Forrest Bess photographs and slides, circa 1981

Collection Information

Size: 58 Items

Summary: This collection of Forrest Bess photographs and slides consists of 20 photographs, 38 slides, and 38 negatives, and dates from circa 1981. 20 color prints and 31 slides are of works of art by Forrest Bess; some, if not all, are from the collection of Harry Burkhart of Bay City, Texas. Negatives are labeled "Fridge Curtis" and are also of artwork by Bess. Also found are 5 slides of works by Bess from the Hawkins Ranch collection, and 2 slides of works from the Margaret and Austen Furse collection.

Biographical/Historical Note

Forrest Bess (1911-1977) was a painter and fisherman in Bay City, Texas, known for his generally small, abstract, biomorphic paintings, and his ideas on the merging of masculine and feminine energy.

Provenance

Collection was collected as part of the Archives of American Art's Texas project. Items on reel 3781 were donated in 1985 by Sandra Levy, collector for the project and photographer of some of the slides. Additional slides were donated by Margaret Lewis Furse in 1982.

Related Materials

The Archives of American Art also holds the Forrest Bess letter to L. E. and Patricia Cooke, the Forrest Bess letters, the Dana Friis-Hansen papers on Forrest Bess, the Louis Waldman research material on Forrest Bess, and the Rosalie Berkowitz papers relating to Forrest Bess.

Language Note

English .

Digitization Note

This site provides access to the papers of Forrest Bess in the Archives of American Art that were digitized in 2021, and total 64 images.