Nasce a Kansas City nel Missouri, nel 1923. Si forma presso il Kansas City Art Institute dal 1937 al 1942; dal 1948 è a New York all’Art Students League, dove segue i corsi di Yasuo Kuniyoshi e Morris Kantor.
Nel 1951 utilizza per la prima volta la tecnica del dripping. Lo stesso anno viaggia in Europa, Italia e Spagna, trasferendosi a Parigi nel ’53 dove stringe legami con Restany, Tapié, Dubuffet e Tobey. Nel 1954 si tiene la sua prima personale a Parigi presso lo Studio Facchetti. Dalla metà degli anni Cinquanta, l'artista divide il suo tempo tra New York e Parigi. 

SELEZIONE ESPOSIZIONI PERSONALI:

1954

Parigi, Studio Paul Facchetti
Francoforte, Zimmergalerie Franck

1955

Seattle, Zoe Dusanne Gallery

1956

New York, Martha Jackson Gallery

1957

Parigi, Galerie Stadler

1958

New York, Martha Jackson Gallery

1959

Parigi, Galerie Stadler

1960

Stoccarda, Galerie d’Art Moderne
Los Angeles, Esther Robles Gallery
New York, Martha Jackson Gallery

1961

Parigi, Galerie Karl Flinker

1962

Zurigo, Galerie Lienhard
Milano, Toninelli Arte Moderna
Colonia, Kolnischer Kunstverein

1963

Toronto, Gallery Moos
Londra, Arthur Tooth & Sons

1964

Tokyo, Tokyo Gallery
Copenaghen, American Art Gallery
Hannover, Kestner-Gesellschaft, retrospettiva

1965

Copenaghen, Court Gallery
Scottsdale, Gallery of Modern Art

1966

New York, Martha Jackson Gallery

1968

Lucerna, Galerie Raber
Parigi, Galerie Daniel Gervis
New York, Martha Jackson Gallery

1970

New York, Martha Jackson Gallery

1971

Chicago, Richard Gray Gallery
Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, retrospettiva

1972

San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Art, retrospettiva
Londra, Gimpel Fils

1973

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Art Center
Parigi, Galerie Karl Flinker

1974

Charleroi, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Charleroi, retrospettiva
Colonia, Baukunst Galerie

1975

Monaco, Galerie Tanit
New York, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer

1976

Chicago, Samuel Stein Gallery

1977

Zurigo, Gimpel & Hanover Galerie
Ginevra, La Galerie Cours Saint-Pierre

1978

Parigi, Balcon des Arts
Torino, Galleria d’Arte Narciso
Seattle, Diane Gilson Gallery
Chicago, Samuel Stein Gallery

1980

Palm Springs, Palm Springs Desert Museum, retrospettiva
Londra, Gimpel Fils
Parigi, Galerie Karl Flinker

1982

Zurigo, Nicoline Pon Gallery
Dallas, Contemporary Gallery

1983

New York, Alex Rosenberg Gallery
Parigi, Galerie Georges Fall
Amherst, Mead Art Museum

1985

Stoccolma, Gallery Art Atrium
New York, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery

1986

Roma, MR Galleria d’Arte Contemporaneo
Tokyo, Gallery Art Point
Losanna, Focus Gallery

1987

Chicago, Samuel Stein Gallery
Antibes, Musée Picasso, retrospettiva
Stoccolma, Galleri Atrium

1988

New York, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery
Bologna, Galleria La Loggia
Parigi, Galerie Patrice Trigano

1990

Tokyo, Gallery Art Point
Parigi, Galerie Patrice Trigano

1991

Londra, Gimpel Fils
New York, Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery

1992

New York, Associated American Artists
Zurigo, Roswitha Haftmann Gallery

1993

Parigi, Yoshii Gallery
New York, Associated American Artists

1994

San Francisco, Pasquale Iannetti Gallery

1995

Zurigo, Galerie Proarta
New York, Associated American Artists

1996

Milano, Lorenzelli Arte

1997

Zurigo, Galerie Proarta
Parigi, Galerie Georges Fall
Youngstown, Butler Institute of American Art

