2023-24
Mitra FAMILY GRANT Recipient
Quantum Bingo: Placing Abstract Expressionist Bernice Bing Rightfully Among Her Peers
Alena Suleiman
“Quantum Bingo”:
Placing Abstract Expressionist Bernice Bing Rightfully Among Her Peers
Alena Suleiman
2024 Mitra Family Scholar
Mentors: Ms. Donna Gilbert, Ms. Amy Pelman
April 10, 2024
In 1963, San Francisco native and artist Bernice Bing, called Bingo by friends, painted A Lady and a Road Map, one of many introspective works produced throughout her lifetime. As a
woman, lesbian, and Chinese American, Bing faced multiple barriers of discrimination in the white heterosexual male-dominated abstraction world. She found it difficult to place herself within such a restricted artistic community, and so she searched for answers within the canvas. In
A Lady and a Road Map, Bing’s compositional techniques reflect such sentiments of feeling trapped. Drawing upon mentor Richard Diebenkorn’s compositions of compressed space in his Berkeley series, Bing wedges an abstract human figure, a reclining nude lady composed of bright pink and blue patches, within the shallow foreground (See Fig. 1). Expressive brushstrokes and dynamic forms underscore the lack of three-dimensionality present, leaving it unclear where the map ends and the landscape begins, or where the lady’s body dissolves. By labeling her surrounding terrain a map, Bing searches for where she belongs in the world as an artist, but more importantly a person. One can imagine Bing, as both painter and viewer, gazing upon her abstracted self, a semi-formed figure reflective of her obscure sense of identity.
Landscapes like A Lady and a Road Map are emblematic of San Francisco Abstract Expressionism, a movement defined by dynamic and highly experimental works that jolted the public out of its postwar complacency.1 At its core, San Francisco Abstract Expressionism was a movement driven by challengers of the status quo.2 By constantly pushing the boundaries of traditional artistic conventions and exploring new ideas, techniques, and materials, the rebels of the Bay Area school left a lasting legacy on the landscape of American art.
As one such rebel, Bing rose to prominence within this avant-garde community. Infused with the energy of the vibrant Beat scene in San Francisco’s North Beach and the area’s natural
1 Susan Landauer, TheSanFranciscoSchoolofAbstractExpressionism(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996), 78.
2 Landauer, 7.
vistas, Bing’s artistic endeavors flourished.3 While still a student, Bing was one of three women included in a 15-person group exhibition at Batman Gallery with other prominent figures of the Beat Generation. The next year, she received critical acclaim for her solo debut at the same venue. In his 1961 San Francisco Chronicle review, critic Alfred Frankenstein praised: “Bing has a remarkable gift for fluid line.”4 Yet despite the fact that Bing produced work on par with her contemporaries in Abstract Expressionism in terms of formal relationships, rhythmical quality, and experimental evolution, the intersection of her traditionally marginalized identities as a queer Asian American woman combined with her obligation to community activism as an orphan led her to slip through the cracks of the West Coast postwar art historical narrative.
Figure 1. A Lady and a Road Map. Bernice Bing, 1963. Oil on canvas. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
3 "The Worlds of Bernice Bing," Asian American Women Artists Association, last modified 2019, accessed February 24, 2024, https://www.aawaa.net/the-worlds-of-bernice-bing.
4 Moira Roth, "A Narrative Chronology," Queer Cultural Center, December 23, 2015, accessed January 17, 2024, https://queerculturalcenter.org/chronology-by-moira-roth/.
Movement Influences
Located thousands of miles away from New York and lacking established institutional support, Bay Area Abstraction was initially seen as a backwater movement.5 Nevertheless, by the 1950s, San Francisco had established a standalone reputation as a mecca for creative production, not limited to the visual arts. American poet and painter Weldon Kees wrote in the New York Times in 1950 that along with New York, “San Francisco strikes at least this observer . . . as the liveliest center of art activity in the country today.”6
Under the avant-garde vision of former curator of the San Francisco Museum of Art Douglas McAgy, the California School of Fine Arts transformed into an epicenter of artistic experimentation, attracting a student body largely composed of U.S. veterans.7 After Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights in 1944, which offered generous educational and other benefits to returning World War II veterans, two and a quarter million retired soldiers enrolled in classes, a 75 percent jump from before the war.8 To the surprise of both legislators and teachers, veterans overwhelmingly favored a liberal arts education and art schools over professional trajectories.9
5 John Seed, "Unearthing a Treasure Trove of Bay Area Women Abstract Painters,” Hyperallergic , September 1, 2022, accessed January 10, 2024, https://hyperallergic.com/757357/unearthing-a-treasure-trove-of-bay-area-women-abstractpainters/.
