Richard Artschwager

1923–2013

Richard Artschwager (1923–2013) was born in Washington, D.C., on December 26, 1923. He entered Cornell University in 1941 to study chemistry and mathematics, but his studies were interrupted by military service in World War II; he returned afterward and completed a bachelor’s degree in physics in 1948. On the G.I. Bill, he then traveled to Paris to study painting under the Purist painter Amédée Ozenfant. Back in New York, he supported himself through the 1950s as a cabinetmaker and furniture maker, work that shaped his later approach to sculptural form. In 1962 he began painting on Celotex, an industrial fiberboard, and combining it with Formica — a body of work that includes Handle (1962), widely regarded as his breakthrough piece and an early instance of his signature hybrid of furniture, painting, and sculpture. By the late 1960s he had developed the “blp,” a lozenge-shaped mark he installed on walls, street corners, and institutional façades to redirect attention to overlooked architecture and surfaces; his installation 100 Locations (1968), which scattered blps throughout and around the Whitney Museum of American Art, is among the best known. His work moved fluidly among Pop art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism. He received a major traveling retrospective, Richard Artschwager’s Theme(s), organized by the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo in 1979, and a second, larger retrospective organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1988, which traveled internationally to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and museums in Madrid, Paris, and Düsseldorf. Artschwager died in Albany, New York, on February 9, 2013.

Links: https://www.gagosian.com/artists/richard-artschwager
https://gagosian.com/media/artists/richard-artschwager/Artschwager-Richard-Bio-2026-06-24.pdf
https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/richard-artschwager
https://whitney.org/collection/works/43392
https://www.slam.org/collection/constituents/164
https://harlanandweaver.com/artists/40-richard-artschwager/biography/
https://hammer.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/migrated-assets/press-releases/Richard%20Artschwager%20Media%20Kit.pdf

Films: The Art of Pacific Enterprises

Sources: Gagosian. "Richard Artschwager." Accessed October 14, 2026. https://www.gagosian.com/artists/richard-artschwager.

Gagosian. "Richard Artschwager: Biography." PDF. Accessed October 14, 2026. https://gagosian.com/media/artists/richard-artschwager/Artschwager-Richard-Bio-2026-06-24.pdf.

Sotheby’s. "Richard Artschwager." Accessed October 14, 2026. https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/richard-artschwager.

Whitney Museum of American Art. "Richard Artschwager, 100 Locations (Blp), 1968." Accessed October 14, 2026. https://whitney.org/collection/works/43392.

Saint Louis Art Museum. "Richard Artschwager." Accessed October 14, 2026. https://www.slam.org/collection/constituents/164.

Harlan & Weaver. "Richard Artschwager." Accessed October 14, 2026. https://harlanandweaver.com/artists/40-richard-artschwager/biography/.

Hammer Museum, UCLA. "Richard Artschwager!" Press kit. Accessed October 14, 2026. https://hammer.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/migrated-assets/press-releases/Richard%20Artschwager%20Media%20Kit.pdf.