Forrest Bess
Sign of Man

Public Domain

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Artist Forrest Bess (American, 1911–1977)American, 1911–1977

CultureAmerican

Titles

Sign of Man

Date1949

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 5 3/4 × 7 1/8 in. (14.6 × 18.1 cm)
Frame (outer): 7 3/4 × 9 × 1 1/2 in. (19.7 × 22.9 × 3.8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund

Object number2019.26

Current Location

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

Gallery 203

On view

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Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Object Type

PAINTING

DescriptionForrest Bess ardently admired Vincent van
Gogh, and Sign of Man echoes the mood
of the Dutch painter’s visionary nocturnes.
According to Bess’s notes, the white orb
represents the masculine principle of the sun,
and the vertical lines stand for the passage of
time. However, it is also possible to recognize
the inspiration that he drew from the open
vistas of his Chinquapin Bay home near
Bay City, Texas, with the sun rising over
the Gulf of Mexico.
ProvenanceThe artist; Howard Barnstone, Houston; George Barnstone by descent, 1987; [Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston]; William Hill Land & Cattle Company Collection; purchased by MFAH, 2019.
Exhibition History"Forrest Bess," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 15–May 6, 1951.

"Forrest Bess: Retrospective Exhibition," Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, January 8–27, 1962.

"Forrest Bess," Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, November 8–29, 1986.

"The Private Eye: Selected Works from Collections of Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 11–August 13, 1989.

"Forrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible," The Menil Collection, Houston, April 19–August 18, 2013; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, September 29, 2013–January 5, 2014; Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, New York, February 16–May 18, 2014.

"Forrest Bess," Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, March 5–May 14, 2016.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed in graphite, bottom right corner: Forrest Bess

n.a.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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