ERNEST BRIGGS (American 1923-1984), Untitled, 1955, oil on canvas mounted on linen, signed and dated verso, 89” x 125” (More)

Ernest Briggs

Ernest Briggs, an Abstract Expressionist painter, left California and arrived in New York in 1953 where he brought a fresh, lively approach to painting. During the 1950s as part of the New York avant-garde, Briggs was able to make a name for himself with his explosive and dynamic aesthetics. His works reflected a radical West Coast style that he developed at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco under the tutelage of artists such as Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, and Clyfford Still.

He participated in several Whitney Museum Annuals and in 1956 and in 1956 was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition “12 Americans.”  He taught painting and sculpture at the Pratt Institute from 1961 until his death at age 61.

Selected solo exhibitions

1951 Metart Gallery
1954, 55 Stable Gallery
1956 San Francisco Art Association Gallery
1960, 62, 63 The Howard Wise Gallery
1968 Yale University
1969 Alonzo Gallery
1973 Green Mountain Gallery
1975 Susan Caldwell, Inc.
1977 Aaron Berman Gallery
1980 Landmark Gallery
1980, 82 Gruenebaum Gallery
1984 Gruenebaum Gallery
2001 Anita Shapolsky Gallery
2002 Mishkin Gallery

Selected Group Exhibitions

1950 The Oakland Museum of California
1953 California Palace of the Legion of Honor
1955-61 The Whitney Museum of American Art
1956 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
1962 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
1967 Cornell University
1969 American Academy of Arts and Letters
1970 The Oakland Museum of California
1996 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2000 Anita Shapolsky Gallery

Selected Public Collections

Smithsonian Institute
Whitney Museum of American Art
Brooklyn Museum
Carnegie Institute
Brooklyn Museum
Rockefeller Institute
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Oakland Museum of California
Portland Museum of Art
Walker Art Center
San Jose Museum of Art