Walter Darby Bannard's Final Exhibition and Legacy of Modernist Abstraction
Walter Darby Bannard passed away on October 26, 2016, due to complications from liver cancer treatment, just prior to his exhibition 'Recent Paintings' at the Berry Campbell Gallery in New York, which continued until November 12, 2016. Born in 1934, Bannard was both a painter and a professor at the University of Miami, known for his modernist style that highlighted material-optical relationships in abstraction. In a 2015 interview, he referred to his minimalist works as embodying 'presentational simplicity.' Over the years, his art evolved to include trapezoids, circles, and vibrant colors. He believed abstract artists should create a community independent of market influences. Elisabeth Condon remarked on his passing, recalling his knack for 'having the last word.'
Key facts
- Walter Darby Bannard died on October 26, 2016, from liver cancer complications
- His exhibition 'Walter Darby Bannard: Recent Paintings' ran at Berry Campbell Gallery through November 12, 2016
- The gallery is located at 530 West 24th Street, New York
- Bannard was born in 1934 and was a professor at the University of Miami Department of Art and Art History
- He defined modernism as 'a working attitude oriented toward visual excellence' in a 1984 writing
- His 2015 exhibition at Berry Campbell featured reductive paintings from the late 1950s to mid-1960s
- Bannard's artistic approach emphasized material-optical relationships, distinct from Cubism and Bauhaus
- He advocated for abstract painters to create their own art world separate from market trends
Entities
Artists
- Walter Darby Bannard
- Elisabeth Condon
- George Sierzputowski
Institutions
- Berry Campbell Gallery
- University of Miami Department of Art and Art History
- Lesley Heller Workspace
- Artforum
- artcritical
- Princeton
Locations
- New York
- United States
- Miami