
A mini-retrospective of de Kooning's work - "Willem de Kooning: An Exhibition of Paintings" takes place at the Salander O'Reilly Galleries.
"De Kooning/Dubuffet: The Women" at the Pace Gallery.
Robert Motherwell retrospective exhibition in Mexico.
Robert Motherwell dies.
"Willem de Kooning from the Hirshhorn Museum Collection" opens at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
Charles Egan dies at the age of 81.
De Kooning's final assistant, Jennifer McLaughlin leaves.
"Willem de Kooning: Paintings" at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
The Academie van Beeldende Kunsten en Technische Wetenschappen, where de Kooning studied as a young man in Rotterdam, officially changes its name to The Willem de Kooning Academy.
Willem de Kooning dies.
Roberto Matta dies.
Milton Resnick commits suicide.
Philip Pavia dies.
Abstract Expressionism | Contents | 1800-1899 | | 1900-1909 | 1910-1919 | 1920-1924 | 1925-1927 | 1928-1929 | 1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 (a) | 1945 (b) | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 (a) | 1948 (b) | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970-1974 | 1975-1979 | 1980+ | Contact | Sources | Search | Warholstars