The United Gas Pipe Line Company Collection

UGPL 0069 Bengston, Billy Al, Venice Dracula, watercolor, 8 parts, 11¼” x 24,” 1974 illus: p 36

Billy Al Bengston (1934- )

Written in 1976 for the catalog and reproduced as printed, with spelling corrected. Not current.

A leading figure of the legendary “Ferus Gallery” group of Los Angeles artists in the late 1950’s and early ‘60’s, Billy Al Bengston had his first one-man show at the Ferus in 1958. Since then he has been included in nearly all major exhibitions in the United States and Europe dealing with “pop” art, hard-edge, or “emblem” art.

He was born in Dodge City, Kansas, in 1934, and lives and maintains a studio in Venice, California, near Los Angeles. His one-man show, “Motel Dracula,” was shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and a major retrospective, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, traveled to Vancouver and to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. In 1969, the Pasadena Museum showed “Motel Dracula.” His work has been seen also at the Galerie Neuendorf in Hamburg in 1970; the Felicity Samuel Gallery, London, in 1972; the Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, in 1973; and the Texas Gallery in Houston in 1973.

From The Art Collection of United Gas Pipe Line Company (Houston, 1976), curated by Susan Rush.

The Crocker National Bank Collection

Billy Al Bengston
3 untitled watercolors (Lahaina)
10½″ × 11½″, 11½″ × 10½″, 22″ × 30″, 1978

A leading figure of the legendary “Ferus Gallery” group of Los Angeles artists in the late 1950’s and early ’60’s, Billy Al Bengston had his first one-man show at the Ferus in 1958. Since then he has been included in nearly all major exhibitions in the United States and Europe dealing with “pop” art, hard-edge, or “emblem” art.

He was born in Dodge City, Kansas, in 1934, and lives and maintains a studio in Venice, California, near Los Angeles. His one-man show, “Motel Dracula,” was shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and a major retrospective, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, traveled to Vancouver and to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. In 1969, the Pasadena Museum showed “Motel Dracula.” His work has been seen also at the Galerie Neuendorf in Hamburg in 1970; the Felicity Samuel Gallery, London, in 1972; the Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, in 1973.

From The Art Collection of the Crocker National Bank, curated by Susan Rush.