1998

New York, Joseph Rickards Gallery

1999

Parigi, Galerie Patrice Trigano
New York, Joseph Rickards Gallery

2000

Vicenza, Basilica Palladiana
Florida, Vero Beach Museum of Art, retrospettiva

2001

Zurigo, Galerie Proarta

2003

Londra, Redfern Gallery
Charlotte, Jerald Melberg Gallery

2005

Prato, Galleria Open Art
Zurigo, Galerie Proarta
Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts

2007

Venezia, Galleria Open Art
Londra, Redfern Gallery

2009

New York, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Jacksonville, Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens

2010

Prato, Galleria Open Art
Prato, Palazzo Pacchiani
Sacramento, Crocker Art Museum

2011

Londra, The Redfern Gallery

2014

Prato, Museo di Pittura Murale
Prato, Galleria Open Art
New York, Robert Miller Gallery

2015

Youngstown, The Butler Institute of American Art

2017

Mill Valley, Robert Green Fine Arts

2018

Londra, Redfern Gallery

 

SELEZIONE ESPOSIZIONI COLLETTIVE:

1954

Parigi, Galerie Arnaud, Divergences
Parigi, Studio Paul Facchetti, Groupe 1954

1955

Parigi, Petit Palais, Artistes Estrangers en France
Saarbrucken, Saarland Museum, Kunst 1955

1956

New York, The Museum of Modern Art (itinerante), Recent American Watercolors
Parigi, Galerie Arnaud, Sculpteurs et Peintres Abstrait Américains de Paris

1957

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Young America – Thirty American Painters and Sculptors under Thirty-five
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Annual

1958

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art (itinerante), Nature in Abstraction
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, The 1958 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Art and Sculpture

1959

Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum, Twentieth Biennial Watercolor Exhibition

1961

New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Biennial
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Painting and Sculpture Today
New York, Guggenheim Museum, Abstract Expressionists and Imagists

1962

Londra, Royal Academy of Arts, Primitives to Picasso
Parigi, Musée de Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre, Antagonismes 2 L’Object

1963

Londra, Royal Academy of Arts, Art USA Now
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Painting and Sculpture Today

1964

Londra, Tate Gallery, Paintings and Sculptures of a Decade

1965

New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Art USA Now-The Johnson Collection

1966

Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Peter Stuyvesant Collection
Copenaghen, American Art Gallery, International Art: 1965-1966

1967

New York, Museum of Modern Art, The 1960s: Painting and Sculpture from the Museum of Modern Art Collection
Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, The 1967 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Dix And d’Art Vivant: 1955 – 1965

1971

Wilmington, Delaware Art Museum, American Painting since World War II
New York, Finch College Museum, Art from the Chase Manhattan Bank Collection

1973

San Pietroburgo, The Museum of Fine Arts, (itinerante) Flowing Form

1974

Washington, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Inaugural Exhibition
Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Painting and Sculpture Today

1977

New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, American Postwar Painting from the Guggenheim Collection
Parigi, Centre Georges Pompidou, Quelques Américains à Paris

1982

Parigi, Paris Art Center, Les Américains de Paris

1984

Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Homer, Sargent and the American Watercolor Tradition
Troyes, Musée d’Art Moderne de Troyes, Aspects de la Peinture Contemporaine – 1945-1983

1985

Osaka, National Museum of Art, Action et Emotion, Peinture des Années 50, Informel, Gutai, Cobra

1987

Canberra, Australian National Gallery, The Spontaneous Gesture, Prints and books of the Abstract Expressionist era

1988

Londra, Gimpel Fils, The Fifties and the Sixties
Arles, Fondation Vincent Van Gogh, Naissance d’un collection

