Betty Tompkins, Ellensburg, WA, 1973
Known for her unabashed portrayals of the female body and sexual desire, Betty Tompkins (b. 1945) has been shunned, seized, censored, and celebrated in the five decades since she first began her iconic Fuck Paintings series. A self-proclaimed “accidental dissident,” Tompkins has ceaselessly questioned the rules of representation of women's bodies and what governs them. By appropriating imagery created for male self-pleasure, she has reframed long-held taboos by challenging critical discourses around content, style, and scale. Her works can be found in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Centre Pompidou, Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY; Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, NY, among others. She has presented recent solo exhibitions at P·P·O·W, New York, NY; GAVLAK, Los Angeles, CA; Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium; J Hammond Projects, London; The Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY; and Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva. Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, Muzeum Susch, Zernez, Switzerland; Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Histórias da sexualidade, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paolo, Brazil; Black Sheep Feminism: The Art of Sexual Politics, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Texas; and Elles, Centre Pompidou, Paris, among others. In 2021, MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain presented Betty Tompkins: Raw Material, a revelatory survey exhibition accompanied by a monograph with specially commissioned texts by Nicolas Bourriaud, Alison M. Gingeras and Géraldine Gourbe, as well as a conversation with Tompkins. P·P·O·W will present Tompkins' third solo exhibition with the gallery in summer 2024.
Betty Tompkins
b. 1945, Washington D.C.
Lives and works in New York, NY and Pleasant Mount, PA
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Betty Tompkins, P·P·O·W, New York (forthcoming)
2021
Betty Tompkins: Raw Material, MO.CO Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier, France
Women Words, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Betty Tompkins: Some Sex, Lots of Talking, GAVLAK Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2019
Talking Talking Talking, curated by Darren Flook, Freehouse, London, UK
Fuck Paintings, Etc., J Hammond Projects, London, UK
2018
Will She Ever Shut Up?, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
Betty Tompkins, WAAP, Vancouver, Canada
Betty Tompkins, Ribordy Contemporary, Genève, Switzerland
2017
Betty Tompkins, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Betty Tompkins, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Virgins, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
2016
Sex Works/ WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories, GAVLAK Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories, The Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY
2015
Real Ersatz, FUG, New York, NY
2014
Paintings & Works on Paper: 1972-2013, GAVLAK Palm Beach, Palm Beach, FL
2013
Betty Tompkins and Dadamanio, Home Alone 2, New York, NY
Woman Words, Dinter Fine Art Online, New York, NY
2012
Fuck Paintings, Galerie Rodolph Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
FUCK: Works on Paper 1969 - 2010, Venus Over Manhattan, Miami, FL
2011
Sex Works, Galerie Andrea Caratsch, Zurich, Switzerland
2009
New Work, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, NY
2008
Fuck Paintings and Drawings 1973 - 2007, Lawrimore Project, Seattle, WA
2007
Sex Works, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, NY
2006
Fuck Paintings and Drawings, Galerie Andrea Caratsch, Zurich, Switzerland
2005
New Paintings and Drawings, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, NY
2002
Fuck Paintings 1969 - 1974, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, NY
Select Group Exhibitions
2024
Infinite Woman, Fondation Carmignac, Hyères, France (forthcoming)
MALCRIADAS, Her Clique, Lisbon, Portugal
2023
Lacan, the Exhibition: When Art Meets Psychoanalysis, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France
Lover’s Eye, Sargent’s Daughters, Los Angeles, CA
It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According To Hannah Gadsby, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
2022
V1 XX - 20 years of V1 Gallery, VI Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Femme Fatale: Gaze-Power-Gender, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Floating Truth, Gana Art, Seoul, South Korea
A Maze Zanine, Amaze Zaning, A-Mezzaning, Meza-9, curated by Ei Arakawa, Kerstin Brätsch, Nicole Eisenman, and Laura Owens, Performance Space New York at David Zwirner, New York, NY
Sensitive Content, Unit London, London, UK
A Woman's Right to Pleasure, BlackBook Presents at Sotheby's, Los Angeles, CA
A Feminist Avant Garde from the Verbund Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Novi Sad, Serbia; Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles, Arles, France (travelling)
