WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Bruce Conner

Bruce Conner

Bruce Conner

1933–2008

WA-00003682

McPherson, KS, USA

PhotographyPhotography

Representation

None documented

6

Institutional Exhibitions

30

Works in Collection

94

Assets Indexed

15

Authority-backed Facts

0

Publications Referenced

90%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ991589

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

The Artist as Adversary

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1971

No image

Tamarind: Homage to Lithography

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1969

No image

Members Collect

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1967

No image

Recent Acquisitions

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1961–1962

No image

The Art of Assemblage

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1961

No image

Selections from the Art Lending Service

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1960

Field Verification (7 fields)

6 cross-verified · 1 single-source

Primary mediumWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Birth yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Death yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
DeceasedWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
BiographyWikipedia + Unknown· 88%✓
LocationArtsy + Gallery· 85%✓
NationalityWikidata + Artsy+1· 92%

Source Registry (3)

Paula-Cooperhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/bruce-conner
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/bruce-conner
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/1215
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Bruce Conner was an American artist who worked across assemblage, film, photography, drawing, and collage, creating a practice rooted in the visual debris and institutional critique of postwar culture. His work, represented by Paula Cooper, combines found materials and archival processes to construct complex commentaries on memory, image-making, and the relationship between chance and intention. Working from the 1950s onward, Conner treated the artist's studio as a site of radical recombination, refusing distinction between media. His photographs, films, and three-dimensional works share a conceptual rigor beneath their apparent chaos, grounded in careful formal observation.

Source: Paula Cooper · Trust score: 100% · Updated 2mo ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Photography

Medium

Photography

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Cleveland Museum of Art Art Institute of Chicago Whitney Museum of American Art

Canonical record

Artworks (30)

2008 · Cut and pasted found, intaglio printed papers on paper

7 1/4 × 6 9/16 in. (18.4 × 16.7 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Untitled Inkblot Drawing (Blue)

Untitled Inkblot Drawing (Blue)

2000 · Blotted blue ink, with touches of graphite, on folded white wove paper

24.7 × 17.7 cm (9 3/4 × 7 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (Inkblot)

Untitled (Inkblot)

2000 · Blotted gray ink, with paper collage element and touches of yellow ink (recto); black carbon print (verso) on folded white wove paper

15.7 × 15.7 cm (6 3/16 × 6 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

HIEROGLYPHIC SEISMOGRAPH

1999 · Brush and black ink on paper

23 1/8 × 28 15/16 in. (58.7 × 73.5 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1996 · Black ink on cut paper adhered on paper

11 3/8 x 10 in. (28.9 x 25.4 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Untitled April 5, 1995

Untitled April 5, 1995

1995 · Blotted gray ink, with black porous pointed pen on folded white resin coated wove paper

19.1 × 18.2 cm (7 9/16 × 7 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Inkblot Drawing, June 1, 1995

Inkblot Drawing, June 1, 1995

1995 · Blotted gray ink, with black porous pointed pen ink on folded white, resin coated, wove paper

58.7 × 73.8 cm (23 1/8 × 29 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Prints

1974 · Six photocopied reports, bound in slide lock covers, each in cream file folders and plastic bags, keys, envelopes, and a pamphlet in a gray F22 art steel office lock box

Box: 26 × 39.1 × 5.7 cm (10 1/4 × 15 7/16 × 2 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

11/19/73

1973 · Acrylic on canvas

181.6 × 151.1 cm (71 1/2 × 59 1/2 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

100 Series: #122 Triptych

1971 · offset lithograph

Image: 50.5 x 50.1 cm (19 7/8 x 19 3/4 in.); Sheet: 55.7 x 55.1 cm (21 15/16 x 21 11/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Untitled

1970 · Offset lithograph in black (recto); black fiber-tipped pen, over graphite, (verso) on ivory wove paper

