Born in Los Angeles, CA, 1925
Died in CA, 1969


Education
1950 Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1949-50 Art Center, Los Angeles, CA
1947-49 Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA


Solo Exhibitions

2014
John Altoon, Retrospective at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

2011
40 Drawings, The Box Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2008 
Drawings 1962-1969, The Box Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
John Altoon, curated by Klaus Kertess,Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY

1998 
A Critical Survey, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1997 
John Altoon, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA

1994 
Abstract Works: 1960-66, Braunstein/Quay, San Francisco, CA

1992 
Female Nudes: 1962-66, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1991 
Poured Paintings, Dorothy Goldeen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1988 
Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1987 
Prints, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1986 
Marianne Deson Gallery, Chicago, IL
12 Paintings, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY. Traveled to Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1984
John Altoon: 25 Paintings, 1957-1969, Baxter Art Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
John Altoon, Works on Paper, The Arts Club of Chicago, IL. Traveled to Nelson Fine Arts Center at Matthews Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; Huntsville Museum of Art, AL; Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL

1983
Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
Drawings 1964-66, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

1982
John Altoon, The Faith & Charity in Hope Gallery, Hope, ID
John Altoon: Paintings and Drawings, 1962-1968, Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Drawings, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
Riverside Art Center & Museum, Riverside, CA
Fine Arts Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV

1981
Santa Barbara University Art Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
John Altoon: Advertising Satire Series, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Altoon, California State University at Fullerton, CA

1980
Drawings, Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO
De Saisset Museum, University of Santa Clara, CA

1979
John Altoon: Drawings, Braunstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Drawings, Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
John Altoon: Drawings, Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1979
John Altoon: Drawings and Temperas, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, CA

1978
Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, IL

1976-78
Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1975
Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Seder/Creigh Gallery, Coronado, CA

1974
John Altoon: An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Prints, E.B. Crocker Gallery, Sacramento, CA

1973
John Altoon (1925-1969), Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA Felicity
Samuels Gallery, London, England
San Jose State College Gallery, San Jose, CA

1972
John Altoon: Drawings, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Hans R. Neuendorf, Cologne, West Germany
Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
John Altoon-Drawings and Prints, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Traveled to Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Cowboys and Indians, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
John Altoon-Drawings and Prints, Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1969
John Altoon-Memorial Exhibition, La Jolla Museum of Art, CA

1968
Drawings, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
The Princess and the Frog Series and Cowboys and Indians Series, Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1967
John Altoon: Recent Watercolors, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
John Altoon, San Francisco Museum of Art, CA; traveled to Pasadena Art Museum, CA and Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA

1966
Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY
Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
John Altoon: Drawings, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA

1965
Hack-Light Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

1964
David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA

1963
M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

1962
John Altoon: Ocean Park Series, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1961
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1960
The Art Center in La Jolla, CA

1958
John Altoon: Paintings 1958, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1954
Ganso Gallery, New York, NY

1953
Artists’ Gallery, New York, NY
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA


Selected Group Exhibitions

2012
Painting, The Box, Los Angeles, CA
The Historical Box curated by Mara McCarthy, Hauser & Wirth, London
The Historical Box, curated by Mara McCarthy, Hauser & Wirth, Zurich

2008 
Paul McCarthy's Low Life Slow Life: Part 1, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2007
Coming Attractions: Gallery Group Show, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006
California Art from the Permanent Collection - Part II, 1930s to 1950s, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
California Modern, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
La Dolce Vita - Selections from the Ruth and Murray Gribin Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego - MCASD La Jolla, La Jolla, CA

2005
Semina Culture—Wallace Berman and his Circle¸ Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA

2004
Mark Making, Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR

2002
Revisited, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ferus, Gagosian Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY

1997-99
Sunshine and Noir: Art in L.A. 1960-1997, Traveled to Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Italy; Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
Sexy: Sensual Abstraction in California Art, 1950s-1990s, Contemporary Artists
Collective/Temporary Contemporary, Las Vegas, NV and Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA
Braunstein/Quay Gallery Artists, Shasta College Gallery, Redding, CA

