WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Joe Brainard

Joe Brainard

American, 1942–1994

WA-00023962

Salem, AR, USA

Mixed Media

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ1691342

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

The Stage Show

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1979

No image

Frank O'Hara/In Memory of My Feelings

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1967–1968

Field Verification (4 fields)

4 cross-verified · 0 single-source

BiographyWikidata· 92%✓
Birth yearWikidata· 92%✓
LocationWikidata· 92%✓
NationalityWikidata· 92%✓

Source Registry (2)

Deitchhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/joe-brainard
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/736
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Joe Brainard was an American artist and writer working across collage, drawing, and mixed media from the 1960s onward. His practice combined found imagery, text fragments, and a deliberately naïve or childlike formal vocabulary to create works that resisted conventional hierarchy between high and low materials. Active in New York's postwar experimental art scene, he moved fluidly between visual art and literary production, including artist's books and collaborative projects. His collages and drawings employed humor and domestic materials to interrogate notions of taste and artistic legitimacy.

Source: Deitch · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Mixed Media

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (13)

WattsOS

Art Nouveau Fish Bowl

1975 · Cut and pasted, printed and painted papers, opaque watercolor, with traces of graphite on paper

6 1/16 × 4 5/16 in. (15.4 × 10.9 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Red Rose on a Mauve Background

1975 · Opaque watercolor on paper

5 15/16 in. × 4 in. (15.1 × 10.2 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Foot Landscape

1975 · Opaque watercolor on paper

5 15/16 in. × 4 in. (15.1 × 10.1 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

8 Drawings for the Museum publication I REMEMBER CHRISTMAS

1973 · .1 = cut-and-pasted paper and felt-tip pen over laid with synthetic polymer film on paper mounted on board .2 = pen and ink and black and red felt-tip pens .3 = felt-tip pen overlaid with synthetic polymer film .4,.5 = pen and ink and felt-tip pen overlaid with synthetic polymer film .6 = pen and ink .7 = felt-tip pen .8 = pen and ink, felt-tip pen, and gouache overlaid with synthetic polymer film

various sizes: 14 1/2 x 11 1/2" to 12 1/8 x 22 3/8" (36.8 x 29.2 to 30.8 x 56.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Portrait of David Hockney

1972 · Pencil on paper

13 5/8 x 10 3/4" (34.6 x 27.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1971 · Pencil and colored ink on paper

13 5/8 x 10 5/8" (34.6 x 27 cm)

14 1/2 × 11 1/2 in. (36.8 × 29.2 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

WattsOS

Straw

1970 · Cut and layered papers, watercolor, and plexiglass

28 3/4 × 22 3/4 in. (73 × 57.8 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Preparatory drawing for In Memory of My Feelings

1967 · Acrylic ink on two sheets of acetate

sheet (.a): 13 7/8 x 10 15/16" (35.3 x 27.8 cm); sheet (.b): 13 15/16 x 10 15/16" (35.4 x 27.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

In-text plate (folios 17 verso and 18 recto) from In Memory of My Feelings

1967 · One from an illustrated book with forty-six lithographs

composition (irreg.): 10 13/16 x 17 1/2" (27.4 x 44.5 cm); page (two-page spread): 12 x 17 15/16" (30.5 x 45.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Three Pansies

1967 · Opaque watercolor on paper

7 5/16 × 5 13/16 in. (18.5 × 14.7 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Untitled

1966 · Cut-and-pasted paper, embroidered printed paper, net, glitter, and synthetic polymer paint on board

14 x 11" (35.6 x 27.9 cm)

28 × 15 1/2 × 5 3/4 in., 14.5 lb. (71.1 × 39.4 × 14.6 cm, 6.6 kg)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

View all 13 artworks →

Artwork sources (2)

13 published of 19 catalogued · 10 with image

The Met
7 published
MoMA
6 publishedof 12 catalogued10 img

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Collections2

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Modern Art

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition The Stage Show

New York · 1979

Group Exhibition Frank O'Hara/In Memory of My Feelings

New York · 1967