“I regard myself as an expressionist as well as a symbolist.  If expressionism implies emotional impact, I can realize it only by restraint and ultimate refinement.”[1]

Emerging with the abstract expressionist movement, Jay DeFeo worked for four decades as a sculptor, photographer, and painter, producing a broad and personal vocabulary of heroic imagery that was inspired by ordinary objects and influenced by prehistoric art, astronomy, and architecture. Labeled an abstract expressionist, “Beat painter,” and “symbolist,” she was born “Mary Joan” in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1929 and raised in San Francisco, rural northern California, and Colorado. DeFeo’s childhood was characterized by instability. Unable to find work, her father joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, causing the family to move constantly throughout northern California. After her parents separated, DeFeo and her mother ended up in San José, where their neighbor, a commercial artist, would lend DeFeo art books, including How to Draw, which exposed her to the design principles and basic geometric forms that would later dominate her art. An art teacher in high school recognized DeFeo’s talent and passion and would take her to museums. In 1946, DeFeo attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned both her BA and MA degrees in studio art. Awarded the Sigmund Martin Heller Traveling Fellowship in 1951, the first woman to be honored with this distinguished prize, DeFeo spent eighteen months traveling in Europe, exploring Paris, London, and Florence. During this time, she painted prolifically, working quickly through various art historical styles and arriving at abstract expressionism.

Upon her return to the United States, DeFeo settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she became a central, charismatic figure in the California avant-garde, along with friends Bruce Conner, Joan Brown, George Herms, and Wallace Berman. San Francisco’s art world at the time lacked the competitiveness and individualism that often characterized New York. Instead, it was “distinguished by its friendships, correspondences, collaborations, gestures of support, artist-run galleries, presses and publications, by artists who worked to create a cultural infrastructure, a community.”[2] DeFeo lived nearly 3,000 miles from the New York art world, but Dorothy Miller selected two of her works for the exhibition she was curating for the Museum of Modern Art. In 1959, Sixteen Americans opened at MoMA, featuring works by DeFeo, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, and Wally Hedrick, DeFeo’s husband at the time. After the exhibition, DeFeo “was approached by the Stable Gallery, one of the first in uptown Manhattan to show works by the Abstract Expressionists. She did not respond because, she said, ‘I had launched into the painting of The Rose,’” although Carter Ratcliff suggests that DeFeo was reluctant to give up the Bay Area community that sustained her.[3]

SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
The British Museum, London, England
Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Frankel Foundation for Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA
Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA

1954 
Jay DeFeo, The Place, San Francisco, CA
Jay DeFeo: Paintings/Jewelry, Dover Gallery, Berkeley, CA

1959 
Jay DeFeo, Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1960 
Jay DeFeo, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1969 
The Rose, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA
The Rose, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

1974 
Wenger Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1975 
Jay DeFeo, Isabelle Percy West Gallery, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA

1978 
Matrix II, University Art Museum, Matrix Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, CA

1979 
Jay DeFeo, Faith and Charity in Hope Gallery, Hope, ID; University of Idaho, Moscow, ID

1980 
Jay DeFeo, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Jay DeFeo, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA

1981 
Indian Valley Colleges, Novato, CA

1983 
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA

1984 
Boise Gallery of Art, Boise, ID
Jay DeFeo: Selected Works Past and Present, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

1985 
Jay DeFeo, Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1986 
Jay DeFeo / Madeline O’Connor: Paintings and Drawings, Nave Museum, Victoria, TX
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA

1988 
Works on Paper, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA; Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1989 
Jay DeFeo: In Memoria - A Selection of Paintings, 1986-1989, The Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Jay DeFeo: Selected Works 1952-1989, Goldie Paley Gallery, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, PA; University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA

1990 
Jay DeFeo: Works on Paper, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA;
The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Laguna Beach Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA; Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL
Jay DeFeo:  An Intimate View: Small Paintings1986-1989, Art Museum of Santa Cruz County, Santa Cruz, CA; Antonio Prieto Memorial Gallery, Mills College, Oakland, CA
Homage to Jay DeFeo, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA

1991 
Jay DeFeo: 1980s Paintings, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Jay DeFeo: 1950s Works on Paper, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA

1992 
Jay DeFeo: Photocollages, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1993 
Jay DeFeo: Works on Paper from the 1950s, Nicole Klagsburn Gallery, New York, NY

1994 
Jay DeFeo: Drawings and Photocollages from the 1970s, Kohn Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1996 
Jay DeFeo: Four Decades, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Jay DeFeo: A Selection of Drawings and Photocollages, Museo de Arte y Diseo Contemporaneo, San Jose, CA; Costa Rica
Jay DeFeo:  Selected Works 1952-1989, Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA; University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

1997 
Jay DeFeo: The Florence View and Related Works 1950-1954, Museo Italo Americano, San Francisco;
Kohn Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Rose, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA

