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Betty Tompkins - Artists - PPOW

Betty Tompkins
Photo by Grace Roselli, Pandora’s BoxX Project

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. In Summer 2024, Tompkins' held her third solo exhibition with P·P·O·W, Just a Pretty Face.

Betty Tompkins

b. 1945, Washington D.C.
Lives and works in New York, NY and Pleasant Mount, PA

Solo Exhibitions

2024
Betty Tompkins, Just a Pretty Face, P·P·O·W, New York, NY

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

1997
The Women In My Life, 800 Gallery, West Long Branch, NJ

Select Group Exhibitions

2024
Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)
Infinite Woman, Fondation Carmignac, Hyères, France
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
Elles, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
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

Selected Works

Selected Works Thumbnails
Betty Tompkins
Little Girl..., 2020
acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 ins.
61 x 61 cm

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

Betty Tompkins
Cow Cunt #1, 1976
acrylic on canvas
84 x 60 ins.
213.4 x 152.4 cm

Betty Tompkins
Little Girl..., 2020
acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 ins.
61 x 61 cm

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

Betty Tompkins
Cow Cunt #1, 1976
acrylic on canvas
84 x 60 ins.
213.4 x 152.4 cm