Born 1941, Washington, D.C.
Lives in Los Angeles, CA
EDUCATION
1967
MFA, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, CA
1963
BFA, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019
Sign Language, Greene Naftali, New York, NY
2018
William Leavitt: Western Movie, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, France
2017
William Leavitt, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Geneva, Switzerland
William Leavitt: Cycladic Figures, Honor Fraser, Los Angeles, CA
2016
The small laboratory, Honor Fraser, Los Angeles, CA
Telemetry, Greene Naftali, New York, NY
2015
The Multiplicity, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris, France
2014
William Leavitt, ETH Exhibitions, Zurich, Switzerland
2013
Space Junk, Greene Naftali, New York, NY
2012
William Leavitt: Tensile Structures, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011
William Leavitt: Theater Objects, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2010
William Leavitt: A Show of Cards, Jancar Jones Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009
William Leavitt: Warp Engines, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA
William Leavitt: Molecules and Buildings, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2003
William Leavitt, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1996
William Leavitt, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1992
Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1990
William Leavitt: Random Trees, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Artist’s Project Series, Santa Monica, CA
William Leavitt: Spectral Analysis, a Performance Tableau, Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1987
Art & Project Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Kuhlenschmidt/Simon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1984
Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles
1983
Metro Pictures, New York, NY
1982
Jancar/Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1981
Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Metro Pictures, New York, NY
1979
William Leavitt: Tableau and Drawings, Artist’s Space, New York, NY
1977
Claire Copley Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1976
Claire Copley Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1974
Art & Project Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Francoise Lambert Gallery, Milan, Italy
Claire Copley Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1973
Kabinett für aktuelle Kunst, Bremerhaven, Germany
1972
Art & Project Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1970
Eugenia Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
Fade In 2: Ext. Modernist Home — Night, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, Serbia
Sunlight arrives only at its proper hour, 356 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles, CA
Vernacular Environments, Part 1, Edward Cella Art & Architecture, Los Angeles, CA
Spaces without drama or surface is an illusion, but so is depth, Graham Foundation, Chicago, IL
Los Angeles: A Fiction, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
2016
Los Angeles: A Fiction, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo, Norway
Tinseltown in the Rain: the Surrealist Diaspora in Los Angeles 1935-1969, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA
On Limits: Estrangement in the Everyday, The Kitchen, New York, NY
Fade in: International Art Gallery Day, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, NY
2015
Works on Paper, Greene Naftali, New York, NY
America Is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY
Curtains/Blinds, Institut D’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, France
ALL THE INSTRUMENTS AGREE: an exhibition or a concert, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Theater Objects A Stage for Architecture and Art, curated by Friedi Fischli and Niels Olsen, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland
Last Seen Entering the Biltmore, South London Gallery, London, UK
Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
Reverb, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Take it or Leave it: Institution, Image, Ideology, co-curated by Anne Ellegood and Johanna Burton, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Made in Space, curated by Peter Harkawik and Laura Owens, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Set Pieces, Cardi Black Box, Los Angeles, CA
Made in Space, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, NY
2012
She Accepts the Proposition: Women Gallerists and the Redefinition of Art in Los Angeles, 1967-1978, Sam Francis Gallery, Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA
Collection Show, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970, UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
2011
It Happened at Pomona: Helene Winer at Pomona, Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, CA
State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
She Accepts the Proposition: Women Gallerists and the Redefinition of Art in Los Angeles, 1967-1978, Sam Francis Gallery, Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA,
Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
2010
The City Proper, curated by James Welling, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Works in Edition, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009
William Leavitt, Allen Ruppersberg, Ger van Elk, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
In and Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Instruments, Solway Jones, Los Angeles, CA
2008
20 Years Ago Today: Supporting the Individual Artists in L.A., Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
index: conceptualism in california from the permanent collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Painting: Now and Forever, Part II, Greene Naftali, New York, NY
Summer 2008, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
8th Le Havre Biennial of Contemporary Art, Musée Malraux, Le Havre, France
2007
Summer 2007: William Leavitt, Allen Ruppersberg, Mungo Thomson, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Kunst aus Los Angeles, Kunstverein Braunschweig e.v., Braunschweig, Germany
Los Angeles, 1955-1985: Birth of an Art Capital, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
drawings & drawn, Cerritos College Art Gallery, Cerritos, CA
2004
100 Artists See God, The Jewish Museum San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
H2O (x) + 6, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2003
Raid the Icebox, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2001
William Leavitt, Santos R. Vasquez, Christopher Williams, Mezzanin, Vienna, Austria
2000
Exhurbia, Gallery Luisotti, Santa Monica, CA
Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1998
Chairs, Plazas, Faces, Gardens, Rooms: Paintings by Five Artists, curated by William Leavitt, Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
TransFiction I: Point Blank, Charim Klocker, Vienna, Austria
90069, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1996
Nature Redux: Photographs by Ten Artists, Santa Barbara County Arts Commission at Channing Peake Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA.