6 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 6
7 Thomas Williams, "Drawings of the Bay Area School," MasterDrawings 51, no. 4 (2013): 481, JSTOR.
8 Richard Cándida Smith, UtopiaandDissent(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), 80.
9 Gary Kamiya, "How Veterans and Avant-garde Art Saved the California School of Fine Arts," San Francisco Chronicle, last modified August 5, 2022, accessed April 11, 2024,
Upon joining the CSFA, they immersed themselves fully in the realm of art, embracing the rigorous and often spiritually charged courses guided by instructors like Hassel Smith, Elmer Bischoff, and Clyfford Still.10 One of Bing’s classmates at the CSFA, abstract expressionist and veteran John Grillo, spearheaded methods that involved hurling and splattering paints of dazzling color (See Fig. 2).11 He honed this technique while serving in the US Navy in the 1940s, during which he improvised with unconventional materials like sand and coffee grounds due to a scarcity of traditional art supplies.12
https://www.sfchronicle.com/vault/portalsofthepast/article/How-veterans-and-avant-garde-artsaved-the-17353638.php.
10 Smith, UtopiaandDissent , 92.
11 Williams, "Drawings of the Bay Area," 482.
12 Williams, 482.
Within the movement, artists employed bold colors and expressive forms to convey emotion and energy. Vibrant hues, dynamic brushwork, and gestural mark-making were common features of compositions, allowing artists to evoke vitality in their work. The prevalent approach to abstract painting on the West Coast swiftly embraced the concept that art should be created solely for the present moment.13 However, while the Bay Area school shared some of the spontaneity of the broader impulse of Abstract Expressionism, coined “Action Painting” by The New Yorker art critic Harold Rosenberg, this regional iteration possessed distinct characteristics in terms of influences, intention, and subject matter.14
Drawing from the city’s milieu, Bay Area Abstraction was influenced by multiple concurrent artistic movements. The improvisational rhythms and pulses of Dixieland jazz, which resurged in San Francisco during the 1940s, as well as the Beat Generation, a literary subculture movement that emphasized authenticity and exploration of the unconscious, were intertwined with the rebellious manifesto of Bay Area Abstraction. Jazz clubs, poetry readings, and art showings often intersected, providing artists with opportunities to collaborate and draw inspiration from a plethora of media.15 While exploring her craft, Bing drew from all these movements. Art historian Valerie J. Matsumoto writes, “[Bing] also found inspiration in avantgarde figures such as Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline, jazz musicians John Coltrane, Ornette
13 Williams, "Drawings of the Bay Area," 482.
14 Valerie Hellstein, "The Cage-iness of Abstract Expressionism," AmericanArt 28, no. 1 (2014), https://doi.org/10.1086/676628.
15 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 25.
Coleman, and Thelonious Monk, and writers Albert Camus, André Gide, Simone de Beauvoir, and Gertrude Stein.”16
As a member of the Beat Generation, Bing frequented the North Beach neighborhood. Through waitressing shifts at bars, mixing cocktails, and serving tables at the Spaghetti Factory, where she maintained a studio on its top level (See Fig. 3) a favored spot among Beat poets and artists Bing funded her master's education at the CSFA.17 Born in the red light district of San Francisco’s Chinatown and orphaned at age six, Bing was familiar with financial struggles early on.18 In 1957, she entered the California College of Arts and Crafts on a student scholarship and continued to fund her education with various jobs.
16 Valerie J. Matsumoto, "Pioneers, Renegades, and Visionaries: Asian American Women Artists in California, 1880s-1960s," in Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970, ed. Gordon H. Chang, Mark Dean Johnson, and Paul J. Karlstrom (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008), 177.
17 Lydia Matthews, "Quantum Bingo," QueerCulturalCenter , June 1999, accessed January 14, 2024, https://queerculturalcenter.org/quantum-bingo/.
18 Roth, "A Narrative,".
Figure 3. Bernice Bing in her North Beach studio around 1961, with Las Meninas, 1960, to her right. Charles Snyder/Bernice Bing Estate.