1989

Parigi, Hotel de Ville, La Passion de Dunkerque
Parigi, L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts, La Paysage dans l’Art Contemporain

1991

Londra, The Tate Gallery, The Helena and Kenneth Levy Bequest, Fourteen Twentieth Century Works for the Collection
New York, Associated American Artists, Masters of Contemporary Printmaking

1992

Parigi, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, L’Art Actif-Art Works: La Collection Fondation Petere Stuyvesant
Jacksonville, Cummer Gallery of Art, Abstract Expressionism: The Haskell Collection

1993

Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Collection de la Fondation Maeght: un choix de 150 oeuvres
New York, Associated American Artists, From Intimate to Monumental

1994

New Britain, New Britain Museum of American Art, Whistler to Dine: Important Prints from the collection

1995

Stanford, Stanford University Museum of Art, Collecting for Stanford: Selected Acquisitions 1990-95
Lawrence, Spencer Museum of Art (itinerante), Unpainted to the Last: Moby Dick and 20th Century Art

1997

Torino, Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea; Toulouse, Espace d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Toulouse, Michel Tapié – Un Art Autre
New York, Associated American Artists, Francis Jenkins Mathieu

1998

Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Masters of Color and Light, Homer, Sargent and the American Watercolor Movement
Montréal, Musée de l’art contemporain de Montréal, Ligne Courbe=Curved Line
Ville de Mons, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Mons, Fruits d’une Passion

1999

Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Vision Nouvelle

2001

Portland, Portland Museum of Art, Clement Greenberg: A Critic’s Collection
Worcester, Worcester Art Museum; Southampton, Parrish Museum, The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionist Prints

2003

San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, Tradition and Innovation in European Modernist Drawings and Watercolors
Angers, Présence d’Art Contemporain, Trésors du XXe Siècle dans les Collections

2004

Jacksonville, Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art, Selections from the Haskell Collection
Palm Springs, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Modernism and Abstraction

2006

Parigi, Musée du Luxembourg, L’Envolée Lyrique: Paris 1945-1956
New York, D. Wigmore Fine Art, A Century of American Art

2007

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Viva Vetro! Glass Alive! Venice and America, 1950-2006
New York, National Academy, 182nd Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Art
Londra, The Royal Academy of Arts, London Original Print Fair

2009

San Jose, San Jose Museum of Art, Juici Paint
Boca Raton, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Expanding Boundaries – Lyrical Abstraction

2010

Norfolk, Chrysler Museum, Action Painting in the Chrysler
Easton, Academy Art Museum, Modern Drawings: Tracing 100 Years
Tucson, Tucson Museum of Art, Into the Void: Abstract Art, 1948-2008

2011

Florida, Vero Beach Museum, American Masterworks: 150 Years of American Painting from the Butler Institute of American Art
New York, ACA Galleries, Fragments 1915-2011: Modern and Contemporary Collage

2013

Palm Springs, Palm Springs Art Museum, Made in the USA – From the Abstract Expressionist to the Color Field Painters
Prato, Galleria Open Art, Abstract and Figurative Art from 1900 to the Present

2014

Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting from the Collection of Preston H. Haskell
Washington, The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Gravity’s edge

2016

Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Espace, Espaces!
Zurigo, Galeria Proarta, The Power of Colour

2017

Venezia, Palazzo Fortuny, Intuition
Youngstown, The Butler Institute of American Art, 100 Years of American Printmaking

2018

Jacksonville, Museum of Contemporary Art, Painting the Picture: Works from the Permanent Collection
Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Lost, Loose and Loved: Foreign Artists in Paris 1944-1968

2019

New York, Guggenheim Museum, Artistic License: Six Takes on the Guggenheim Collection
Tampa, Tampa Museum of Art, Echoing Forms: American Abstraction from the Permanent Collection
New York, Morgan Library & Museum, By Any Means: Contemporary Drawings from the Morgan