Drawers: Provocative Drawings, curated by Laura Hutson Hunter, OZ Arts, Nashville, TN
Late Night Enterprise, Perrotin, New York, NY
2021
She Says: Women, Words, and Power, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Beach, VA
10 Years, Halsey Mckay Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Peep Show, curated by Brigitte Mulholland and Kristen Smoragiewicz, Anton Kern Gallery Window, New York, NY
Halsey McKay Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY
2020
To Cast Too Bold a Shadow, Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, NY
Nasty Women, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Reflections, Gang Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2019
A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, curated by Kasia Redzisz, Muzeum Susch, Zernez, Switzerland
Tainted Love, Villa Arson, Nice, France
Strategic Vandalism: The Legacy of Asger Jorn’s Modification Paintings, Petzel Gallery, New York, NY
Rise, RIBORDY THETAZ, Geneva, Switzerland
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s: Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, The Brno House of Arts, Brno, Czech Republic
Afflatus, 5-50 Gallery, curated by Amy Hill and Suzanne Unrein, Queens, NY
FÜR BARBARA (BIS), curated by Leo Koenig, Hall Art Foundation, Schloss Derneburg Museum, Holle, Germany
2018
Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Defacement, THE CLUB, Tokyo, Japan
BETTY TOMPKINS & JEAN-BAPTISTE BERNADET, Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
WOMEN NOW, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, NY
The Value of Freedom, Belvedere 21, Vienna
Histórias da sexualidade, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), São Paolo, Brazil
Tainted Love, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, France
HARD, University Hall Gallery, Boston, MA
Declaration, Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, VA
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970: Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, Stavanger Art Museum, Norway
2017
Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s: Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, Germany
Für Barbara, Hall Art Foundation Schloss Derneburg Museum, Derneburg, Germany
Nude, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
A Space for Thought, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy
Cunt, Venus LA, Los Angeles, CA
Flaming June VII, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Secret Garden: The Female Gaze on Erotica, Untitled Space, New York, NY
Ear Putty, 56 Henry Annex, New York, NY
2016
Tie His Hands Gently, Romeo, New York, NY
#PUSSYPOWER, David & Schweitzer Contemporary, New York, NY
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Whitebox, New York, NY
Uniques en Leurs Genres, Galerie Gaillard, Paris, France
Dicks, Fortnight Institute, New York, NY
The Future is Female, 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, KY; Cincinnati, OH; Bentonville, AR; Durham, NC; Nashville, KY (travelling)
The Bill and Betty Show, with Bill Mutter, Plato’s Cave at EIDIA House, Brooklyn, NY
Beyond Secretary, Mark Borghi Fine Art, New York, NY
LANDSCAPES, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY
Summer Reading, Fortnight Institute, New York, NY
WE: AMEricans, Station Independent Projects, New York, NY
2 Years of Looking, curated by Erik Hanson, New Art Projects, London, England
Something Possible Everywhere: Pier 34, NYC 1983-84, 205 Hudson Gallery, New York, NY
The Female Gaze, Part Two: Women Look at Men, Cheim & Read, New York, NY
Smile!, Shin Gallery, New York, NY
Black Sheep Feminism, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX
2015
Word by Word, curated by Francesco Bonami, Luxembourg & Dayan, London, England
Viewer Discretion… Children of Bataille, curated by Kathleen Cullen, Stux Haller Gallery, New York, NY
Verganza (I don’t want to be friends), organized by Gea Polity, Milan, Italy
Lust, HVCCA, Peeksil, New York, NY
Fertility, presented by Jane Kim, 33 Orchard, New York, NY
The Shell (Landscapes, Portaits & Shapes) a show by Eric Troncy, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France
Eureka! curated by Kendell Geers, Galerist, New York, NY
Ten Year Anniversary, GAVLAK Palm Beach, Palm Beach, FL; GAVLAK Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Rear Window Treatment, Louis B. James, New York, NY
A Drawing Show, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, NY
CORPUS, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw, Poland
A Chromatic Loss, curated by Jeffrey Uslip, Bortolami Gallery, New York, NY
Selections from the Sara M. & Michelle Vance Waddell Collection, Art Academy of Cincinnati, OH
2013
Independents, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen
A Few of My Favorite Things, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Skin Trade, P·P·O·W, New York, NY
She, Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, NY
the origin of the world/the force of the source/the cause of the vigor, Samson Projects, Boston, MA
