Robert Grosvenor
Robert Grosvenor (b. 1937, New York City) explores formal and conceptual dialectics, especially between an artwork and its environment, through sculpture, photography, and works on paper. Though he is often associated with Minimalism, due in part to his inclusion in the Jewish Museum’s 1966 Primary Structures and the 1968 exhibition at Haags Gemeentemuseum (now Gemeentenmuseum Den Haag) Minimal Art, Grosvenor’s unclassifiable oeuvre playfully resists the movement’s emblematic austerity. Rather, his artworks convey a sensuous handmade quality. Using industrial materials like concrete blocks, wooden beams, fiberglass, steel, aluminum pipes, and plywood as well as found objects, the artist creates what he once called “ideas that operate in the space between floor and ceiling.” Grosvenor lives on Long Island.
Recent solo exhibitions include Karma, New York (2024); The Power Station, Dallas (2023); Paula Cooper Gallery, New York (2023); Karma, Los Angeles (2022); Karma, New York (2020); Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris (2020); Consortium Museum, Dijon (2020); Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (2019); and the Renaissance Society, Chicago (2017), among others. Grosvenor’s work is represented in various public collections including By Art Matters, Hangzhou, China; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Direction Regionale des Affaires, Rennes, France; Edward R. Broida Trust, Los Angeles; Frac Bretagne, Rennes, France; Fundação de Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Lannan Foundation, Los Angeles; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, California; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Portrait of Robert Grosvenor in his downtown studio, New York, New York, November 12, 1965. (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images)
Born 1937, New York
Lives and works in East Patchogue, New York
EDUCATION
1958
University di Perugia, Italy
1957-1959
Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
1956
Ecole des Beaux Arts, France
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
Karma, New York
2023
The Power Station, Dallas, Texas, Robert Grosvenor
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2022
Karma, Los Angeles
Galerie Greta Meert, Brussels, Untitled
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2020
Karma, New York
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris, New Works
Galerie Thierry Marlat, Paris, 27 Pictures
2019
ICA Miami, Robert Grosvenor
2018
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2017
The Renaissance Society, Chicago
Karma, New York
Maccarone, Los Angeles
2015
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2014
Max Hetzler, Berlin
Karma, New York
2012
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2010
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2007
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2005
Fundação de Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
2003
The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
2000
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1998
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1996
Lawrence Markey, New York
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1995
Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
1993
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1992
Kunsthalle, Bern, Switzerland
Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne
1991
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1990
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles
1989
Centre d’Art Contemporain du Domaine de Kerguehennec à Bignan, Locmine, France
1988
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1986
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1984
P.S.1, The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Long Island City, New York
1981
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1978
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1977
Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris
1976
The Clocktower, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, New York
1975
Galerie Stampa, Basel
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Galerie Eric Fabre, Paris
Pasguale Tridorio, Naples
1974
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Françoise Lambert, Milan
1972
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1971
La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California
1970
Fischbach Gallery, New York
Galerie Ricke, Cologne
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1967
Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles
Park Place, New York
1965
Park Place, New York
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022
Pace Gallery, New York, STUFF, Organized by Arlene Shechet
59th International Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, The Milk of Dreams, curated by Ceclia Alemani
2021
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Robert Grosvenor and David Novros
Maison R&C, Marseille, France, Paradis, organized by Claude Balls Int.
2019
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Exhibition
2018
Galerie Max Hetzler, Paris, Robert Grosvenor, Richard Prince
Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, New Jersey, Flat Out: Works on Paper, 1960-2000
2017
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery 1959-1971
Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles, Strange Attractors: The Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Art Vol. 1 Life on Earth
Jean-Paul Najar Foundation, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Artist Run New York: The Seventies
2016
MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens, FORTY, organized in Celebration of MoMA PS1’s 40th Anniversary by PS1 Founder Alanna Heiss
2015
Thomas Dane Gallery, London, Blind Architecture, curated by Douglas Fogle
David Zwirner, New York, Selections from the Kramarsky Collection
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Dissolving Margins
2014
M-ARCO, Marseille, Mind and Matter, curated by Daniel Marzona
2013
Martos Gallery Summer Location, East Marion, NY, Lat. 41˚ 7’ N. Long. 72˚ 19’ W., curated by Bob Nickas
2012
Museum Wiesbaden, Germany, Der Raum der Linie
2011
Simone Subal Gallery, New York, zoom, shift, abstract
2010
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Whitney Biennial
Whitney Museum of American Art, Singular Visions, curated by Scott Rothkopf and Dana Miller
2009
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Every Revolution is a Roll of the Dice, curated by Bob Nickas
MoMA, New York, Compass in Hand: Selections from the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection
2007
Marfa Ballroom, Marfa, Texas, A Roll of the Dice Will Never Abolish Chance, curated by Bob Nickas
2006
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Against the Grain: Contemporary Art from the Edward R. Broida Collection, organized by Ann Temkin
Stifhung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum, Center of International Sculpture, Duisburg, Germany, Was ist Plastik? 100 Jahre – 100 Köpfe: Das Jahrhundert moderner Skulptur
Site Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM, Still Points of the Turning World: Site Santa Fe’s Sixth International Biennial, curated by Klaus Ottmann
Kuntsmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland,Plane/Figure: Amerikanische Kunst aus Schweizer Sammlungen
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Exhibition
2004
Domaine Pommery, Reims, France, Genesis Sculpture, Experience Pommery #1
2003
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, New Gouaches / Large-Scale Sculpture
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Exhibition
Biennale D’Art Contemporain de Lyon 2003, France, It happened tomorrow
2002
Kannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Drawings of Choice from a New York Collection
2001
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
Villa Manin, Passariano, Marzona Villa Manin: a private collection
2000
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York
1999
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Forum: Robert Grosvenor, Andreas Gursky, John Wesley
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Afterimage:Drawing through Process
Musée de Picardie, Amiens, France, Dessiner est un autre langage
Lawrence Markey, New York, Posters Exhibition
1998
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Sculpture and Drawing
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Amnesty International Benefit Drawing Show
1996
Karsten Shubert Gallery, London, From Figure to Object: A Century of Sculptor’s Drawings
1995
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, American Sculptors in the 1960s: Selected Drawings from the Collection
1994
le consortium, Dijon, Country Sculpture
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, From Minimal to Conceptual Art: Works from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Holiday Exhibition
1993
Weatherspoon Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina, Art on Paper
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 25 Years: Part I
1992
Philippe Staib Gallery, New York, then & NOW
1991
John Gibson Gallery, New York, 30th Anniversary Series: Sixties
1990
Foundation Deutsch, Belmont-Sur-Lausanne, Switzerland, L’Aventure de L’Abstraction: 1960-1990
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Print Exhibition
1989
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Works on Paper
1988
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Changing Group Exhibition
Galerie Rolf Ricke, Cologne, Linien : Arbeiten auf Papier
1987
Laumeier Sculpture Park and Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri; Johnson Gallery, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont; University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tuscon, Arizona, The Success of Failure
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, L’Epoque, La Mode, La Morale, La Passion: Aspects de l’art d’aujourd’hui 1977-1987
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Art Against Aids: A Benefit Exhibition
Kassel, West Germany, documenta 8
Dia Art Foundation, New York, AMFAR
1986
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Changing Group Exhibition
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, Works from the Paula Cooper Gallery
1985
Edith C. Blum Art Institute, Milton and Sally Avery Center for the Arts, The Bard College Center, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, The Maximal Implications of the Minimal Line
Hayden Gallery, Albert and Vera List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Giacometti to Johns: The Albert and Vera List Family Collection
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Sculpture
The Puck Building, New York, Independent Curators Incorporated 10th Anniversary Benefit Auction
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Changing Sculpture Exhibition
1984
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver; The Nickle Arts Museum Calgary, Alberta; Seagram Building, New York; London Regional Art Gallery, London, Drawings by Sculptors: Two Decades of Non-Objective Art in the Seagram Collection
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, American Sculpture
1983
SVC/Fine Arts Gallery, University of South Florida, Tampa, Objects, Structures, Artifice: American Sculpture 1970-1982
