Betty Parsons, Canary Islands, 1932, Graphite and gouache on paper
Betty Parsons's solo exhibition, Betty Parsons, an Artist with a Gallery at the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, will be on view June 27–October 18, 2026.
The Hessel Museum of Art's press release follows:
In June 2026, the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard)’s Hessel Museum of Art will present Betty Parsons, an Artist with a Gallery, the first major retrospective to examine the intertwined legacies of Betty Parsons (1900-1982) as both pioneering abstract artist and trailblazing gallerist who shaped the trajectory of 20th-century American art. On view June 27 through October 18, 2026, the exhibition will be the artist’s largest and most comprehensive survey to date.
Best known for ushering in the American avant-garde by establishing the careers of Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock, among others, Parsons also maintained a dedicated artistic practice throughout her life. This exhibition centers her output as a painter and sculptor, while exploring the radical history of the Betty Parsons Gallery and its support of underrecognized, experimental artists. The presentation will be complemented by concurrent surveys of painter Uman and Navajo textile artist Marilou Schultz, whose practices resonate with Parsons’ commitment to expanding the possibilities of abstraction and color.
“Betty Parsons, an Artist with a Gallery embodies the rigorous curatorial approach CCS Bard fosters through both its graduate program and Hessel Museum of Art exhibitions,” said Tom Eccles, Executive Director of the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. “While the Abstract Expressionist artists Parsons championed have been well documented and celebrated, this exhibition offers an overdue exploration of her game-changing vision—and of Parsons as a formidable artist in her own right—presented together with solo exhibitions by innovators of our own time.”
“Looking expansively at her role in defining 20th-century American art, this retrospective provides a comprehensive understanding of who Betty Parsons was: an artist, visionary art dealer, poet, aesthete, and restless traveler who was drawn to and supportive of otherness and outsiderness,” said curator Kelly Taxter (CCS Bard ’03). “Decades ahead of institutional norms or validation, she gave equal weight to women and queer artists through her eponymous gallery, as well as artists positioned well outside of the established and narrow circuits of the art world, while simultaneously forging her own distinctive artistic path.”
Organized by Taxter with artist Amy Sillman, An Artist with a Gallery features approximately 100 works spanning painting, sculpture, and works on paper, tracing Parsons’ voluminous output as she evolved from a young academic painter to a mature abstractionist over a six-decade career. A newly commissioned, multi-channel film will bring to life the largely unknown history of the Betty Parsons Gallery.
Best known for ushering in the American avant-garde by establishing the careers of Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock, among others, Parsons also maintained a dedicated artistic practice throughout her life. This exhibition centers her output as a painter and sculptor, while exploring the radical history of the Betty Parsons Gallery and its support of underrecognized, experimental artists. The presentation will be complemented by concurrent surveys of painter Uman and Navajo textile artist Marilou Schultz, whose practices resonate with Parsons’ commitment to expanding the possibilities of abstraction and color.
“Betty Parsons, an Artist with a Gallery embodies the rigorous curatorial approach CCS Bard fosters through both its graduate program and Hessel Museum of Art exhibitions,” said Tom Eccles, Executive Director of the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. “While the Abstract Expressionist artists Parsons championed have been well documented and celebrated, this exhibition offers an overdue exploration of her game-changing vision—and of Parsons as a formidable artist in her own right—presented together with solo exhibitions by innovators of our own time.”
“Looking expansively at her role in defining 20th-century American art, this retrospective provides a comprehensive understanding of who Betty Parsons was: an artist, visionary art dealer, poet, aesthete, and restless traveler who was drawn to and supportive of otherness and outsiderness,” said curator Kelly Taxter (CCS Bard ’03). “Decades ahead of institutional norms or validation, she gave equal weight to women and queer artists through her eponymous gallery, as well as artists positioned well outside of the established and narrow circuits of the art world, while simultaneously forging her own distinctive artistic path.”
Organized by Taxter with artist Amy Sillman, An Artist with a Gallery features approximately 100 works spanning painting, sculpture, and works on paper, tracing Parsons’ voluminous output as she evolved from a young academic painter to a mature abstractionist over a six-decade career. A newly commissioned, multi-channel film will bring to life the largely unknown history of the Betty Parsons Gallery.
