Pat Passlof was born in Georgia in 1928 and grew up in New York City. In the summer of 1948 she studied painting with Willem de Kooning at Black Mountain College, and continued to study with him privately after they returned to New York. That fall, De Kooning introduced her to Milton Resnick. She and Resnick began to live together in the mid-1950s and married in 1962.
Her work, fully immersed in the Abstract Expressionist ethos, grew progressively lighter and more serendipitous over the years, as did her color sense. From 1984 until her death in 2011 she made both figurative work, often landscapes peopled with centaurs, nymphs and horses, and large abstractions derived from repeated patterns and marks.
BIOGRAPHY
1928 Born in Brunswick, GA
2011 Died in New York City
EDUCATION
1946-1948 Queens College, New York, NY
1948 Black Mountain College, NC, studying under: Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller, M.C. Richards, Merce Cunningham, and Willem de Kooning
1948-1950 Private study with Willem de Kooning, New York, NY
1951 BFA, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
TEACHING
1983-2010 College of Staten Island, CUNY, Staten Island, NY
1972-83 Richmond College, CUNY, Staten Island, NY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Pat Passlof: Morgan, The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, New York, NY (March 7 - July 27, 2024)
2021-22 Pat Passlof: Arcadian Visions, The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, New York, NY (Nov 5, 2021 - Jul 30, 2022)
2021 Memories of Tenth Street: Paintings by Pat Passlof, 1948-63, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY (Nov 10, 2021 - Jan 22, 2022)
2019 Pat Passlof: The Brush is the Finger of the Brain, Paintings 1949-2011, The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, New York, NY (Oct 11, 2019 - Apr 11, 2020)
2014 Pat Passlof: Paintings from the 1950s, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY (Oct 16 – Dec 20, 2014)
2012 Pat Passlof: Selections 1948-2011, Black Mountain College Museum, Asheville, NC (Jan 27 – May 27, 2012)
2012 Pat Passlof: Selections 1948-2011, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
2011 Recent Paintings: 2005-2011, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2001 College of Staten Island/CUNY, Staten Island, NY
2000 Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
1998 Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
1996 Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
1978 Landmark Gallery, New York, NY
1974 Landmark Gallery, New York, NY
1973 Forrest Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
1965 Feiner Gallery, New York, NY
1964 Feiner Gallery, New York, NY
1963 Globe Gallery, New York, NY
1962 Globe Gallery, New York, NY
1961 Green Gallery, New York, NY
1952 Circle Gallery, Detroit, MI
TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
1959 March Gallery, New York, NY
1957 March Gallery, New York, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Tide Pool, Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY (Feb 22 - Mar 30, 2024)
2023 Fall Selects 2023, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Fall 2023)
2023 (Mostly) Women (Mostly) Abstract PT. II, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY (Sept 8 - Oct 20, 2023)
2023 (Mostly) Women (Mostly) Abstract, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY (Aug 5 - Sept 17, 2023)
2023 A Show About Nothing, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Dec 17, 2022 - Feb 28, 2023)
2022 Fall Selects, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Sept 19 - Oct 31, 2022)
2022 Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (9 Feb – 7 May, 2023)
2022 Ways of Freedom: Jackson Pollock to Maria Lassnig, Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria (Oct 15, 2022 - Jan 22, 2023)
2022 Brushed Up: Postwar Abstraction from Front Range Collections, Vicki Myhren Gallery, Denver, CO (Jan 21 – Mar 20, 2022)
2021 Fall Group Show, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Oct 9 - Nov 21, 2021)
2021 Group Exhibtion | East Hampton, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Aug 7 - Sept 7, 2021)
2021 13 American Artists: A Celebration of Historic Work, Eric Firestone Gallery, New York, NY (Apr 29 - Jul 17, 2021)
2021 East Hampton, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Aug 7 - Sept 7, 2021)
2021 Season Opener: 2021 | East Hampton, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (May 28 - Jun 30, 2021)
2021 Horses?, Chart Gallery, New York, NY (15 Jul - 27 Aug, 2021)
2020 Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof: A Selection of Work, The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation, New York, NY (Oct 31, 2020 - Oct 23, 2021)
2020 The 1960s, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Nov 7, 2020 - Feb 28, 2021)
2020 The 1950s, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Jul 15 - Oct 18, 2020)