2001 
Jay DeFeo: ‘Doctor Jazz’ and Works on Paper 1952-1989, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT 

2002 
Jay DeFeo: Photographs, Cabrillo College Art Gallery, Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA
Jay DeFeo: Ingredients of Alchemy, Before and After The Rose, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY

2003
Beside ‘The Rose’: Selected Works by Jay DeFeo, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York,  NY
Jay DeFeo: Her Tripod and Its Dress, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY

2013
Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

1950 
San Francisco Annual Drawing Exhibition, San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA

1953 
Richmond Annual Painting, Richmond, CA
Seventeenth Annual Watercolor Exhibition, San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA
Sydell Studio, Los Angeles, CA

1954 
Eighteenth Annual Watercolor Exhibition, San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA
Eighteenth Annual Drawing and Painting Exhibition, San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA
American Jewelry and Related Objects, The Huntington Galleries, Huntington, WV

1955 
Action I: Concert Hall Workshop Presents Action Paintings of the West Coast (Merry-Go-Round Show), Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles Groups, Los Angeles, CA
Second Annual Group, The Six Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1957 
Objects on the New Landscape Demanding of the Eye, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1958 
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Altoon, DeFeo, Kienholz, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Tribute to Mrs. Leonid Gechtoff, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1959 
Sixteen Americans, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Anniversary Group Show, Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Artists Under 35, Dickson Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco Annual Drawing Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
DeFeo, Kienholz, Altoon, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1960 
Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA; 1961
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1961 
Drawing Show, Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1963 
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1966 
Nine California Artists: Abstract Expressionists, Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA

1968 
Late Fifties at Ferus, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
On Looking Back, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

1970 
Expo 70, Osaka, Japan

1971 
New Work / Seven Bay Area Artists, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

1975 
Poets of the Cities / New York and San Francisco 1950-65, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas,  TX; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT
Art as a Muscular Principle / 10 Artist and San Francisco 1950-1965 / roots and new directions, John and
Norah Warbeke Gallery, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA

1976 
Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; The National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
The Last Time I Saw Ferus 1957-1966, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
James Willis Galley, San Francisco, CA

1977 
Perceptions of the Spirit of 20th Century American Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN;
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Marton McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX; Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, OH

1978 
Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA; 1979
California State University at Sonoma, Rohnert Park, CA

1979 
Scenes from the Visual Arts, Center for the Visual Arts, Oakland, CA
Bay Area Painting Invitational, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
American Women of Italian Descent, Museo ItaloAmericano, San Francisco, CA

1980 
Bay Area Artists, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA

1981 
Selections from the Permanent Collection, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Selections from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

1982 
California: A Sense of Individualism, L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, CA
Visiting Artists Revisited, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID; Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Northern California Art of the Sixties, De Saisset Museum, University of Santa Clara, Santa Clara, CA

1983 
Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
California: A Sense of Individualism, Part II, L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, CA
Sight/Vision: The Urban Milieu, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Directions on Bay Area Painting: A Survey of Three Decades: 1940s –1960, Nelson and Union Memorial Galleries, University of California, Davis, CA

1984 
50th Anniversary Exhibition, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
The Dilexi Years, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Directions on Bay Area Painting, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln, NE

1986 
Bay Area Modernism: A Success or Failure?, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
In the Advent of Change, Fresno Arts Center, Fresno, CA
Dissonant Abstractions, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
New California Painting: Dealer’s Choice, Rancho Santiago College Art Gallery, Santa Ana, CA
Sight/Vision: The Urban Milieu II, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Mills College Art Department Faculty Retrospective Exhibition, Mills College, Oakland, CA

1987 
Painting, Jan Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Prints and Drawings by 17 Bay Area Masters, Natsoulas/Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA
American Painting: Abstract Expressionism and After, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Selections from the Collection, University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
A Painterly Vision: California 1960s Paintings and Works on Paper, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San
Francisco, CA
Bay Area Influences: Four Artists: Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA

1988 
The Artists of California, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
Bay Area Masters: Twelve Artists, Triton Museum of art, Santa Clara, CA

1989 
Forty Years of California Assemblage, Wright Art Gallery, University of California at Los
Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Fresno Museum of Art, Fresno, CA; Joselyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
Order and Intuition: Aspects of Bay Area Abstract Painting, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA
41st Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
Private Collection /Personal Exchange: Bay Area Artists, 1950-1966, Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco, CA

1990 
Lyrical Visions: The 6 Gallery 1954-1957, Natsoulas/Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA

1991 
Geometric Abstraction in California 1940-1960, 871 Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
Wallace Berman, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, George Herms, Jess, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY

1992 
Drawings II, Koplin Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, New York, NY
Sight /Vision: The Urban Milieu III, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Several Exceptionally Good Recently Acquired Pictures VI, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Selected Recent Acquisitions, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA

1993 
Photographic: Works of the Sixties and Seventies, Zabriske Gallery, New York, NY
Images: Selections from the Lannan Foundation Collection, Lannan Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Postwar Abstract Painting & Sculpture from the Collection, University Art Museum, University of
California, Berkeley, CA
Recent Photography Acquisitions, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Selections form the Permanent Collection: California Art from the 1930s to the Present, San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Revolution: Into the 2nd Century at the San Francisco Art Institute, One Market Plaza, San Francisco, CA 
Paper Trails: San Francisco Abstract Expressionist Prints, Drawings and Watercolors, Art
Museum of Santa Cruz, CA; Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Utah State University, Logan, UT; Redding Museum of Art and History, Redding, CA; Wiegand Gallery, College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA
San Francisco Abstract Expressionist Works on Paper: 1948-1963, 871 Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
Revolution: Into the 2nd Century at the San Francisco Art Institute, One Market Plaza, San Francisco, CA

1994 
Fractured Identity, Julie Saul Gallery, New York
Here and Now: Bay Area Masterworks from the di Rosa Collections, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
25th Anniversary Exhibition, The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
Selections from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

1995 
Beat Culture and the New America 1950-1965, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY;
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Sight/Vision: The Urban Milieu, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Drawing the Twentieth Century: Works on Paper from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
From Matisse to Diebenkorn: Selections from the Permanent Collection of Painting and Sculpture, San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Picturing Modernity: Photographs from the Permanent Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Facing Eden: 100 Years of Landscape Art in the Bay Area, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
New Perceptions of the Spirit, Flora Lemson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
New Perceptions of the Spirit, Flora Lamson Hewlett Library, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Speaking Abstractly, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA
Recent Acquisitions, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

1996 
The Robert Arneson Tribute Exhibition, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA; San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Foundation for the Future: Celebrating 125 Years at the San Francisco Art Institute, One Bush Street, San Francisco, CA
A Bay Area Connection: Works from the Anderson Collection, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
San Francisco Art Institute: Illustrious History, Salander-O’Reilly, New York, NY

1997 
A Lasting Legacy: Selections from the Lannan Foundation Gift, The Geffen Contemporary at
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Spheres of Influence, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

1998 
Drawing, Cabrillo College Gallery, Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA
First Decade: Highlights from The Contemporary Museum’s Collection, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, HI
Material/Immaterial, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA

1999 
Radical Past: Contemporary Art and Music in Pasadena, 1960-1974, Norton Simon Museum of Art, Pasadena, CA
The Great Drawings Show, 1950 to 1999, Kohn Turner Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The American Century: Art and Culture, 1950-2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Homage to the San Francisco Art Institute, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Coming to Life: The Figure in American Art, 1955-1965, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA

2000 
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: The First Decade, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Anatomically Incorrect, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
True Grit: Seven Female Visionaries before Feminism, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY; Mills
College Art Gallery, Oakland, CA; Boise Museum of Art, Boise, ID; Marsh Art Gallery, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX; Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA; Center for the Visual Arts, Metropolitan State College, Denver, CO
The Mills College Art Museum Permanent Collection: 75th Anniversary Exhibition, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
Made in California: Art, Image and Identity, 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Celebrating Modern Art: The Anderson Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2000 Collector’s Show, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR

2001 
1950s: Abstraction on Paper, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
Fast Forward, Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Points of Departure II: Connecting with Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2001 Collector’s Show, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR

2002 
Women Artists: Their Work and Influence, 1950-1970, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA 
Ferus, Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
Art/Women/California, 1950-2000: Parallels and Intersections, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

2003 
Not Exactly Photographs, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Drawing Modern: Works from the Agnes Gund Collection, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Zen & Modern Art, University Art Gallery, California State University, Hayward, CA
Beat Generation and Beyond, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
In Sequence, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY

2004 
Presence, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY

2006
Pre – Post, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY
Lines of Discovery: 225 Years of American Drawings, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA;      Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, AK
Exquisite Corpse - Cadavre Exquis: a game played between Mitchell Algus and Bob Nickas, Mitchell Algus, New York, NY

2009
Abstract Expressionism: Further Evidence (Part One: Painting), Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY

2010
Different Strokes: Twentieth Century Drawings, George Adams Gallery, New York, NY

2011
Abstract Expressionism: Reloading the Canon, A Selection of Paintings and Sculpture, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, LLC, New York, NY
Collage, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

2012
…On Paper, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY
To be a Lady: Forty-five Women in the Arts, 1285 Avenue of the Americas Art Gallery, New York, NY
INsite/INchelsea: The Inaugural Exhibition, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

2013
Abstract Expressionism / In Context: Seymour Lipton, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY

2014
Venus Drawn Out: 20th Century Drawings by Great Women Artists, The Armory Show Modern, New York, NY

2015
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

2020
Paper Power, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY