ROBERT INDIANA

Robert Indiana was born in New Castle, Indiana in 1928. He received his Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago and attended the Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland on the George Brown Travelling Fellowship before graduating in 1953.

In 1955 Indiana moved to New York where he began assembling wood and mixed media into sculptures with painted words and other graphics. Indiana considered himself foremost a sign painter and associated with the hardworking ideals of the American Dream.

Indiana’s early works are captivating and exciting, influenced by the Hard-edge paintings of his contemporaries including Ellsworth Kelly and Jack Youngerman. Indiana was also at the center of the Pop Art movement in New York, appearing in Andy Warhol’s 1964 film entitled Eat. In 1973 Indiana designed the iconic United States Postal Stamp with the word “Love,” an image that would become an important theme in his work.

Indiana has received Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from: Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (1970); University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana (1977); and Colby College in Waterville, Massachusetts (1981). Additionally, Indiana’s works are held in major collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

Indiana lives and works in Vinalhaven Island, Maine.

2013/14 – “Robert Indiana: Beyond Love,” The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York

2013 – “Pop Art Accrochage,” Fluegel-Roncak Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany

2013 – “All You Need is LOVE,” Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan

2013 – “The Pop Object: The Still Life Tradition in Pop Art,” Acquavella Galleries, Inc., New York, New York

2012 – “Hope,” Contini Galleria d’Arte, Venice, Italy

2012 – “Robert Indiana: Sculptures,” Waddington Custot Galleries, London, United Kingdom

2012 – “Robert Indiana: New & Classic Works,” Rosenbaum Contemporary, Boca Raton, Florida

2011 – “Robert Indiana: Rare Works from 1959 on Coenties Slip,” Galerie Gmurzynska, Zurich, Switzerland

2010 – Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida

2009 – “Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope,” Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine

2008 – “Pop and Op,” Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York

2007 – “Art Market Now,” The Columns, Seoul, South Korea

2006 – “Life as a Legend: Marilyn Monroe,” Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida

2005 – “Made in USA: Ausgewählte Graphik,” Galerie & Edition Bode GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany

2005 – “Summer of Love Art of the Psychedelic Era,” Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

2005/05 – “Robert Indiana 66: Paintings and Sculpture,” Price Tower Arts Center’s, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

2003 – “Letters, Words and Numbers,” L & M Gallery, New York, New York

1998 – Retrospective, Musée D’Art Moderne Contemporain, Nice, France

1991 – “Prints Retrospective,” Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York, New York

1990 – “Prints as Process,” Baxter Gallery, Portland School of Art, Massachusetts

1986 – “Vinalhaven Press 1985-1986,” Portland Museum of Art, Massachusetts

1982 – “Indiana’s Indianas: A 25 Year Retrospective of Paintings and Sculptures from the Collection of Robert Indiana,” National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washingtonm, D.C.

1978 – “Art About Art,” Whitney Museum of Art, New York, New York

1977/78 – “Museum Retrospective,” University Art Museum at University of Texas, Austin, Texas; Travelled to: the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia, Virginia; the Indianapoilis Museum of Art, Indiana, Indiana; the Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase, New York; The Art Center, South Bend, Indiana, Indiana

1976 – “Thirty Years of American Art,” Brooklyn Museum of Art, curated by Gene Baro, Brooklyn, New York

1975/76 – Galerie Denise Rene, New York, New York

1975 – “American Art Since 1945,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

1972 – “The Modern Image,” High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

1972 – Galerie Denise Rene, New York, New York

1969/70 – “The Prints and Posters of Robert Indiana,” St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana; Travelled to: Colby College of Art Museum, Waterville, Maine; the Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire; The Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine; Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts

1969 – “70 Years of American Art,” Whitney Museum of Art, New York, New York

1968 – “Word and Image,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

1967 – Ninth Sao Paulo Bienal, Brazil

1966 – “LOVE Exhibition,” Stable Gallery, New York, New York

1966 – Galerie Alfred Schmela, Dusseldorf, Germany

1966 – Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany

1965 – “1965 Annual Exhibition of American Paintings,” Whitney Museum of Art, New York, New York

1964 – Stable Gallery, New York, New York (solo)

1963 – “Americans 1963,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

1963 – New Realists, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New York

1962 – Stable Gallery, New York, New York (solo)

1961 – “The Art of Assemblage,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York

The Art Newspaper – “End to Indiana’s 35-Year Wait” by Anny Shaw

Art in America – “Robert Indiana: A Man of All Seasons” by David Ebony

Blouin Art Info – “Robert Indiana Lands a Very Personal Retrospective at Indianapolis Museum” by Benjamin Sutton

Archives of American Art – “Oral History Interview with Robert Indiana, 1963 Sept. 12-Nov. 7” Interview by Richard Brown Baker

USA Today – “Maine Artist Creates HOPE Images Decades After LOVE” by Clarke Canfield

Indystar.com – “Robert Indiana Through the Years”

Portland Press Herald – “At Bates, Important Conversations Between Text and Image” by Daniel Kany