Untitled
1957 · Oil on canvas with wood frame
9 7/8 x 14 1/4" (25.1 x 36.2 cm)
Museum of Modern Art
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Forrest Bess
1911–1977
WA-00003319
PaintingAbstract Expressionism
Representation
None documented
0
Institutional Exhibitions
3
Works in Collection
8
Assets Indexed
6
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
80%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Influence Graph
No influence edges encoded yet.
Authority Records (2)
Field Verification (5 fields)
4 cross-verified · 1 single-source
- Birth yearArtsy + Duplicate Merge· 85%✓
- BiographyDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
- Death yearDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
- Primary mediumDuplicate Merge· 85%✓
- NationalityArtsy· 85%
Source Registry (2)
- MoMA bulk 2026-05-04Tier 1 · Institutional92%
- Anton-KernTier 3 · Scraped/inferred60%
About
Why this artist matters now
Forrest Bess made small, densely layered oil paintings whose quasi-abstract forms derived from hallucinatory visions and his intensive research into Jungian theory, sexology, and Aboriginal ritual. Working in near-isolation from Bay City, Texas, he showed with gallerist Betty Parsons from 1949 to 1967. His paintings and accompanying "medical thesis" notebooks were presented at the 2012 Whitney Biennial in a display curated by Robert Gober.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 1mo ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
Abstract Expressionism
Medium
Painting
Related Artists
12 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (3)
Artwork sources (2)
3 published of 5 catalogued · 5 with image
- MoMA2 publishedof 4 catalogued4 img
- Art Institute Chicago1 published1 img
Record
Images
Relationships
2Movements1
Collections1
Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
Art Institute of Chicago
Background
Education
Bay City High School
Visual Arts
Record
Exhibitions and timeline
No exhibitions or timeline entries yet