Sunsets and Pussy, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
DSM-V, The Future Moynihan Station, New York, NY
Jew York, Untitled, New York, NY
Sex Money and Power, Maison Particuliere, Brussels, Belgium
2012
In the Pink, Joe Sheftel Gallery, New York, NY
Dark Garnaal, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen; Villa - Knokke, Knokke - Heist, Belgium
Screw You, Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, NY
2011
No government No cry, a project by Kendell Geers, CIAP Actuele Kunst, Hasselt, Belgium
Invitation to the Voyage, Algus Greenspon, New York, NY
Grisaille, Luxembourg and Dayan, New York, NY
2010
Lust and Vice: The Seven Deadly Sins from Dürer to Naumann, Kunstmuseum Bern and Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, Switzerland
Visible Vagina, Francis Naumann Gallery, New York, NY
Consider the Oyster, James Graham and Sons, New York, NY
2009
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Naked! Size Matters, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY
Revolver, COCO, Vienna, Austria
The Line Is a Lonely Hunter - Drawings in New Jerseyy, New Jerseyy, Basel, Switzerland
2008
How to Cook a Wolf: Part 1, Dinter Fine Art, New York, NY
2007
La Plaissir au Dessin, Musee de Beaux Arts, Lyon, France
Handsome Young Doctor, Cubitt Gallery, London, England
Into Position, Baurnmarkt, Vienna, Austria
2006
Exquisite Corpse – Cadavre Exquis, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, NY
Uncertain States of America, Serpentine Gallery, London, England
2005
La Beauté de L'Enfer, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
2004
[Untitled/Nudes], Printed Matter, New York, NY
Nouvelles Acquisitions, Ouevres Contemporaines, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
2003
It Happened Tomorrow, Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, France
Select Bibliography
2022
Diamond, Anjuli Nanda, editor. “To Cast Too Bold A Shadow.” An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art, vol. 2. New York; Munich: The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation/Verlag GmbH, 2022. Illus. pp. 154.
Diamond, Anjuli Nanda, editor. “Roundtable: What Can Art Do Now?” An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art, vol. 1. New York; Munich: The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation/Verlag GmbH, 2022. Illus. pp. 29-37.
Molarsky-Beck, Marina. “Betty Tompkins.” Great Women Painters. London; New York: Phaidon Press Limited, 2022. Illus. pp. 302.
2021
Bourriaud, Nicolas, et al. Betty Tompkins: Raw Material. MO.CO, 2021.
2020
A Woman’s Right to Pleasure. New York: BlackBook Publishing, 2020. Illus. pp. 28-31-62–63.
Eccles, Tom, and Amy Zion, editors. Closer to Life. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Center for Curatorial Studies, 2020. Illus. pp. 321.
2017
Pedrosa, Adriano and Camila Bechelany, editors. Histōrias Da Sexualidade Catālogo. São Paulo: Museu de Arte de São Paulo, 2017. Illus. pp. 65–67.
Select Permanent Collections
Allen Art Museum, Oberlin, OH
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Centre Pompidou, Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France
Fondation d'entreprise Francès, Senlis, France
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC
Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, NY
Stamford Museum, Stamford, CT
Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, KY
Betty Tompkins
Little Girl..., 2020
acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 ins.
61 x 61 cm
Betty Tompkins
Men are..., 2019
acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 ins.
61 x 61 cm
Betty Tompkins
Just a Pretty Face, 2019
acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 ins.
61 x 61 cm
Betty Tompkins
Women Words (Manet #4), 2018
acrylic on book page
10 x 8 1/4 ins.
25.4 x 20.8 cm
Betty Tompkins
Apologia (Caravaggio #5), 2018
acrylic on book page
12 x 8 3/4 ins.
30.5 x 22.2 cm
Betty Tompkins
Women Words (Grant Wood #1), 2017
acrylic on book page
8 1/2 x 7 1/2 ins.
21.6 x 19.1 cm
Betty Tompkins
Fuck Painting #47, 2012
acrylic on canvas
72 x 72 ins.
182.9 x 182.9 cm
Betty Tompkins
Sex Painting #2, 2010
acrylic on canvas
36 x 36 ins.
91.4 x 91.4 cm
Betty Tompkins
Cow Cunt #1, 1976
acrylic on canvas
84 x 60 ins.
213.4 x 152.4 cm
The artists redefining portraits of the human body for a more inclusive age.
With 277 galleries from 39 countries, the 21st edition of Art Basel Miami Beach presents more showstopping art than could possibly be seen over its three-day public run from 8 - 11 December.
When the doors flew open on the media preview to this 21st edition of Art Basel Miami Beach, an eager crowd of press and VIPs was greeted by a giant inflatable globe. This, it would seem, is a representation of the globally essential art fair’s limitless reach. And, yes, the globe was made small by the size and scope of the behemoth Art Basel has become.
This Women’s History Month, CULTURED delves into the magazine’s archives to highlight 10 female artists who confront gender inequities by redefining the erotic, quashing the idea of women’s work, and refusing to go quietly.