1995
Dark Memories Hovering Below the Transparent Screen of the Present will Project Images of Reality in Sharp Silhouette to Create the Pleasurable Effect of a Double World, Marc Foxx Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1965-1975: Reconsidering the Object of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
25 Years: An Exhibition of Selected Works, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Untitled (Reading Room), Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Works by Raul Guerrero, Allen Ruppersberg and William Leavitt, Gallery 3770 Park Boulevard, San Diego, CA
In the Field: Landscape in Recent Photography, Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1991
Los Angeles, 1970-75, Christine Burgin Gallery, New York, NY
1989
The Pasadena Armory Show 1989, Pasadena, CA
1987
LA2DA, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
The Current Landscape, Felicitia Foundation for the Arts, Escondido, CA
1985
Drawings, Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1984
William Leavitt and Raul Guerrero, Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1983
Considering the Banal, Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Hundreds of Drawings, Artists Space, New York, NY
1982
Tableaux: Nine Contemporary Sculptors, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH
1981
Tableaux, Wave Hill, Bronx, New York, NY
Drawings, Metro Pictures, New York, NY
1980
Opening Group Show, Metro Pictures, New York, NY
Tableaux, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
1977
American Narrative/Story Art 1967-1977, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
1976
Exhibitions and Presentations, Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Video Projects, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1975
Southland Video Anthology, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
1972
Bas Jan Ader, Ger van Elk, William Leavitt, Pomona College Gallery, Claremont, CA
PERFORMANCES & SCREENINGS
2016
Wiliam Leavitt: Behavior, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Habitat, The Kitchen, New York, NY
2012
The Particles (of White Naugahyde), The Annex at Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Pyramid, Lens, Delta, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Spectral Analysis, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2002
The Radio, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
1990
Random Trees, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA
Spectral Analysis, Richard Kuhlenschmidt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1977
Spectral Analysis, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, TX
1976
A Proof of Infinity, LAICA, Los Angeles, CA
1975
The Silk, Barndall Park Theater, Los Angeles, CA
AWARDS
2012
United States Artists Fellowship
1998
J. Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship
1993
J. Paul Getty Fellowship
1991
NEA Fellowship
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2018
Dirié, Clément. “William Leavitt.” Art Press, May
“William Leavitt: ‘Western Movie’ at Galerie Frank Elbaz.” Blouin Artinfo, April 6
Gasparina, Jill. “William Leavitt ‘Retrospective’ at MAMCO, Geneva.” Mousse Magazine, February
Taft, Catherine. “William Leavitt.” Artforum, January
2017
Simpson, Bennet, “Bennett Simpson on William Leavitt at Honor Fraser, Los Angeles.” Texte Zur Kunst, December
Wagley, Catherine. “5 Free Art Shows to See in L.A. This Week.” LA Weekly, October 11
“William Leavitt.” Wall Street International, October 2
Zellen, Jody. “William Leavitt’s ‘Cycladic Figures’ at Honor Fraser,” Art and Cake, September
“William Leavitt’s ‘Cycladic Figures’ at Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles.” Blouin Artinfo, September 29
“A SMALL Anthology.” Mousse, December 2016 – January 2017
“Spaces without drama or surface is an illusion, but so is depth.” Graham Foundation, January
2016
Gerwin, Daniel. “A Deep Dive into the Legacy of LA’s Surrealists.” Hyperallergic, August 3
Berardini, Andrew. “Artforum Critics’ Pick: William Leavitt: The small laboratory.” Artforum, January
Halle, Howard. “Time Out Loves.” Time Out New York, April, 53
Kaack, Nicole. “Screen life or Real: William Leavitt’s ‘Telemetry’ at Greene Naftali.” Art Critical, May 20
