- James Lee Byars
James Lee Byars (
April 10 1932 –May 23 1997 ) was a modernartist specializing in installationsculpture and inperformance art .cite web |url= http://www.nysun.com/article/63061 |title= Notes From a Young Artist |author=Francis Morrone |work=The New York Sun |publisher= Review of "James Lee Byars: The Art of Writing" at theMuseum of Modern Art |date=20 September 2007 |quote= The exhibition principally comprises numerous letters or missives that the artist Byars sent to the MoMA curator Dorothy C. Miller beginning in 1959… ] His works include "The Death of James Lee Byars" and "The Perfect Smile".1932Born Detroit, Michigan
1958Museum of Modern Art, New York
1961Willard Gallery, New York
1962“Paper of Kyoto”, floor plan of a temple, Kyoto
1964“1 x 50 Foot Drawing”, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh
1967“The Giant Man of Water Soluble Paper and Dissolved on 53rd Street”, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York
1968“The World Question Center”, The Hudson Institute, Croton-on-Hudson, New York
1969“The World Question on Belgian TV”, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax; Wide White Space Gallery, Antwerp
1970“The Gold Curb”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
1971“The Black Book”, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne
1972Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; Documenta V, Kassel
1973Wide White Space Gallery, Antwerp
1974“The Perfect Love Letter”, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; “The Golden Tower”, Galerie Rudolph Springer, Berlin
1975“The Perfect Epitaph”, Galerie Toni Gerber, Bern; “The Holy Ghost: Opening of the Celibatarian Machine”, Piazza San Marco, Venice; “The Perfect Kiss”, Pavillon Denon, Musée du Louvre, Paris; “The Autobiography. The Perfect Epitaph. The 25 Philosophers of Amsterdam Live, I do nothing, The Wand”, Galerie de Appel, Amsterdam
1976“The Perfect Performance is to Stand Still”, I.C.C., Antwerp; “Drawing Now”, Museum of Modern Art, New York
1977“The Hundred One Page Book”, Galerie Rolf Preisig, Basel; “The Play of Death”, Domplatz, Cologne; “The First Total Interrogative Philosophy”, Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach; Documenta VI, Kassel; “Werk aus der Sammlung Crex”, Ink, Zurich; Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Stedelijk van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
1978“The Perfect Kiss”, University Art Museum, Berkeley; “Hear TH IN PH around this chair and it knocks you out”, Marian Goodman Gallery, New York; “The Exhibition of Perfect”, Kunsthalle Bern
1980“The Exhibition of Perfect”, Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard, Cambridge; Venice Biennale, Venice
1981“The Perfect Kiss”, De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam; “The very Great Search for James Lee Byars”, De Hortus Botanicus, De Appel Foundation, Amsterdam; “James Lee Byars—Sechs Arbeiten”, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; “The Classical Exhibition of to Be Quiet”, Galerie Helen van der Meij, Amsterdam; Galerie Claude Givaudan, Geneva
1982“James Lee Byars im Westfälischen Kunstverein”, Westfälischen Kunstverein, Munster; Documenta VII, Kassel; “Zeitgeist”, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin
1983Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; “Sammlung Speck”, Haus Esters und Haus Lange, Krefeld; “New Art at the Tate Gallery”, The Tate Gallery, London
1984“The Perfect Quiet”, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; Museum of Fine Art, Philadelphia; “Skulptur im 20 Jahrhundert”, Merienpark, Basel
1985Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; Mary Boone/ Michael Werner, New York
1986“The Spinning Oracle of Delphi”, Delphi; “James Lee Byars—Palast der Philosophie/The Philosophical Palace”, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf; “James Lee Byars—Beauty Goes Avantgarde”, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; “Choices: Making an Art of Everyday Life”, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; “Die Sammlung Toni Gerber im Kunstmuseum Bern”, Kunstmuseum, Bern; Venice Biennale, Venice
1987“James Lee Byars—Zeichnungen”, Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich; “The Letter Reading Society of James Lee Byars”, Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; “Die Gleichzeitigkeit des Anderen”, Kunstmuseum, Bern; Documenta VIII, Kassel; “Übrigens sterben immer die Anderen, Marcel Duchamp und die Avantgarde seit 1950”, Museum Ludwig, Köln
1988Mary Boone/Michael Werner, New York; Hoffman Borman Gallery, Santa Monica
1989“James Lee Byars—Monument to Cleopatra”, Cleto Polcina Arte Moderna, Rome; “James Lee Byars—Old New Work”, Vrej Baghoomian Inc., New York; Mary Boone Gallery, New York; “James Lee Byars—The Palace of Good Luck”, Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin; Galerie de France, Paris; Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne
1990“The Perfect Thought”, The University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; “Vies d’Artistes”, Musée des Beaux-Arts André Malraux, Le Havre
1991“James Lee Byars—The Path of Luck”, Michael Werner Gallery, New York; “James Lee Byars—Neue Arbeiten”, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne
1992“James Lee Byars—Self Portraits”, January 11 - February 1, Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York; “The Thinking Field”, Mary Boone Gallery, New York; “Is—James Lee Byars”, Galeria La Maquina Espanola, Madrid; Magasin 3 Stockholm Kunsthalle, Stockholm; Galerie de France, Paris; Alhambra Foundation, Granada
1993“Sonne, Mond und Sterne”, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart; “James Lee Byars—Is Is”, Mulier Mulier Gallery, Knokke-Heist; Galerie Rigassi, Bern; Galerie des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; SCAI The Bathhouse, Shiraishi Contemporary Art, Inc., Tokyo; “Works from the Sixties” and “Recent Works”, Michael Werner Gallery, New York
