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Betty Tompkins

© Courtesy of Betty Tompkins and cadet capela
Biography

Born in 1945 in Washington D.C., Washington, US
Lives and works in New York, NY, US; and Pleasant Mount, PA, US

Known for her unabashed portrayals of the female body and sexual desire, Betty Tompkins (b. 1945) has been shunned, seized, censored, and celebrated in the five decades since she first began her iconic Fuck Paintings series. A self-proclaimed “accidental dissident,” Tompkins has ceaselessly questioned the rules of representation of women’s bodies and what governs them. By appropriating imagery created for male self-pleasure, she has reframed long-held taboos by challenging critical discourses around content, style, and scale.

Her works can be found in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Centre Pompidou, Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris, France; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY; Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, NY, among others. She has presented recent solo exhibitions at P·P·O·W, New York, NY; GAVLAK, Los Angeles, CA; Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium; J Hammond Projects, London; The Flag Art Foundation, New York, NY; and Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva.

Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, Muzeum Susch, Zernez, Switzerland; Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Histórias da sexualidade, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paolo, Brazil; Black Sheep Feminism: The Art of Sexual Politics, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, Texas; and Elles, Centre Pompidou, Paris, among others. In 2021, MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain presented Betty Tompkins: Raw Material, a revelatory survey exhibition accompanied by a monograph with specially commissioned texts by Nicolas Bourriaud, Alison M. Gingeras and Géraldine Gourbe, as well as a conversation with Tompkins.

In Summer 2024, P·P·O·W presented Just a Pretty Face, Tompkins’s third solo exhibition with the gallery. In Fall 2024, she was featured in Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. 

Curriculum vitae

Solo and two-person exhibitions
  • 2024
    Betty Tompkins, Just a Pretty Face, P·P·O·W, New York, US
  • 2021
    Betty Tompkins: Raw Material, MO.CO Montpellier Contemporain, Montpellier, FR
  • Women Words, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, BE
  • Betty Tompkins: Some Sex, Lots of Talking, GAVLAK Los Angeles, Los Angeles, US
  • 2019
    Talking Talking Talking, curated by Darren Flook, Freehouse, London, GB
  • Fuck Paintings, Etc., J Hammond Projects, London, GB
  • 2018
    Will She Ever Shut Up?, P·P·O·W, New York, US
  • Betty Tompkins, WAAP, Vancouver, CA
  • Betty Tompkins, Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva, CH
  • 2017
    Betty Tompkins, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, BE
  • Betty Tompkins, Kunstraum Innsbruck, Innsbruck, AT
  • Virgins, P·P·O·W, New York, US
  • 2016
    Sex Works/ WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories, GAVLAK Los Angeles, Los Angeles, US
  • The Bill and Betty Show, with Bill Mutter, Plato’s Cave at EIDIA House, Brooklyn, US
  • WOMEN Words, Phrases, and Stories, The Flag Art Foundation, New York, US
  • 2015
    Real Ersatz, FUG, New York, US
  • 2014
    Paintings & Works on Paper: 1972-2013, GAVLAK Palm Beach, Palm Beach, US
  • 2013
    Betty Tompkins and Dadamanio, Home Alone 2, New York, US
  • Woman Words, Dinter Fine Art Online, New York, US
  • 2012
    Fuck Paintings, Galerie Rodolph Janssen, Brussels, BE
  • FUCK: Works on Paper 1969 - 2010, Venus Over Manhattan, Miami, US
  • 2011
    Sex Works, Galerie Andrea Caratsch, Zurich, CH
  • 2009
    New Work, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, US
  • 2008
    Fuck Paintings and Drawings 1973 - 2007, Lawrimore Project, Seattle, US
  • 2007
    Sex Works, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, US
  • 2006
    Fuck Paintings and Drawings, Galerie Andrea Caratsch, Zurich, CH
  • 2005
    New Paintings and Drawings, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, US
  • 2002
    Fuck Paintings 1969 - 1974, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, US
  • 1997
    The Women In My Life, 800 Gallery, West Long Branch, US
Group exhibitions
  • 2025
    Past as Prologue: A Historical Acknowledgment, Part II, National Academy of Design, New York, US
  • 2024
    Ordinary People: Photorealism and the Work of Art since 1968 , Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, US
  • Infinite Woman, Fondation Carmignac, Hyères, FR
  • MALCRIADAS, Her Clique, Lisbon, PT
  • 2023
    Lacan, the Exhibition: When Art Meets Psychoanalysis, Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, FR
  • Lover’s Eye, Sargent’s Daughters, Los Angeles
  • It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According To Hannah Gadsby, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, US
  • 2022
    V1 XX - 20 years of V1 Gallery, VI Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
  • Femme Fatale: Gaze-Power-Gender, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, DE
  • Floating Truth, Gana Art, Seoul, KR
  • A Maze Zanine, Amaze Zaning, A-Mezzaning, Meza-9 , curated by Ei Arakawa, Kerstin Brätsch, Nicole Eisenman, and Laura Owens, Performance Space New York at David Zwirner, New York, US
  • Sensitive Content, Unit London, London, GB
  • A Woman’s Right to Pleasure, BlackBook Presents at Sotheby’s, Los Angeles, US
  • A Feminist Avant Garde from the Verbund Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Novi Sad, RS
  • A Feminist Avant Garde from the Verbund Collection, Les Rencontres de la Photographie d’Arles, Arles, FR
  • Drawers: Provocative Drawings, curated by Laura Hutson Hunter, OZ Arts, Nashville, US
  • Late Night Enterprise, Perrotin, New York, US
  • 2021
    She Says: Women, Words, and Power, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Beach, US
  • 10 Years, Halsey Mckay Gallery, East Hampton, US
  • Peep Show, curated by Brigitte Mulholland and Kristen Smoragiewicz, Anton Kern Gallery Window, New York, US
  • Halsey McKay Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, US
  • 2020
    To Cast Too Bold a Shadow, Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, US
  • Nasty Women, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, US
  • Reflections, Gang Art Gallery, Seoul, KR
  • 2019
    A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women, curated by Kasia Redzisz, Muzeum Susch, Zernez, CH
  • Tainted Love, Villa Arson, Nice, FR
  • Strategic Vandalism: The Legacy of Asger Jorn’s Modification Paintings, Petzel Gallery, New York, US
  • Rise, RIBORDY THETAZ, Geneva, CH
  • Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s: Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, The Brno House of Arts, Brno, CZ
  • Afflatus, curated by Amy Hill and Suzanne Unrein, 5-50 Gallery, Queens, US
  • FÜR BARBARA (BIS), curated by Leo Koenig, Hall Art Foundation, Schloss Derneburg Museum, Holle, DE
  • 2018
    Half the Picture: A Feminist Look at the Collection, Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, US
  • Defacement, THE CLUB, Tokyo, JP
  • BETTY TOMPKINS & JEAN-BAPTISTE BERNADET, Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva, CH
  • WOMEN NOW, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, US
  • The Value of Freedom, Belvedere 21, Vienna, AT
  • Histórias da sexualidade, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), São Paolo, BR
  • Tainted Love, Le Confort Moderne, Poitiers, FR
  • HARD, University Hall Gallery, Boston, US
  • Declaration, Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond, US
  • Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970: Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection, Stavanger Art Museum, Stavanger, NO
  • 2017
    Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s: Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND Collection , ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medien, Karlsruhe, DE
  • Für Barbara, Hall Art Foundation Schloss Derneburg Museum, Derneburg, DE
  • Nude, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
  • A Space for Thought, Brand New Gallery, Milan, IT
  • Cunt, Venus LA, Los Angeles, US
  • Flaming June VII, Gavlak Gallery, Los Angeles, US
  • Secret Garden: The Female Gaze on Erotica, Untitled Space, New York, US
  • Ear Putty, 56 Henry Annex, New York, US
  • 2016
    Tie His Hands Gently, Romeo, New York, US
  • #PUSSYPOWER, David & Schweitzer Contemporary, New York, US
  • Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Whitebox, New York, US
  • Uniques en Leurs Genres, Galerie Gaillard, Paris, FR
  • Dicks, Fortnight Institute, New York, US
  • The Future is Female, 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, KY; Cincinnati, OH; Bentonville, AR; Durham, NC; Nashville, KY (travelling)
  • Beyond Secretary, Mark Borghi Fine Art, New York, US
  • LANDSCAPES, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, US
  • Summer Reading, Fortnight Institute, New York, US
  • WE: AMEricans, Station Independent Projects, New York, US
  • 2 Years of Looking, curated by Erik Hanson, New Art Projects, London, GB
  • Something Possible Everywhere: Pier 34 NYC, 1983–84, 205 Hudson Gallery, New York, US
  • The Female Gaze, Part Two: Women Look at Men, Cheim & Read, New York, US
  • 2
    Smile!, Shin Gallery, New York, US
  • 2016
    Black Sheep Feminism, Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, US
  • 2015
    Word by Word, curated by Francesco Bonami, Luxembourg & Dayan, London, GB
  • Viewer Discretion… Children of Bataille, curated by Kathleen Cullen, Stux Haller Gallery, New York, US
  • Verganza (I don’t want to be friends), organized by Gea Polity, Milan, IT
  • Lust, HVCCA, Peeksil, US
  • Fertility, presented by Jane Kim, 33 Orchard, New York, US
  • The Shell (Landscapes, Portaits & Shapes), a show by Eric Troncy, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, FR
  • Eureka!, curated by Kendell Geers, Galerist, New York, US
  • Ten Year Anniversary, GAVLAK Palm Beach, Palm Beach, FL; , Los Angeles, CA, Palm Beach, Los Angeles, US
  • 2014
    Rear Window Treatment, Louis B. James, New York, US
  • A Drawing Show, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, US
  • CORPUS, Zacheta National Gallery, Warsaw, PL
  • A Chromatic Loss, curated by Jeffrey Uslip, Bortolami Gallery, New York, US
  • Selections from the Sara M. & Michelle Vance Waddell Collection, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, US
  • 2013
    Independents, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, DK
  • A Few of My Favorite Things, CB1 Gallery, Los Angeles, US
  • Skin Trade, P·P·O·W, New York, US
  • She, Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, US
  • the origin of the world/the force of the source/the cause of the vigor, Samson Projects, Boston, US
  • Sunsets and Pussy, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, US
  • DSM-V, The Future Moynihan Station, New York, US
  • Jew York, Untitled, New York, US
  • Sex Money and Power, Maison Particuliere, Brussels, BE
  • 2012
    In the Pink, Joe Sheftel Gallery, New York, US
  • Dark Garnaal, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen; Villa - Knokke, Knokke - Heist, BE
  • Elles, Centre Pompidou, Seattle Art Museum
  • Screw You, Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, US
  • 2011
    No government No cry, a project by Kendell Geers, CIAP Actuele Kunst, Hasselt, US
  • Invitation to the Voyage, Algus Greenspon, New York, US
  • Grisaille, Luxembourg and Dayan, New York, US
  • 2010
    Lust and Vice: The Seven Deadly Sins from Dürer to Naumann, Kunstmuseum Bern and Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, CH
  • Visible Vagina, Francis Naumann Gallery, New York, US
  • Consider the Oyster, James Graham and Sons, New York, US
  • 2009
    Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
  • Naked! Size Matters, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, US
  • Revolver, COCO, Vienna, AT
  • The Line Is a Lonely Hunter - Drawings in New Jersey, Basel, CH
  • 2008
    How to Cook a Wolf: Part 1, Dinter Fine Art, New York, US
  • 2007
    La Plaissir au Dessin, Musee de Beaux Arts, Lyon, FR
  • Handsome Young Doctor, Cubitt Gallery, London, GB
  • Into Position, Baurnmarkt, Vienna, AT
  • 2006
    Exquisite Corpse – Cadavre Exquis, Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, FR
  • Uncertain States of America, Serpentine Gallery, London, GB
  • 2005
    La Beauté de L’Enfer, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, BE
  • 2004
    [Untitled/Nudes], Printed Matter, New York, US
  • Nouvelles Acquisitions, Ouevres Contemporaines, Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR
  • 2003
    It Happened Tomorrow, Biennale de Lyon, Lyon, FR
Bibliography
  • 2025
    Princenthal, Nancy and Sretenovic, Vesela, editors. Anonymous Was A Woman: The First 25 Years. Hirmer Publishers, Munich, Germany, 2025, pp. 278.
  • 2022
    Diamond, Anjuli Nanda, editor. “To Cast Too Bold A Shadow.” An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art, vol. 2. New York; Munich: The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation/Verlag GmbH, 2022, pp. 154.
  • Diamond, Anjuli Nanda, editor. “Roundtable: What Can Art Do Now?” An Incomplete Archive of Activist Art, vol. 1. New York; Munich: The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation/Verlag GmbH, 2022, pp. 29-37.
  • Molarsky-Beck, Marina. “Betty Tompkins.” Great Women Painters. London; New York: Phaidon Press Limited, 2022, pp. 302.
  • 2021
    Bourriaud, Nicolas, et al. Betty Tompkins: Raw Material. MO.CO, 2021.
  • 2020
    A Woman’s Right to Pleasure. New York: BlackBook Publishing, 2020, pp. 28-31-62–63. Eccles, Tom, and Amy Zion, editors. Closer to Life. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY: Center for Curatorial Studies, 2020, pp. 321.
  • 2017
    Pedrosa, Adriano and Camila Bechelany, editors. Histōrias Da Sexualidade Catālogo. São Paulo: Museu de Arte de São Paulo, 2017, pp. 65–67.
Collections
  • Centre Pompidou, Musee National d’Art Moderne, Paris, FR
  • Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, US
  • Museum of the City of New York, New York, US
  • Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, US
  • Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, New York, US
  • Stamford Museum, Stamford, US
  • Allen Art Museum, Oberlin, US
  • Fondation d’entreprise Francès, Senlis, FR
  • Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, US
  • Islip Art Museum, East Islip, US
  • Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, US
  • 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, US
cadet capela
Betty Tompkins
0103