Walter Darby Bannard
1934 - 2016
In the late 1960s, Bannard’s geometric forms morphed into pale, atmospheric fields of colour applied with rollers and paint-soaked rags, and when he began using new acrylic mediums in the 1970s, his paintings evolved into colourful expanses of gels and polymers that were applied with squeegees and brooms.These new directions allowed him to explore what he deemed painting’s most important aspects: the use of colour and a “total, in-your-face presentation,” whereby all that painting had to offer was right there in front of the viewer, all at once.
Bannard was also a prolific writer on art, and published hundreds of essays and reviews in Artforum, Art in America, and many other magazines. He also taught, lectured, and participated in panel discussions, and was co-chair of the International Exhibitions Committee of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Bannard held over one hundred solo exhibitions during his lifetime, and was included in several hundred group exhibitions. His work was collected widely, and can be found in important public collections including the Centre George Pompidou, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.