1994“James Lee Byars—Frühe und neue Objekte”, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; “The Death of James Lee Byars”, Galerie Marie-Puck Broodthaers, Brussels; “James Lee Byars—The Perfect Love”, Laura Carpenter Fine Art, Santa Fe; Graphische Räume Museum Ludwig, Cologne; “James Lee Byars—Drawings (Moon—Eros)”, SCA The Bathhouse, Shiraishi Contemporary Art, Inc., Tokyo; “James Lee Byars-The Perfect Moment”, IVAM Centre del Carme, Valencia; “Couplet 2”, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1995“James Lee Byars—White Mass”, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, Cologne; Artek Gallery, Helsinki; “James Lee Byars—Perfect is my Death Word”, Neues Weserburg, Bremen; “James Lee Byars—Five Points Make A Man, The Moons and Constellations”, Michael Werner Gallery, New York; Fondation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain, Paris
1996“The Monument of Language—James Lee Byars”, The Henry Moore Institute, Leeds; “James Lee Byars—The Angel”, Michael Werner Gallery, New York; “Centro Damián Bayón, Institutode América de Santa Fe, Grenanda; “Dessins: acquisitions 1992-1996”, Galerie d’Art Graphique, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
1997Dies in Cairo, Egypt. “James Lee Byars”, Galerie Stadtpark, Krems; “James Lee Byars—The Palace of Perfect”, Fundação de Serralves, Porto; “Notfalls leben wir auch ohne Herz. Exemplarischen aus der Sammlung Speck”, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien
1998“James Lee Byars—Four Early Drawings and a Black Figure on the Floor”, Michael Werner Gallery, New York; “James Lee Byars—The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago
1999Michael Werner Gallery, New York and Cologne; “The Epitaph of Con. Art is Which Questions Have Disappeared?”, Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover; Venice Biennale, Venice
2000“The Poetic Conceit and Other Black Works”, Michael Werner Gallery, New York and Cologne
2001Galerie Er Rashid, Düsseldorf; “Letters to Joseph Beuys”, Museum für Kommunikation, Frankfurt; “Works on Paper from the 1960s and 1990s and Sculpture from the 1990s”, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; “Ephemera”, Low, Los Angeles; “Beau Monde: Toward a Redeemed Cosmopolitanism”, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe; “Alchemie de la rencontre”, FRAC/Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Champagen-Ardenne, Reims; “The Museum of our Wishes”, Museum Ludwig, Cologne
2002“The Angel”, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London; “The Inward Eye: Transcendence in Contemporary Art”, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston
2003“The Moon Books: Above and Below, An Exhibition of James Lee Byars”, Michael Werner Gallery, New York; “Louise Bourgeois, James Lee Byars – Il disparut dans le silence total”, Centre Pompidou, Paris; "The Invisible Threat: Buddhist Spirit in Contemporary Art", Snug Harbor Cultural Center, New York
2004"James Lee Byars: Letters from the World's Most Famous Unknown Artist", Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art; "James Lee Byars", Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston; "James Lee Byars: Life, Love and Death", Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt; "James Lee Byars", The Whitney Museum of American Art", New York; "Singular Forms (Sometimes Repeated): Art from 1951 to the Present", Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Monocromos", Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; "The Big Nothing", Institute of Contemporary Art, Pennsylvania
2005James Lee Byars: Selected Works", Baldwin Gallery, Aspen Colorado; "James Lee Byars", Barbican, London; “James Lee Byars: Selected Works”, The Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO; “James Lee Byars”, Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, CA; Private/Corporate III. Sammlung Daimler Chrysler – Sammlung Heliod Spiekermann", Daimler Chrysler Contemporary, Haus Huth, Berlin; "Private view. Colour after Klein", Barbican Art Gallery, London; "Lothar Baumgarten. James Lee Byars. In Progress IV Für Harald Szeemann", Kewenig Galerie, Köln; "Passions for Collecting", Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen; "The New Hebrews. A Century of Art in Israel“, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; "The Red Carpet. Myth, Might and Everyday Life. 5th Summer of Art and Culture 2005“, KISS Kunstverein, Schloss Untergröningen, Abtsgmünd Untergröningen; "Atlas – World Culture in Dialog“, HBV Kunst Palais, München; "A Brief History of Invisible Art“, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco
2006“James Lee Byars”, Michael Werner Gallery, Perry Rubenstein Gallery and Mary Boone Gallery, New York; “Worlds: James Lee Byars, Jörg Immendorff, Thomas Lehmerer, Hermann Nitsch, Reiner Ruthenbeck and others”, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen; “The Materialization of Sensibility: Art and Alchemy“, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York; “Elemental Form”, L&M Arts, New York; “Strange Powers”, Creative Time, New York
2007“Selection”, Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne; “The Invisible Show”, Centro José Guerrero, Granada; “Byars & Beuys”, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
2008"James Lee Byars: Five Points Make a Man", Michael Werner Gallery, New York
2008"James Lee Byars: The Perfect Audience", Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley
2008"James Lee Byars: Im full of Byars – A Homage", Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland
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