Untitled
Artist:
Forrest Clemenger Bess
(American, 1911 - 1977)
Date: ca. 1964
Medium: Oil on glass; wood frame
Dimensions:
h. 25 in. (63.5 cm); w. 17 in. (43.2 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of Eleanor Rogers Onderdonk
Object number: 64.295.1
Copyright: © Forrest Bess
Label Text
The dream-like, colorful, biomorphic forms of this painting on glass evoke Forrest Clemenger Bess’s deep interest in dream imagery and the philosophy of psychologist Carl Jung. The artist claimed to represent the patterns and visions he saw on the interior of his eyelids. The imagery may also evoke another preoccupation of the artist: his belief in hermaphroditism, or the possession of both male and female sexual organs, as being the highest form of existence. Although Bess spent most of his career in Bay City, Texas, he exhibited widely and consistently, including at the influential Betty Parsons Gallery in New York.
(William Keyse Rudolph, 2015)
(William Keyse Rudolph, 2015)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