Artists from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Nan Goldin are brought together at the Hamburger Kunsthalle to re-examine the stereotype’s origins and new takes
The thematic show at Unit London coincides with Frieze week.
A new London exhibition showcases work by artists that explore sex, beauty, politics, and more – despite the fact they’ve previously been censored
Artists who have faced censorship are taking center stage at Unit London.
Unit London is currently displaying Sensitive Content, a group exhibition linking social media censorship to the history of artistic censorship.
Artists who have faced censorship are taking center stage at Unit London. “Sensitive Content,” curated by artist Helen Beard and art historians Alayo Akinkugbe and Maria Elena Buszek, presents artworks that have challenged the status quo by raising questions on artistic freedom and foregrounding issues linked to the circulation and suppression of art.
150 artists submitted their worst reviews for reprint, compiling a broad survey of severe art criticism—its shifting form, nature, and impact—by those directly subjected to it.
Galleries and artists are Increasingly finding themselves at the centre of heavy-handed suppression on the social media platform
From Catherine Opie’s explorations of contemporary life to a group exhibition on the theme of play, we round up the exhibitions you need to see this month
The Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation embarks on its first book with artists like Claudia Rankine, Mel Chin, Mierle Laderman Ukeles supplying words and curator Anjuli Nanda leading the charge.
Perrotin’s current New York group exhibition “Late Night Enterprise” sheds light on the dimmed corners of nighttime social dynamics, from clubs, bedrooms, and shops to computer screens, where the moon’s mauve-colored veil reveals more than it hides. In the featured artists’ works, we see temples of the night that are backdrops for vagabonds to retreat, shelter, and thrive: homes for chosen families to bond; hubs for minds to converse; and nooks for pleasure seekers to play. In addition to portraying club culture as a platform of performativity and reverie, the exhibition steps into moments of nightlife, when time and reason operate on alternative rhythms. The waning of sunlight, as the curatorial premise suggests, exposes possibilities of self-fashioning, introspection, commerce, and pleasure.
Art that confronts abuse toward women.
In the tradition of Gustave Courbet’s scandalous pussy painting “L’origine du Monde” (1866), MO.CO., the contemporary center in Montpellier, presented a raw and unfiltered exhibition featuring works of two important American feminist artists, the now iconic Marilyn Minter and Betty Tompkins. The exhibitions titled respectively Marylin Minter: ALL WET and Betty Tompkins: RAW MATERIAL, are unique and groundbreaking, offering both artists their first solo exhibition within a French institution.
Artists from Imogen Cunningham and Sebastião Salgado to Peo Michie and Lena Chen have had their works banned from the platform, despite Instagram’s ostensibly art-friendly guidelines.
Artists from Imogen Cunningham and Sebastião Salgado to Peo Michie and Lena Chen have had their works banned from the platform, despite Instagram’s ostensibly art-friendly guidelines.
The artist is unafraid to be bold and subversive, shocking the art world with her sexually explicit closeup paintings. Now, Tompkins brings the modern context of the #MeToo movement into her work, as well as taking her "Fuck Paintings" series to France, the country that first censored her.
Fifty years after they broke onto the scene with their bold representations of female pleasure, two American feminist pioneers are finally honored with their first solo shows in France.
New York artist Betty Tompkins has never been shy about making a statement. Through large, monochrome paintings and text art, her photo-realistic works portray raw sexual acts through a feminist lens.
Tompkins unflinchingly looks at how female bodies are displayed, disciplined, and offered up to men.
In 2002, Betty Tompkins showed her ‘Fuck Paintings’ to acclaim in New York – but when she began to paint these large-scale, photorealist close-ups of pornographic imagery in the late 1960s, they were widely rejected, and by feminists and conservatives alike.
A Woman’s Right to Pleasure is a new compendium celebrating female erotic art. We meet its contributors, including the photographer who turned her vagina into a camera
From anti-porn feminists to the French government to Instagram, Tompkins has been fighting censorship—and paving the way to free sexual expression—for nearly 50 years
Betty Tompkins and Martha Wilson are two figures who blazed the trail feminist art—they played the field with the likes of Judy Chicago, Carolee Schneeman and Hannah Wilke, all of whom rattled the international art world with conversations that continue to this today. For a special project at Los Angeles’s Felix Art Fair, curator William J. Simmons has organized a multi-generational group exhibition—“Cruel Optimism”—in which Tompkins and Wilson feature prominently. The two spoke to Cultured about their paths through the art world and what it’s like to show alongside a younger generation of artists who are carrying the torch today.