Wagley, Catherine. “5 Art Shows You Should See in L.A. This Week.” LA Weekly, January 27
2015
Sherlock, Amy. “Pot Plant.” Frieze, Vol. 168 – January-February: 117
2013
“Greene Naftali: William Leavitt.” Mousse, Issue 38 – April-May: 264
“William Leavitt, ‘Space Junk’.” TimeOut New York, April 2
Cotter, Holland. “William Levitt: ‘Space Junk’.” The New York Times, May 3
Heinrich, Will. “‘William Leavitt: Space Junk’ at Greene Naftali.” The New York Observer, April 23
Pollack, Maika. “‘State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970’ at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.” GalleristNY, July 16
Russeth, Andrew. “‘Made in Space’ at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Venus Over Manhattan.” GalleristNY, July 23
2012
Allen, Gwen L. “Experiments in Print: A Survey of Los Angeles Artists’ Magazines from 1955 to 1986.” East of Borneo, February 6
Bankowsky, Jack. “Best of 2012.” Artforum, December
Knight, Christopher. “Pomona at the edge, and beyond.” Los Angeles Times, 25 January, p. D22-23
Knight, Christopher. “State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970 at OCMA.” Los Angeles Times, January 7, p. D1, 11
Leavitt, William. Interview. “William Leavitt.” Modern Painters, March, 33
Mizota, Sharon. “PST, A to Z: ‘She Accepts,’ ‘It Happened’.” Los Angeles Times, January 6
Pastan, Rachel. “Out of Hollywood: Bennett Simpson on William Leavitt and Kathryn Andrews on Herself.” Miranda (Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania), February 10
2011
“Art Review: ‘William Leavitt: Theater Objects’ At the Museum of Contemporary Art.” Los Angeles Times, March 16
Baldessari, John. “William Leavitt: Theater Objects.” Artforum January, p. 86-87
Bedford, Christopher. “William Leavitt, Los Angeles.” The Burlington Magazine, July, p. 501-502
Buckley, Annie. “Behind the Curtains.” Art in America, May, p. 132-9
Griffin, Jonathan. “California Dreaming.” Frieze, June/July/August, p. 160-165
Griffin, Tim. “William Leavitt: Theater Objects.” Artforum, May, p. 276-277
Holte, Michael Ned. “Best of 2011.” Artforum, December, p. 224-25
Knight, Christopher. “2011 Year in Review: Best in art.” Los Angeles Times, 15 December
Knight, Christopher. “Under the Big Black Sun at MOCA.” Los Angeles Times, 14 October, p. D1, D4
Knight, Christopher. “On center stage: ‘Theater Objects’ shows how William Leavitt transforms the everyday into the mysterious.” Los Angeles Times, 16 March 2011, p. D1, D6
Knight, Christopher. “Faces to Watch 2011: William Leavitt.” Los Angeles Times, January 2, p. E6
Morris, Steven Leigh. “William Leavitt’s Spectral Analysis.” LA Weekly, May 19
Obrist, Hans Ulrich and Stuart Comer, with an introduction by John Baldessari. “William Leavitt: Cutaway View.” Mousse, February/March, p. 48-57
Pagel, David. “Multi-tasker at heart: William Leavitt writes plays, builds sets, takes photographs, paints and draws.” Los Angeles Times, March 6, p. E10
Poundstone, William. “Los Angeles County Museum on Fire: William Poundstone on Art and Chaos.” ARTINFO, March 21
Sanders, Jay. “Best of 2011.” Artforum, December, p. 222-23
Tillmans, Wolfgang. “Best of 2011.” Artforum, December, p. 192-93
2010
Israel, Alex. “Myths of Decline.” Artforum, January, p. 67-70
2009
Buckley, Annie. “Review.” Artforum, April 9
Ellegood, Anne. “Best of 2009.” Artforum, December, p. 204-205
Griffin, Tim, “William Leavitt: Theater Objects.” Artforum, May 20
Lehrer-Graiwer, Sarah. “William Leavitt, LAXART.” Artforum, December, 243
2008
Frankel, David. “Painting: Now and Forever, Part II.” Artforum, 67 No. 2, October, pp. 379
Klonarides, Carol Ann. “William Leavitt, Allen Ruppersberg, and Mungo Thomson.” X-TRA, 10, no. 3, Spring, p. 49-54
Lawes, Viv. “William Leavitt: layers of meaning.” The Art Newspaper, Art Basel Miami Beach Daily Edition, December 5, p. 15
2006
Knight, Christopher. “Between looking and being looked at.” Los Angeles Times, January 27, sec. E, p. 26
2005
Bluhm, Erik. “Minimalism’s Rubble: On William Leavitt’s and Bas Jan Ader’s Landslide (1969-70).” artUS, Issue 10, October-November, pp. 14-17
Leavitt, William. “Organism (a theatrical habitat).” X-TRA 8, No. 1 (Fall 2005), pp. 38-41
2003
Knight, Christopher. “Scrolling through today’s image glut.” Los Angeles Times, June 27, sec. E, p. 19, illus.