2019 Montauk Highway III: Postwar Abstraction in the Hamptons, Eric Firestone Gallery, East Hampton, NY (Aug 17 - Sept 29, 2019)
2017 Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction, organized by Starr Figura and Sarah Hermanson Meister with Hillary Reder, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (Apr 15–Aug 13, 2017)
2017 Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965, curated by Melissa Rachleff, Grey Art Gallery, New York, NY (Jan 10–Apr 1, 2017)
2012-13 To Be a Lady: Forty-Five Women in the Arts, curated by Jason Andrew 1285 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY (Sept 24, 2012 - January 18, 2013)
2011 Black Mountain College and Its Legacy, curated by Robert S. Mattison and Loretta Howard, Loretta Howard Gallery, New York, NY (Sept 15 - Oct 29, 2011)
2011 Color Study, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
2009 Club Without Walls, Butler’s Fine Art, East Hampton, NY
2008-9 The Shape of Imagination: Women of Black Mountain College, Black Mountain College Museum and Art Center, Asheville, NC
2006 Greetings From Black Mountain College, curated by Robert Godfrey, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2006 The 181st Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art, National Academy Museum, New York, NY
2004 Ground – Field – Surface, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY (Jun 10 - Aug 20, 2004)
2004 A Bend in the Road: Paintings and Works on Paper by Jake Berthot, Philip Guston, Bill Jensen, Pat Passlof, Milton Resnick, and Myron Stout, curated by Kathy and Jim Muehlemann, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, VA
2004 Summer Color, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Black Mountain College, An American Adventure, curated by Vincent Katz, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
2002 Painting: A Passionate Response, curated by Michael Walls, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2001 Artist Couples, Katherina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York, NY
2000 Intuitive Abstract Painting, Ben Shahn Galleries, curated by Nancy Einreinhofer, William Patterson University, Wayne, NJ
2000 American Academy of Arts and Letters Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, New York, NY
2000 Generation II: A Survey of Woman Artists at the Millennium, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Rivington Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Material Abstraction, Elizabeth Harris Gallery, New York, NY
1997-8 Crossing the Threshold, traveling exhibition curated by Bernice Steinbaum, Steinbaum Krauss Gallery, New York, NY
1997 American Academy Inivitational Exhibition of Painting & Sculpture, American Academy of Arts & Letters, New York, NY
1994 Spellbound, Blondies Contemporary Art, New York, NY
1993 Figuration ’93, 55 Mercer Street Gallery, New York, NY
1992 Paths to Discovery – The New York School: Works on Paper from the 1950s and 1960’s, Sidney Mishkin Gallery of Baruch College/CUNY, New York, NY
1992 Figure Variations, Kathryn Sermas Gallery, New York, NY
1991 Selection: The New York School: Works on Paper from the 1950’s and 1960s, Elston Fine Arts, New York, NY
1991 The Nude: Drawings by New York School Artists circa 1930-1950, Twining Gallery, New York, NY
1989 Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
1987 New York-Beijing, Nielsen Gallery, Boston, MA, traveling to Hong Kong Arts Festival, Shanghai Art Museum, and Beijing Art Museum
1986 Art from the City University of New York: Approaches to Abstraction, Shanghai, China
1986 Portraits, Sorkin Gallery, New York, NY
1985 Naked Paint, Newhouse Gallery, Snug Harbor, NY
1985 Survival of the Fittest, Ingber Gallery, New York, NY
1985 The Gathering of the Avant-Garde: The Lower East Side 1950-1970, Kenkeleba House Gallery, New York, NY
1984-86 Synergy Artists, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY, traveling exhibition
1983 Paint as Image, Ben Shahn Galleries, The William Patterson College of New Jersey, Patterson, NJ
1983 Abstract Painting 1960-1969, curated by Richard Bellamy, P.S. 1, Queens, NY
1983 Paint as Image, Max Hutchinson Gallery, New York, NY
1982 Print Show, Ingber Gallery, New York, NY
1982 Artists’ Choice, Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY
1976 Works On Paper, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY
1976 Works On Paper, Wichita Falls Museum, Wichita, KS
1976 Four Painters: Oversize Paintings, University Art Gallery, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY
1975 Color, Light and Image – An International Invitational, Interart Center, New York, NY
1975 Works On Paper, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
1974 Works On Paper, Summit Art Center, Summit, NJ
1974 Works by Women, Weatherspoon Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC; travelled to Kresge Art Center Gallery, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
1970 Roswell Museum, Roswell, NM
1961 Gallery Group Show, Green Gallery, New York, NY
1960 Reuben Gallery, New York, NY