Image: 21.4 × 13.3 cm (8 7/16 × 5 1/4 in.); Sheet: 27.7 × 18.4 cm (10 15/16 × 7 1/4 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1969 · Black marker with black ink on paper

7 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (18.4 x 10.8 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Drawing 6/11/68

Drawing 6/11/68

1968 · Brush and black ink on white Japanese paper

55.3 × 44 cm (21 13/16 × 17 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

UNTITLED, MARCH 17, 1968

1968 · Black marker on black paper

11 1/16 × 8 5/8 in. (28.1 × 21.9 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

1968 · Stack of 18 "bills" printed with abstract drawings on both sides bound with a paper band marked "Legal Tender"

Cleveland Museum of Art

Return to Go, from Ten West Coast Artists

Return to Go, from Ten West Coast Artists

1967 · Color lithograph on buff wove paper

Image, sheet: 76.5 × 56 cm (30 1/8 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Return to Go

1967 · Lithograph in orange-red and black on white wove paper

Sheet: 76.1 × 56.3 cm (30 × 22 3/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1967 · Black porous-point pen on two joined pieces of paper

8 7/16 × 10 13/16 in. (21.5 × 27.4 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

EVE-RAY-FOREVER

1965 · Three-screen Super-8 film installation, black-and-white, silent, 3:42 min., 4:11 min., and 3:45 min. looped, transferred to video

Dimensions variable

Whitney Museum of American Art

Untitled, from the Mandala Series

Untitled, from the Mandala Series

1965 · Black felt-tip pen on white wove paper

25.4 × 25.4 cm (10 × 10 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled, from the Mandala Series

Untitled, from the Mandala Series

1965 · Black fiber-tipped pen, over traces of graphite, on ivory wove paper, laid down on wood pulp board

25.6 × 25.5 cm (10 1/8 × 10 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled, from the Mandala Series

Untitled, from the Mandala Series

1965 · Black fiber-tipped pen, over graphite with compass, on off-white wove paper, laid down on cream card

Sight: 25.5 × 25.4 cm (10 1/16 × 10 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Thumbprint

1965 · Lithograph on ivory paper

Sheet: 105.9 × 76 cm (41 3/4 × 29 15/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

1965 · Porous point pen and black ink on paper, in artist frame with mirrored fillets

9 3/4 × 9 3/4 in. (24.8 × 24.8 cm) Frame (AF.2001.434.1): 18 3/4 × 18 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (47.6 × 47 × 3.2 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

View all 30 artworks →

Artwork sources (5)

30 published of 88 catalogued · 75 with image

Art Institute Chicago
19 published19 img
The Met
7 published
Cleveland Museum of Art
2 published
Whitney
2 published
+ 1 more source · 58 catalogued, not yet published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 2)

2 entries · 1 sources

100 Series: #122 Triptych
1971 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Legal Tender
1968 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy artwork: Room

Artsy

Artsy artwork: Untitled

Artsy

Artsy artwork: Untitled

Artsy

Artsy artwork: I Am Bruce Conner and I Am Not Bruce Conner buttons (two works) (1964)

Artsy

Artsy artist portrait

Artsy

Relationships

9

Movements1

Collections8

Art Institute of Chicago Christie's The Metropolitan Museum of Art Whitney Museum of American Art Cleveland Museum of Art Artsy

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Background

Education

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Visual Arts

University of Colorado Boulder

Visual Arts

Wichita State University

Visual Arts

Wichita East High School

Visual Arts

Market

Auction History

Work	Auction House	Date	Estimate	Hammer Price
Untitled	Wright	May 2026	$6,000 – $8,000	Unsold
Untitled	Wright	May 2026	$1,000 – $1,500	Unsold
Untitled	Artsy	May 2026	$800 – $1,200	Unsold
Untitled	Rago	Oct 2025	$2,000 – $3,000	Unsold
Untitled	Rago	Oct 2025	$6,000 – $8,000	Unsold