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Ken Price

Biography to Display: 

1935Born Los Angeles, California

2012Died Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico

EDUCATION

1956Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, California

1956BFA University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

1957Los Angeles County Art Institute (now Otis College of Art and Design), Los Angeles, California

1959MFA New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, New York

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1993-2003Ceramics Professor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

BIOGRAPHY

 

Ken Price’s diverse work ranges from his early, domestic-scaled cup series made from the 1950s to 1970s to his later free-form sculptural works in the 1980s and 1990s.

His “Architectural Cups” series dated 1972-1974, for example, explores the bright color palette of commercially available paints and slips. In much of his early work Price layered colors and glazes through multiple applications and up to 20 firings.

Price’s later works in the 1980s and 1990s reflect an even greater attention to surface design with added emphasis on texture and form. He moved away from domestic, pseudo-functional cup forms to large, amorphous, soft, erotic forms. The surfaces of these works were occasionally glazed but, more often, painted with multiple layers of bright acrylic paints, finished by sanding away to reveal, or conceal, the range of colors below.

Price studied under Peter Voulkos at the Los Angeles Art Institute. While Price’s ceramics are better understood as stylistically post-modern rather than Abstract Expressionist, he learned from Voulkos a dedication to the craft, resulting in a large body of surviving work. As Price’s work matured it showed little direct reference to the work of his teacher.

Public Collections

Public Collections to Display: 

Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, New York

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas

Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

Harwood Museum, Taos, New Mexico

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

J. B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky

Lannan Foundation, Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California

Menil Collection, Houston, Texas

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Minneapolis, Michigan

Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

Museum Overholland, Nieuwersluis, the Netherlands

Museum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, s’Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

National Gallery of Australia, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, Rhode Island

Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California

Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California

Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts

Bibliography

Bibliography to Display: 

Barron, Stephanie, Lauren Bergman, Frank O. Gehry, Dave Hickey, Phyllis Tuchman, Malin Wilson-Powell. Ken Price Sculpture: A Retrospective. New York, NY: Prestel USA, 2012.

MacNaughton, Mary Davis. Clay's Tectonic Shift: John Mason, Ken Price, and Peter Voulkos, 1956-1968. Los Angeles, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012.

Perrone, Jeff. Ken Price. New York, NY: Green Van Doren Gallery, 1989.

Price, Ken. Ken Price. Houston, TX: Menil Collection, 1992.

 

CV or Resume: Click Here to Download
Source: Hansen Fuller Gallery, Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California

CV or Resume: Click Here to Download
Source: kenprice.com

 

Typical Marks
1956
1957
1993
Vase
Date: 1956
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 84.9.7
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 84.9.7
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Urn
Date: 1957
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.64
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.64
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Plate
Date: 1957
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.63
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.63
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Sculpture
Date: 1957
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Slip-Cast, Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.65
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.65
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Bowl
Date: 1957
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.66
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.66
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Vase
Date: 1958
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.62
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.62
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Platter
Date: 1960
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.67
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 92.1.67
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Cup
Date: 1960
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 86.1.14
Photo: TMP
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Marer Collection, Scripps College, 86.1.14
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
"Night Cup" from Happy Curios Series
Date: ca 1970
Form: Cup
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Rago Art and Auction Center
Photo: TMP
Courtesy Rago Art and Auction Center
Cup
Date: ca 1975
Form: Cup
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Photo: James Cocoran Gallery
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Avocado and Wine
Date: 1980
Method: Thrown
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Photo: Eva Inkeri
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Baby Scale
Date: 1981
Form: Sculpture
Method: Slab-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Treadway Toomey Auctions, Candice Groot Collection, April 16, 2016, lot #114
Courtesy Treadway Toomey Auctions, Candice Groot Collection, April 16, 2016, lot #114
Photo: TMP
Iconoclast
Date: 1985
Form: Sculpture
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Acrylic Paint
Courtesy Treadway Toomey Auctions, Candice Groot Collection, April 16, 2016, lot #115
Courtesy Treadway Toomey Auctions, Candice Groot Collection, April 16, 2016, lot #115
Photo: TMP
Cup, edition of 25 #16
Date: 1993
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Earthenware, Mixed Media
Method: Cast
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Treadway Toomey Auctions, Candice Groot Auction, November 12, 2016, lot #6
Courtesy Treadway Toomey Auctions, Candice Groot Auction, November 12, 2016, lot #6
Ultra Purple
Date: 1996
Surface Technique: Acrylic Paint
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Curley
Date: ca 2005
Form: Sculpture
Method: Hand-Built (Fired and hand-painted clay.)
Courtesy of The Nevica Project
Courtesy of The Nevica Project
Sculpture
Surface Technique: Acrylic Paint
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Sculpture
Surface Technique: Acrylic Paint
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archives Southern California University

Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified July 22, 2023. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/price