Roland Petersen

Overview
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.”

Works
Gallery Exhibitions
CV
Roland Petersen

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

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

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

Strickler, Carolyn. “Return o
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