Betty Parsons (1900-1982) was a pioneering American Artist, art dealer, and collector who played a crucial role in promoting Abstract Expressionism and shaping the American avant-garde art scene.
Born into a wealthy New York family, Parsons developed an early interest in art after visiting the groundbreaking 1913 Armory Show. Despite her family’s disapproval, she pursued her passion for art, studying briefly under sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Though she was uninspired by her teacher, her love for sculpture was life-long.
In 1919, Parsons married Schuyler Livingston Parsons, but the couple a few years later. Disinherited by her family, she remained in Paris to study art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière under sculptors Émile-Antoine Bourdelle and Ossip Zadkine.
Returning to America in 1933 after losing her money during the Great Depression, Parsons briefly taught sculpture in California before moving back to New York city in 1936. She held her first solo exhibition at Midtown Gallery that year, showcasing her watercolor paintings.
In 1946, Parsons opened her eponymous gallery in Manhattan, which became a pivotal space for avant-garde American art. She represented and promoted numerous influential artists, including Jackson Pollock, Hedda Sterne, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Irene Rice Pereira, and Ellsworth Kelly. Parsons was known for her willingness to take risks on emerging artists and her keep eye for innovative talent.
Alongside her successful career as a gallerist, Parsons maintained her own artistic practice for over sixty years. The colorful, expressive abstract style found in her later paintings and sculptures incorporated many influences including nature, energy and light, cosmic phenomena, and various cultural and spiritual influences. It was in the mid-1970s that Parsons expanded her practice to include small constructions made from man-made wood (which had spent time in the ocean) and various found objects which washed up on the beach near her home.
Parsons’ dual role as both artist and gallerist was not widely recognized until later in her career. A 1974 retrospective at The Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey surprised many who were unaware of her work as a painter and sculptor. Betty Parsons passed away in 1982, leaving behind a legacy as both a visionary gallerist and a talented artist in her own right. Her contributions to the art world have since been reassessed, with major institutions like MoMA and the Whitney Museum of American Art acquiring her work and recognizing her significance in shaping 20th-century American art.