2000
Schafer, David. “William Leavitt.” Art Papers, January/February, p. 54-55
Zellen, Jody. “Composite Paintings and Bar Paintings.” Art International, Winter, p. 26
1998
Butler, Connie. “West of Everything.” Parkett 57 December, 189-194
Crowder, Joan. “A Landscape of L.A. Photographers.” Santa Barbara News-Press, December 14, sec. D, pp. 1, 14
Pagel, David. “Glimpses of Drama in L.A. Setting.” Los Angeles Times, July 16, sec. F, p. 30
1996
Pagel, David. “L.A. Mystique.” The Los Angeles Times, February 29, sec. F, p. 12
Kornblau, Gary. “1965-1975: Reconsidering the Object of Art.” Art Issues, January/February, pp. 36-37
Pagel, David. “L.A. Mystique.” Los Angeles Times, February 29, p. F12
1993
Knight, Christopher. “How the Art World Gained Through Division.” Los Angeles Times, October 17, sec. F, pp. 1, 4, and 5
Pincus, Robert. “Three Artists Put Banality up Against a Lively Wall.” The San Diego Union-Tribune, April 22
1984
Drohojowska, Hunter. Flash Art, Summer
1983
Eisenman, Stephen. Arts, June 3
Gardner, Colin. “Considering the Banal.” Artweek, September 10
1982
Klein, Michael and Robert Sterns. “Catalogue essay.” Tableaux, Nine Contemporary Sculptors, The Contemporary Arts Center
1981
Levin, Kim. “Catalogue essay.” Tableaux, Wave Hill, Bronx, New York
1979
Lawson, Thomas. “Every Pictures tells a Story Don’t It.” Reallife, No. 2, p. 10-12
1973
Winer, Helene. “Scenerios/Documents/Images I.” Art in America, March
1970
Plagens, Peter. “Review.” Artforum, September, p. 81-82
PUBLICATIONS
2015
Leavitt, William. Alligator Maze Orchard. Los Angeles: Ooga Booga
Fischli, Fredi and Niels Olsen, eds. Theater Objects: A Stafe for Architecture and Art. Zurich: gta Verlag: ETH Zurich
2014
Burton, Johanna, and Anne Ellegood. Take it or Leave it: Institution, Image, Ideology. Los Angeles: Hammer Museum; New York: Prestel Publishing
Huberman, Anthony and Mai Abu ElDahab, ed. A Needle Walks into a Haystack. Cologne: Koenig Books
Young, Paul David. newARTtheatre. New York: PAJ Publications
2013
Highlights: 150 Artists from the Collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Belgium: nai010
2012
Leavitt, William. Theater Objects. Los Angeles: MOCA
Lewallen, Constance. State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970. Los Angeles: University of California Press
Stedelijk Collection Highlights: 150 Artists from the Collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum/nai010 publishers, p. 118
2011
Mark, Lisa Gabrielle and Paul Schimmel. Under The Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981. Los Angeles: MOCA and DelMonic Prestal
McGrew, Rebecca. It Happened At Pomona: Art at the Edge of Los Angeles 1969-1973. Claremont: Pomona College Museum of Art
Peabody, Rebecca, Andrew Perchuk, Glenn Phillips, and Rani Singh, eds. Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art 1945– 1980. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute and J. Paul Getty Museum
2009
Blank, Gil. In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists Since 1955. New York: PPP Editions
2008
CB08: California Biennial 2008. Newport Beach: Orange County Museum of Art.
2007
Williams, Gregory. Kunst aus Los Angeles der 60er bis 90er Jahre. Cologne: Verlag der Buschhandlung
1995
Waldron Brandow, Wendy. Margo Leavin Gallery: 25 Years, vol. 1. Los Angeles: Margo Leavin Gallery
Goldstein, Ann & Anne Rorimer. Reconsidering the Object of Art: 1965- 1975. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art
1989
The Pasadena Armory Show 1989. Los Angeles: Fellows of Contemporary Art
1987
Grynsztejn, Madeleine. LA2DA. La Jolla: La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam
The Getty, Los Angeles
Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam