Roland Petersen
Roland Petersen is a Bay Area painter whose masterful syntheses of gestural abstract expressionism, painterly realism, and advanced color theory have made his paintings coveted nationwide. Petersen’s work has been collected by the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art both in New York City, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. Having just celebrated his 96th birthday, he continues to paint every day.
Petersen uses saturated colors, thick layered pigment, and strong geometric composition to integrate still life, figures, and landscape into compositions that are beautiful with an aura of timelessness for the figures present. Petersen’s sophisticated color palette is informed by the color theory of Hans Hofmann, with whom he studied as a young man in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
“What I am trying to do in my compositions: create an almost nostalgic loneliness. The figures are being separated by space, but they can still relate to one another.”
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Clouds to Water #5, 1974
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Man and 3 Women Picnic, 2015
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Picnic with Violin and Horse, 2004
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Looking East and West with Dog, 2008
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Picnic with Red Palm Tree, 1995
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Cliff Picnic, 2004
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Patio Figures, 2003
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Seaside with Sailboat and Seagull, 1984
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Cloud Shadow Vertigo, 1973 Sold
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Shades of Blue, 1996
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Games of Planes, 1950 Sold
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Woman Reading, 1964
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Girl With A Bouquet, 1964
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Self-portrait Sold
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Indian Lake Pyramid, 1972 Sold
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Leaving the Picnic, 1960
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Picnic With Cat & Books, 1986
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Spring Harvest, 2014 Sold
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Watchful Dog, 2016 Sold
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Woman Holding Umbrella, 2009
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Fall-ing for Art
A Seasonal Group Show October 15 - November 16, 2024Celebrate with us the best of the fall season. On view in this exhibition are paintings and sculpture that embody the hues of this special time of year and harken...Read more -
San Francisco Art Fair
April 25 - 28, 2024Please join Studio Shop Gallery for the 2024 edition of San Francisco Art Fair. At this year's art fair Studio Shop Gallery will be featuring artworks by Roland Petersen, Julie...Read more -
Holiday Open House
December 2 - 16, 2023Burlingame, CA - As the holiday season unfolds, Studio Shop Gallery is thrilled to announce its much-anticipated Holiday Open House, a celebration of art, community, and seasonal cheer. The event...Read more -
Roland Petersen: Spotlight on the Seventies
May 12 - June 3, 2023Exhibition showcasing many never-before-shown pieces from the 1970's by prolific Bay Area painter Roland Petersen.Read more
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Art Market San Francisco 2023
April 20 - 23, 2023Please join Studio Shop Gallery for the 2023 edition of Art Market San Francisco. At this year's art fair Studio Shop Gallery will be featuring artworks by Julie Brookman, Jung...Read more -
Roland Petersen: A Painter's Life
Triton Museum of Art January 7 - April 23, 2023Roland Petersen: A Painter's Life A famous artist once said, “If you want to understand one of my paintings, then you have to see all of my paintings.” Because no...Read more -
Art Market San Francisco 2022
Art Market San Francisco 2022 April 21 - 24, 2022Visit the Studio Shop Gallery at Art Market SF at Fort Mason, April 21 – 24.Read more
This year we will be featuring Roland Petersen, Julie Brookman, Daniel Ochoa and Peter Roux. -
Roland Petersen
A Retrospective 1953 - 2021 September 10 - October 2, 2021Join us in celebrating a painter as renowned as he is prolific. An artist who has participated in and influenced critically lauded and popular movements, Roland Peterson is now in...Read more
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Emerging Spring
Group Show March 10 - 31, 2021The Emerging Spring Group Show celebrates renewal and the signs of life gradually reappearing in both nature and society. Spring rains still fill the air, flowers and trees are blooming,...Read more -
Every Day is a Miracle
105th Anniversary Exhibition September 10 - November 28, 2020We are very proud of the role the Studio Shop has played in the history of Burlingame for the last 105 years and we wanted to have a celebration. But...Read more -
Re-Emergent
May 1 - August 31, 2020Other pieces in the exhibition include figurative works by artists Melinda Cootsona, Seaglass and Zoey Frank, Peter Reading. Both depict characters in moments of repose and reflection, yet the paintings...Read more -
Art Palm Springs 2020
February 14 - 17, 2020
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Roland Petersen: Works on paper
1956 - 2005 September 20 - October 13, 2019Join the Studio Shop Gallery in this unique opportunity to explore and celebrate several decades of Roland Petersen's creative output in Works on Paper: 1956 - 2005. These works on...Read more -
Art Market San Francisco 2019
April 25 - 28, 2019The Studio Shop Gallery is excited to be exhibiting at Art Market San Francisco this year at Fort Mason. We will be showcasing five of our esteemed artists, Roland Petersen,...Read more -
Abstract Land
Dominique Caron, Martine Jardel, Roland Petersen & Foad Satterfield November 2 - 18, 2018Abstract Land connects the oeuvre of four painters, Dominique Caron, Martine Jardel, Roland Petersen and Foad Satterfield. The exhibition exposes the inward expressions of the artistic process in reshaping the...Read more -
Roland Petersen at Filoli
May 31 - August 31, 2018We are proud to be exhibiting this show at Filoli featuring the works of Roland Petersen, view the artistic achievement of this painter’s more than six-decade career.Read more
EDUCATION
1970 – 1971 Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17, Paris, France
1963 Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17, Paris, France
1951 – 1952 California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1950 – 1951 Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts, Provincetown, MA
1950 Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17, Paris, France
M.A. from University of California, Berkeley, CA
1949 B.A. from University of California, Berkeley, CA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Roland Petersen: A Painter's Life, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
2021 Roland Petersen: A Retrospective 1953 - 2021, Studio Shop Gallery, Burlingame, CA
2019 Roland Petersen: Works on Paper 1956 - 2005, Studio Shop Gallery, Burlingame, CA
2018 Roland Petersen at Filoli, Filoli, Woodside, CA
2017 Roland Petersen: Six Decades of Painting, Studio Shop Gallery, Burlingame, CA
2016 Roland Petersen: In Perspective, Studio Shop Gallery, Burlingame, CA
2015 Works On Paper 1959-1969, Elliott Fouts Gallery, Sacramento, CA 2013
A Journey Through Time, Elliott Fouts Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2008 Roland Petersen: A Natural Order, Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2002 Roland Petersen: Early Paintings 1958-1969, Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001 Roland Petersen: Recent Works, John Natsoulas Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1998 Roland Petersen: Recent Works, John Natsoulas Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1998 Endelave Museum, Endelave, Denmark
1995 Roland Petersen: Recent Works, Maxwell Galleries, San Francisco, CA
1993 Roland Petersen: Works on Paper, Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
1992 Retrospective, University of California, Davis, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA
1991 Roland Petersen: Works on Paper, Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
1990 Roland Petersen: Bay Area Paintings of the Sixties, Vanderwoude Tananbaum Gallery, New York, NY
1989 Roland Petersen: Works on Paper, Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
1987 Roland Petersen: Bay Area Paintings of the Sixties, Vanderwoude/Tananbaum Gallery, New York, NY
1985 Roland Petersen: Encaustic Paintings, Rorick Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1984 Roland Petersen: Selected Monotypes & Watercolors, Smith Andersen Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
1983 Roland Petersen: Encaustic Paintings, Rorick Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1980 University of Reading, Reading, England
1979 Brubaker Gallery, Sarasota, FL
1978 Roland Petersen Retrospective, University of California, Davis, Memorial Union Art
Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA 1977 Aberbach Fine Arts Gallery, London, England
Kathryn Markel Gallery, New York, NY University of Reading, Reading, England
1976 20 Year Retrospective of Color Prints by Roland Petersen, Washington State Art
1975 Services Program (traveling, organized by the Museum of Art), Pullman, WA
Adele Bednarz Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1973 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA Adele Bednarz Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1972 Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ 1970 Adele Bednarz Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1968 M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA 1967 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY (also ‘65, ‘62)
1965 Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA 1961 Esther-Robles Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1961 California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1954 Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 San Francisco Art Fair, Studio Shop Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 Art Market San Francisco, Studio Shop Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2022 Art Market San Francisco, Studio Shop Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2020 Everyday Is A Miracle, Studio Shop Gallery, Burlingame, CA
2019 Landscape without Boundaries, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Davis, CA
2018 California: North and South, Heather James Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 Art Market San Francisco, Studio Shop Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Out Our Way, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Davis, CA
2002 Geometry, Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2001 California Printmakers Association: Group Exhibition, Marin Civic Center, San Rafael, CA
1995 Andre Milan Gallery, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1993 Artists Contemporary Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
1992 California Painting, The Essential Modernist Framework, California State University, Los Angeles, CA
