Robert Arneson

American, 1930–1992

Birth placeBenicia, California, United States

Death placeDavis, California, United States

BiographyBorn: 1930, Benida, CA. Died: 1992, Davis, CA. Education: studied at the College of Marin, Kentfield, CA, (1949-1951), B.A. from California College of Arts and Crafts (Oakland) in 1954; and MFA from Mills College (Oakland), 1958. Thereafter, Arneson taught at several schools, working from 1960 to 1962 as an assistant to Tony Prieto at Mills College and from 1962 as head of the ceramics department at the University of California, Davis. Collections: the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum, University Art Museum at the University of California, Berkeley, Whitney Museum of American Art, Guggenheim Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Stedelijk Museum and the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C. Art: A legendary iconoclast, and father of the Funk movement in ceramics, Arneson has had numerous solo exhibitions, including a retrospective in 1974 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and at the San Francisco Museum of Art. A second retrospective opened in 1986 at the Des Moines Art Center and traveled to other venues.

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