1993
Cypress College Airbrush Invitational, CA

1990
Abstract Painting on the West Coast, Nagoya City Art Museum, Japan. Traveled to the Museum of Modern Art, Shiga, Japan and The Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan

1985
New Acquisitions, De Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA

1983-84
The First Show, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

1981
20th Anniversary Exhibition, Braunstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Edward Thorp Gallery, New York, NY
The Artist and the Airbrush, Art Department, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

1979
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY

1978
Dorothy Rosenthal Gallery, Chicago, IL

1977
California Painting & Sculpture: The Modern Era, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA. Traveled to National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C.
A Collection Without Walls, California State University, Northridge, CA
The Last Time I Saw Ferus 1957-1966, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA

1975
A Drawing Show, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
Images of Women, Linda Farris Gallery, Seattle, WA
Four Santa Monica Artists: John Altoon, Richard Diebenkorn, Sam Francis, Stanton MacDonald-Wright, Art Gallery, Santa Monica College, Santa Monica, CA

1974
Drawings, Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Eight from California, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

1973
Quay Gallery Group, Claremont College, Claremont, CA
American Drawings 1963-1973, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1971
Eleven Los Angeles Artists, Hayward Gallery, London, England
Spray, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA

1971
John Altoon, Mel Ramos: Lithographs, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture, Krannert Art Museum, University
of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, IL

1968
Tamarind Lithographs, David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
Late Fifties at Ferus, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA

1967-68
Fourth International Young Artists’ Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan
Drawings by Americans, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
NY-LA Drawings of the Sixties, University of Colorado, Boulder. Traveled to Art Museum, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

1966
Drawings & , University of Texas, Austin, TX
David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA

1965
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1964
San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
Fourth Annual of California Painting and Sculpture, The Art Center, La Jolla, CA
American Drawing, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Quay Gallery, Tiburon, CA
David Stuart Galleries, Los Angeles, CA
Fifty California Artists, Whitney Museum of Art, New York, NY. Traveled to the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Des Moines Art Center, IA. Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Art with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA.
Pacific Coast Invitational, Santa Barbara Museum, CA. Traveled to the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, CA; Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco Museum of Art, CA; Seattle Art Museum, WA; Portland Art Museum, OR
Annual Exhibition of Artists of Los Angeles County and Vicinity, Los Angeles
County Museum, CA
Drawings and Gouaches by John Altoon and Richards Reuben, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1960
Annual Exhibition of Artists of Los Angeles County and Vicinity, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1959
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Annual Exhibition of Artists of Los Angeles County and Vicinity, Los Angeles County Museum, CA
John Altoon: Gouaches, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1958
Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Annual Exhibition of Artists of Los Angeles County and Vicinity, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA

1957
Objects on the New Landscape Demanding of the Eye, Ferus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA


Collections
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Fine Arts Museum, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
Levi-Strauss Collection, San Francisco, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art—Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art—The Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA
Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Stanford University Art Galleries, Palo Alto, CA
Tate Britain, London, England
University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

 

 

Aug 22 2014link

Polymorphous Perversity in Toontown: John Altoon's Libidinous Enthusiasms

By Doug Harvey for Modern Painters magazine

Jul 23 2014pdflink

John Altoon Artforum critic pick

John Altoon retrospective at LACMA is one of Artforum's Critics' Picks. 

Written by Andrew Berardini

Read full write up: http://artforum.com/picks/section=la

Jun 11 2014pdflink

Review: LACMA exhibit on John Altoon shows his jazzy, seductive touch

By Christopher Knight

Los Angeles Times

 

Sep 15 2009link

A Visit With John Altoon

By Cedar Sigo
SFMOMA blog
15 September 2009

Oct 1 2014

John Altoon in MOCA's permanent collection

We're proud to announce that John Altoon's Untitled (F-16) is on view as part of MOCA's permanent collection.