Hall of Pictures, Uman, Russia
California Dreamin', Fresno Metropolitan Museum, Fresno, CA
1990 Northern California Figuration, Natsoulas, Novelozo, Davis, CA
1989 Collectors Exhibit, Sacramento City College, Sacramento, CA
1985 Sacramento/DAvis Interface, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
1984 Prints U.S.A., First overseas exhibition by the California Society of Printmakers: World Print Council, San Francisco, CA
1980 The Collector's Eye, Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA
1978 Atelier 17 Exhibition, Elvejem Art Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
1972 The American Artist and Water Reclamation, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1997 Four-Person Exhibition, American Cultural Center, Paris, France
1969 The Illinois Biennial, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL
1968 The Humanist Tradition with David Park in Contemporary American Painting, New York School, New York, NY
Four person Exhibition with David Park, Elmer Bischoff and Joan Brown, Bednarz and Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1966 Contemporary American Artists in the White House, White House, Washington, DC
1964 Painting and Sculpture Today, Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1962 68th Danver Annual, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
1961 National Watercolor Exhibition, Peoria, IL
1960 First Winter Invitational, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
1956 San Francisco Art Association Invitational, MH. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
1955 Second Oil Annual, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
1954 San Francisco Art Annual, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1951 Atelier 17, New York NY
American Painters, Florence, Italy
Young Painters, Beaux Gallery, Paris, France
1950 National College Exhibition, Andover, MA
COLLECTIONS
Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
Kaiser Permanente
UC Davis, Davis, CA
Santa Barbara Government Offices, Santa Barbara, CA
Filoli, Woodside, CA
Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
Manetti Shrem Museum, Davis, CA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, CA
Richard L. Nelson Memorial Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA
Clorox Company, Oakland, CA
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York, NY
Davis Art Center, Davis, CA
University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Fine Arts Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA
Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA
College of Fine Art, Ohio University, OH
Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
University of Nevada, Reno, NV
Davis Art Center, Davis, CA
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA
Illinois Wesleyan University School of Art, Bloomington, IL
Long Beach Museum, Long Beach, CA
Sacramento City College, Sacramento, CA
The Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, HI
The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, San Diego, CA
Musée Municipal, Brest, France
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
M.H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
TEACHING
1952-56 Lecturer, Washington State University, Pullman, WA
1956-92 Professor of Art, University of California, Davis, CA
1992- Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis, CA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2002 Karlstrom, Paul. Roland Petersen: Early Paintings 1958-1969, Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 Hill, Laura Weir and Scott. Roland Petersen, San Francisco, CA, Maxwell Galleries
1993 Roland Petersen, San Francisco: Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art
1992 Dalkey, Victoria. “Retrospective at UC Davis honors Roland Petersen.”
Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, March 8, 1992
1991 Nixon, Bruce. Sunlight and Shadows, The Art of Roland Petersen 1953-1990. San
Francisco: Harcourts Modern and Contemporary Art (exhibition catalogue) Nixon, Bruce. “Roland Petersen” Art of California, March.
1989 Baker, Kenneth. “Figures Swallowed in Space” San Francisco Chronicle, June 7
Roland Petersen, San Francisco: Harcourts Contemporary (exhibition catalogue)
1978 Dalkey, Victoria. “Petersen in Retrospect on Display at UC Davis” Sacramento Bee, September 30.
1968 “Roland Petersen.” Designers West, March.
1966 Howell, Betje. “Perspective on Art.” Evening Outlook, December 17.
1965 Gruen, John. Review. New York Herald Tribune, May.
Preston, Stuart. Review. New York Times, May. Review, Pictures on Exhibit. Summer Issue
1963 O’ Doherty, Brian. “Roland Petersen Work at NY Gallery.” New York Times, September 20, 1963
Staempfli, George W. Roland Petersen. New York: Staempfli Gallery (Exhibition Catalogue)
Adlow, Dorothy. Christian Science Monitor, July 29. Kozloff, Max. “New York Letter.” Art International, January
1962 Kozloff, Max. Review. Art International, January.
1961 Seldis, Henry J. “In the Galleries.” Los Angeles Times, March 10
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Every Day Is A Miracle
105th Anniversary Carl Martin, 2020Softcover, 91 pagesRead more
Publisher: Studio Shop Gallery -
Roland Petersen
Works on paper 1956 - 2005 Bruce Guenther, 2019Hardcover, 91 pagesRead more
Publisher: Studio Shop Gallery
ISBN: 978-164633101-7
Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.75 -
Roland Petersen
Six Decades of Painting John Seed, 2017Hardcover, 78 pagesRead more
Publisher: Studio Shop Gallery
ISBN: 978-5323-5253-9
Dimensions: 11.5 x 8.75 -
Roland Petersen
In Perspective John Seed, 2016Softcover, 36 pagesRead more
Publisher: Studio Shop Gallery
Dimensions: 11 x 8.5