Noah Purifoy

Curriculum Vitae and Biography

Born August 17, 1917, Snow Hill, Alabama.

EDUCATION

B.S. Alabama State Teachers College. Montgomery, Alabama, 1943
Master of Social Service Administration. Atlanta University. Atlanta, Georgia, 1948
Bachelor of Fine Arts. Chouinard Art Institute. Los Angeles, California, 1956

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1999 Random Transformations: Assemblages by Noah Purifoy. Allen Priebe Gallery,
 University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. October 13 - November 7, 1999. Oshkosh Wisconsin
1998 Assemblages by Noah Purifoy. Mendenhall Gallery,
 September 12-October 4, 1998. Pasadena, CA.
1998 Noah Purifoy: Outside and in the Open. Retrospective. Oakland Museum of California 
July 20-October 15, 1998. Oakland, CA.
1997 Noah Purifoy: Outside and in the Open. Retrospective. Clark Atlanta University Art Galleries. 
January2-March 30, 1998. Atlanta, GA.
1997 Noah Purifoy: Outside and in the Open. Retrospective. African-American Museum.
 January 25-July 27, 1997. Los Angeles, CA
1996 Purifoy Now and Then. The Corridor Gallery of Art. 
August 16-September 13, 1996. Los Angeles, CA.
1995 Desert Tombstones. Rachele Lozzi Gallery. May 16-June 30. Los Angeles, CA.
 concurrent with 
Black Male: Representations of Masculinity in Contemporary American Art
UCLA at the Armand Hammer Museum. April 25-June 18. Los Angeles, CA.
1995 Assemblages. Mountainview Memorial Gallery. 
May 16-June 15. Altadena, CA
1995 Legends. Artists' Salute to Black History Month. 
February 4-February 12. Los Angeles, CA.
1993 As Is In Joshua Tree. Tara's Hall. April 1, 1993-May 14, 1995. Los Angeles,
 CA. Now a permanent exhibition for new works
1989 A New Place To Be. Museum of African American Art. 
August 24-October 15. Los Angeles, CA.
1988 Gallery at the Old Masonic Lodge. Los Angeles, CA.
1971 Environmental Experience. Brockman Gallery. March 7-26. Los Angeles, CA.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1999-2000 A Piece @ A Time. Watts Towers Arts Center. December 12-January 22. Los Angeles, CA.
1996 Purifoy Now and Then. The Corridor Gallery of Art. August 16-September 13. East Hollywood, CA.
1995 Homecoming. First Twenty-Five Years at the Watts Towers Art Center. City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. March 13-April 30.
1995 Environments: Extending the Artist's Realm. California Afro-American Museum. December 1994-December, 1995. Los Angeles, CA
1995 African American Representations of Masculinity. Museum of African American Art. May 6-June 3. Los Angeles, CA.
1994 Connections II. Getty Center for the History of Art and Humanities. March 12-June 30. Santa Monica. CA. Commission.
1993 Off the Wall. Porter Randall Gallery. November 6-December 31. La Jolla, CA. 
1993 I Remember: Thirty Years After the March on Washington; Images of the Civil Rights Movement 1963-1993. Corcoran Gallery. Washington, D.C.
1990 Celebrations. The Fisher Gallery. January 30- March 3. University of Southern California. Los Angeles, CA.
1989 19 Sixties: A Cultural Awakening Reevaluated 1965-1975. California Afro American Museum. April 7-October 2. Los Angeles, CA.
1977 African Festival of the Arts and Culture. Lagos, Nigeria.
1975 Black Artists in California. Governor's Office. August 15- October 6. Sacramento, CA.
1975 West Coast 74: The Black Image. Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park. Los Angeles, CA.
1974 The Negro in American Art. Fine Arts Galleries. San Diego, CA.
1973 University of Southern California. Los Angeles, CA.
1972 Los Angeles 1972: A Panorama of Black Artists. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. February. Los Angeles CA.
1972 Garbage Needs Recycle Exhibition. U.S. Office of Information. September 15-24. Berlin, Germany
1971 University of Iowa. Iowa City, Iowa.
1971 Kalamazoo Institute of Art. Kalamazoo, Michigan.
1971 Local Black Artists. Compton College. February 7-19. Compton, CA.
1971 Contemporary Black Artists of America. Whitney Museum of American Art. April 6- May 16. New York, N.Y.
1971  Black American Artists. Chicago Bell Galleries. January 13-February 5. State Tour.Chicago, Illinois.
1971 Five Black Artists: Benny, Bernie, Betye, Noah and John. Lang Art Gallery, Scripps College. March.
1970 Huntington Galleries. Knoxville, Tennessee
1969 12 Afro-American Artists. Nordness Galleries. New York, N.Y
1969 Microcosm 69. Long Beach Museum. National Tour. Long Beach, CA.
1968 66 Signs of Neon. Washington Gallery of Modern Art. May 18-June 7. Washington, D.C.
1967 University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, CA.
1966 The Negro in American Art. One Hundred and Fifty Years of Afro-American Art.
 September 11-October. UCLA Dickson Center. Los Angeles, CA.

 
Member, California Arts Council. 1976-1987. Appointed by Governor Jerry Brown.
Founder, Watts Towers Art Center. Los Angeles, CA. 1964.
Co-Founder. Watts Summer Festivals. Los Angeles, CA. 1966.
Creator, 66 Signs of Neon. A Traveling Exhibition of 66 Pieces of Sculpture fashioned from Debris from the Watts Rebellion. 1966. Los Angeles, CA.
Co-Founder. Company Theatre (later Provisional Theatre). Los Angeles, CA 1966.

AWARDS

Visual Artist Award, The Flintridge Foundation, Pasadena, Ca 1997-1998
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1997
Lannan Foundation, Getty Trust Fund for Visual Arts, California Community Foundation for touring Retrospective, 1996
Florsheim Art Fund, 1996
Gottlieb Foundation, 1995
Pollock Krasner Foundation, 1993

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