Peter Alexander

1939–2020

Peter Alexander (1939–2020) is associated with the Southern California Light and Space movement of the 1960s. He received his M.F.A. from UCLA in 1968. His early cast polyester resin sculptures — translucent cubes, wedges, and pyramids — were shown at the Nicholas Wilder Gallery in Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum, Documenta 5 in Kassel (1972), and the 70th American Exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago (1972). He later worked in paintings on velvet, aerial paintings of Los Angeles at night, and watercolors. Writing in 1991, critic Jan Butterfield noted that throughout these changes Alexander remained “profoundly interested in a sense of place and in light—light from the moon, light from the landscape, light from the cities themselves.” In 2003 he completed Blue, a 48-foot mural commissioned by Frank Gehry for the Walt Disney Concert Hall. He received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship (1980) and a California Art Award (2014).

Susan Rush acquired his print Huh? (1975), a lithograph and screenprint published by Cirrus Editions, Los Angeles, for the United Gas Pipe Line Company Collection in 1976. He completed P.A. & P.E. (1990), a commissioned painting of the Los Angeles basin at dawn, for the Pacific Enterprises Collection; Butterfield called it “a brilliant amalgam of all Alexander’s explorations to date.” Watercolors from his Glacier Series (1988) are also in that collection.

His work is in the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Links: https://www.parraschheijnen.com/artists/peter-alexander
https://parraschheijnen.com/peter-alexander-remembrance
https://artreview.com/peter-alexander-1939-2020/
https://briangrossfineart.com/artists/palexander/index.html
https://craigkrullgallery.com/peter-alexander-tribute
https://www.franklinparrasch.com/peter-alexander-predawn-la
https://documenta.de/en/retrospective/documenta-5
https://collections.lacma.org/object/53952

Sources: Butterfield, Jan. "Peter Alexander." In The Art Collection of Pacific Enterprises, 162–63. Los Angeles: Pacific Enterprises, 1991.

Rush, Susan B. "Statement of Fine Arts Advisor." In The Art Collection of Pacific Enterprises. Los Angeles: Pacific Enterprises, 1991.

Rush, Susan, curator. The Art Collection of United Gas Pipe Line Company. Houston: United Gas Pipe Line Company, 1976. Entry UGPL 0091, illus. p. 81.

Parrasch Heijnen Gallery. "Peter Alexander." Artist page. Accessed October 28, 2026. https://www.parraschheijnen.com/artists/peter-alexander.

Parrasch Heijnen Gallery and Franklin Parrasch Gallery. "Peter Alexander (1939–2020)." Remembrance. Accessed October 28, 2026. https://parraschheijnen.com/peter-alexander-remembrance.

Brian Gross Fine Art. "Peter Alexander." Artist page with biography, exhibitions, and public collections. Accessed October 28, 2026. https://briangrossfineart.com/artists/palexander/index.html.

Franklin Parrasch Gallery. "Peter Alexander: Pre-Dawn L.A." Exhibition, January 12–February 25, 2017. Accessed October 28, 2026. https://www.franklinparrasch.com/peter-alexander-predawn-la.

Craig Krull Gallery. "Peter Alexander: A Tribute." Accessed October 28, 2026. https://craigkrullgallery.com/peter-alexander-tribute.

ArtReview. "Peter Alexander, 1939–2020." May 28, 2020. Accessed October 28, 2026. https://artreview.com/peter-alexander-1939-2020/.

documenta. "documenta 5." Retrospective, artist list. Accessed October 28, 2026. https://documenta.de/en/retrospective/documenta-5.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Peter Alexander, Huh?, 1975." Collections record M.86.2.471. Accessed October 28, 2026. https://collections.lacma.org/object/53952.