1982
Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson College, Wayne, New Jersey, Drawings from the Collection of Milton Brutten and Helen Herrick
The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, postMINIMALism
1981
Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, Sculptors’ Drawings and Macquettes
Lousiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Kunsthalle Basel, Basel; Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, West Germany, Amerikanische Zeichnungen der Siebziger Jahr
1979
The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut, The Minimal Tradition
Fischbach Gallery, New York, 15th Anniversary Exhibition
Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Germany, Tendencies in American Drawings of the Late Seventies
1978
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, Private Images: Photographs by Sculptors
Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, University California, Santa Barbara, California; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Drawings for Outdoor Sculpture: 1946-1977
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Exhibition
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Exhibition
1977
Galerie G. Mollet-Vielle, Paris, Travaux sur Papier
Kassel, West Germany, Documenta 6
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Show
Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, Minnesota, American Drawing 1927-1977
New York State Museum, Albany, New York, New York, The State of Art
John Weber Gallery, New York, Drawings for Outdoor Sculpture: 1946-1977
Rush Rhees Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, Drawings and Prints: New York
1976
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 200 Years of American Sculpture
Fine Arts Building, New York, Sculptor’s Drawings
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Biennale of Sydney
1975
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Gallery Group Show
Loretta Yarlow Gallery, Toronto, Sculptor’s Drawings
Stadtisches Museum, Levenkusen, Germany, Zeichnungen III
The Clocktower, New York, Selections from the Collection of Herb and Dorothy Vogel
Lewiston, New York, ArtPark
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Tendences Actuelles de la Peinture Américaine
Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture of the 60’s and 70’s from the Herb and Dorothy Vogel Collection
1974
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Exhibition
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Drawings and Other Work
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Artists’ Benefit Sale For Encounter
1973
Graduate Center, The City University, New York, Three New Works by Robert Grosvenor, Forrest Myers, Richard Nonas
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Biennial Exhibition of American Painting and Sculpture
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Opening Group Exhibition
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, Works on Paper
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Fall Group Exhibition
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, New Space Opening May 5
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Drawings and Other Work
1972
Paula Cooper Gallery Exhibition, Greenwich, Connecticut, New York 72
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Eight
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Group Exhibition
10 Bleecker Street, New York, Group Exhibition
Lo Guidice Gallery, New York, Drawings by Sculptors
1971
Sonsbeek Park, Arnheim, The Nertherlands, Sonsbeek 71
Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, Belgium, 11th International Biennial Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition
The Society for Contemporary Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Works on Paper: 31st Annual Exhibition
Windham College, Putney, Vermont, Paula Cooper Gallery Exhibition
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Selected Works
1970
Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Drawings
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Art on Paper
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, Monumental Art
The Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, Art on Paper
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Art for Your Collection
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Referendum 70
1969
University Gallery, Minneapolis, The Artist and the Factory
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 14 Sculptors: The Industrial Edge
Whitney Museum of Art, New York, Contemporary American Art
Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, Drawing Exhibition
1968
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Plus by Minus
The Hague, The Netherlands; Stätische Kunsthalle-Düsseldorf, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, Minimal Art, Gemeentemuseum
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Sculpture Annual
1967
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, American Sculpture for the 60’s
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Sculpture for the 60’s
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Art for the City
Loeb Student Center, New York University, New York, Bladen, Grosvenor, Von Schlegell
A.F.A. Travelling Drawing Exhibition, Park Place, New York
Park Place Group Exhibition, Friends of Contemporary Art, Denver, Colorado
1966
The Jewish Museum, New York, Primary Structures
New York University, New York, Drawing Exhibition
1965
American Express Pavillion, New York World’s Fair, New York
Park Place, New York
Dwan Gallery, Los Angeles
1964
Welfare Island Art Festival, New York
John Daniels Gallery, New York
Park Place, New York
Royal Marks Gallery, New York
Noah Goldowsky Gallery, New York
1963
Park Place, New York
1962
Park Place, New York
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Fundacao de Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Storm King Arts Center, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
AWARDS
Ezratti Family Prize for Sculpture, ICA Miami
PUBLICATIONS
2021
Robert Grosvenor
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
2020
Robert Grosvenor
Text by Rachel Kushner, Suzan Frecon, and Bob Nickas
Karma/Galerie Max Hetzler, New York
120 pages
12 1⁄2 × 9 3⁄4 inches
