NORRIS EMBRY
1921-1981
Norris Embry was born on January 14, 1921 in Louisville, Kentucky.
He grew up in East Orange, New Jersey outside New York City and Evanston, Illinois in the Chicago area, attending public schools through high school. He later studied at St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland and the Art Institute in Chicago. In the late 1940’s, he attended the Acadamy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy ; his teacher, the Expressionist painter Oskar Koskoschka, was to have a lasting influence on Embry’s work.
During his adolescent years in the Chicaao area, Embry developed a keen interest in avant-garde literature, music and art. In 1947 Embry decided to devote his life to painting and, for the next 15 years until the early 1960’s, embarked on a nomadic artistic career which would take him from San Francisco to New York, to post-war Europe, as well as Turkey and North Africa.
Amongst the countries in Europe where he took up temporary residence were : Italy, France, Germany, Spain, England and Sweden. It was the Mediterraneon culture and climate that struck a chord with his heart and his artistic imagination, and in particular, Greece where he returned frequently.
Throughout much of his life, Embry suffered from severe bouts of mental illness. In the mid- sixties, after having sought medical treatment at the Shepphard Pratt Institue in Baltimore, Maryland, he made that city his permanent residence. He continued to live and paint in Baltimore until the last weeks of his life.
After a series of strokes that began in Baltimore, he died in Louisville, Kentucky on February 17, 1981 where is he buried in Cave Hill Cemetary
Solo Exhibitions:
1996 | Scio Nova, New York, NY
Works by Norris Embry
1992 | Heike Pickett Gallery, Lexington, KY
Selected works by NO
1992 | Snyder Fine Art, New York, NY
Norris Embry: Selected work
1990 | Hal Katzen Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1989 | 871 Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Selected work
1987 | Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
Norris Embry, The Final Years 1978-1980
1987 | Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, NY
The Final Years 1978-1980
1985 | Monique Knowlton Gallery New York, NY
Selected work
1984 | The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York, NY
Private Collection Gallery
1982 | C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Selected work
1981 | Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY
Memorial Exhibit
1980 | Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1980 | Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Selected Work
1978 | Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1977 | Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1977 | Galerie Leitzov, Berlin, Germany
Selected work
1977 | Metropolitan Museum and Art Center, Miami, FL
Selected work
1976 | Louise E. Thorn Memorial Art Gallery, Keene, NH
Selected works
1976 | Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1976 | Metropolitan Museum and Art Center, Miami, FL
Selected work
1975 | MacDowell Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
Selected work
1975 | Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Selected work
1975 | Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1974 | Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1964 | Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, NY
Selected work
1962 | Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Art show sponsored by the Society of Contemporary American Art
1962 | Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, NY
Seletced work
1958 | Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Norris Emby: Selected Monographs
1958 | Athens, Greece
Art show sponsored by the U.S. Information Center,
1950 | Heinz Trokes Atelier, Berlin, Germany
Selected work
Group Exhibitions:
2005 | Heike Pickett Gallery, Versailles, KY
Selected work
1997 | Snyder Fine Art, New York, NY
Against the Grain
1992 | Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Parallel Visions : Modern Artists and Outsider Art
1992 | Heike Pickett Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky
"Ten Figurative Artists"
1992 | Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
Parallel Visions : Modern Artists and Outsider Art
1992 | Centro de Arte Riena Sophia, Madrid, Spain
Parallel Visions : Modern Artists and Outsider Art
1992 | Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Parallel Visions : Modern Artists and Outsider Art
1989 | Natsoulas Novelozo Gallery, Davis, CA
An Art of Wondering : The King Ubu Gallery 1952-1953
1984 | Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY
"Inspirit"
1984 | Willard Gallery, New York, NY
"Selected Drawings by 11 Artists"
1977 | The Whitney Museum of Art, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY
"Nothing but Nudes"
1974 | Owensboro Museum, Owensboro, KY
"Kentucky Expatriots"
1973 | Robert Elkon Gallery, New York, NY
" Works on paper"
1966 | Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Selected Work
1965 | The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Selected Work
1964 | Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Selected Work
1962 | Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Selected work
1960 | Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
100 Works on Paper : United States, Austria, Germany » organised by The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
1958 | American Gallery, Athens, Greece
USIS Exhibition
1953 | UBU Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Selected work
1950 | Robert Duncan Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Selected work
Museum collecties:
Hirshhorn Museum
Smithsonian Institue
P.O. Box 37012
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculture Garden
NRC Code 350
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
Neuberger Museum of Art
Purchase College, State University of New York
735 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 105-1400
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue (and 89th Street)
New York , NY 10128
The Arkansas Arts Center
501 9th Street, Little Rock , AR 72202
The Baltimore Museum of Art
10 Art Museum Drive
Baltimore, MD 21218-3898
The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street, Newark , NJ 07101
The Speed Art Museum
2035 South Third Street
Louisville, KY 40208
University of Kentucky Art Museum
Lexington, KY 40506-0032