Despite her marginalized identity as an Asian American woman, Bing forged enduring friendships within the Beat Generation, a movement dominated almost entirely by privileged white men living on family and government assistance. Slipping in and out of bars, Bing earned a reputation in North Beach’s social scene as a “hard drinking dancer” with a “fiery presence.”19
The Cellar, a Beat club that held weekly poetry and jazz sessions, concocted a potent martini drink called the “Bingotini” in her honor.20
Beat venues were often alternative, like the popular yet short-lived Batman Gallery. There, Bing held her first solo show, one of ten initial solo exhibitions at the venue. The exhibit was an incredible feat for Bing, considering that most shows featuring Asian artists at the time were group shows, annihilating nuance and personal identity.21 Bing recalls the gallery’s striking name and interior:
It was an unusual place for instance the fact that its name was Batman, and that it was all totally black: black floor, black ceilings, the complete opposite of what you saw in most galleries with their stark white walls. All the artists I knew were pretty excited about the space.22
19 Mathews, “Quantum Bingo.”
20 Matthews, "Quantum Bingo."
21 Matthews.
22 Bernice Bing. Interview by Moira Roth and Diane Tani. San Francisco, CA. August 13, 1991.
In her exhibition, Bing unveiled a captivating collection of paintings that bore loose connections to Diego Velázquez’s iconic 1656 painting Las Meninas. 23 Inspired by the ethereality of Velázquez’s figures, Bing infused her works with a similar spiritual allure. Bing was drawn to the Spanish masterpiece’s striking color palette, particularly the bold blacks that exuded a regal solemnity. Critics, including Frankenstein, lauded Bing’s adept usage of these hues, noting how she managed to capture the “majestic sternness of . . . blacks and reds.”24 In another Artforum feature, editor James Monte praised Bing’s “remarkable amount of inventive freedom within the confines of Bay Area realism.”25 Frankenstein’s and Monte’s recognition underscored Bing’s technical skill, as well as her capacity to transcend conventional artistic constraints and forge a distinct artistic identity.
Despite lacking the familial connections and institutional support enjoyed by her contemporaries, Bing’s ascent to recognition within San Francisco's vibrant Beat scene was propelled by her exceptional talent and charismatic personality.26 Bing’s ability to navigate the
23 Charles Desmarais, "What Bernice Bing's Art Had Been Celebrated and Supported?," Datebook(San Francisco, CA), October 3, 2019, accessed February 24, 2024, https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/what-if-bernice-bings-art-had-beencelebrated-and-supported.
24 Roth, "A Narrative,".
25 Sumayra Jabbar, "Overlooked Abstract Expressionist Bernice Bing Searched for Identity through Painting," Artsy , last modified November 21, 2019, accessed April 9, 2024, https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-overlooked-abstract-expressionist-bernice-bingsearched-identity-painting.
26 Jonathan Griffin, "The Irresistible Cool of Bernice Bing," Apollo , September 26, 2022, accessed February 24, 2024, https://www.apollo-magazine.com/bernice-bing-san-franciscopainter/.
art world and establish herself as a respected figure spoke to her determination and resilience in the face of adversity. The Asian American Women Artists Association, which Bing helped cofound later in her life, wrote, “Bernice Lee Bing (1936-1998) came of age during a time when ‘lesbian’ was a bad word, racism was rampant, and women were expected to be housewives.”27 Defying every barrier, Bing earned a reputation as a “painter’s painter” within the art world, underscoring the respect and admiration she commanded among her peers.28
San
Francisco’s
Art Market Attitude
Art historian Susan Landauer posits that along with the unbridled creativity happening at the CSFA, the reinvention of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art under pioneering director Grace McCann Morley cemented San Francisco’s eminence in the national avant-garde art scene.29 At the time, SFMOMA was the only museum west of Chicago to display modern art. Under Morley’s leadership, the museum began showcasing far more experimental exhibitions, opening its walls to Abstract Expressionist figures like Arshile Gorky and Jackson Pollock.30
During its annual exhibitions, the radicality and sheer size of the displayed abstract paintings astounded viewers. Correspondent for Art News Erle Loran chronicled public response to a 1948 group show at SFMOMA:
27 "The Worlds," Asian American Women Artists Association.
28 Matthews, "Quantum Bingo."
29 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 30.
30 Landauer, 5.
It was like seeing the French cartoons illustrating the public reaction to the first Impressionist shows in Paris to watch the faces of the bewildered visitors. The more timid would look furtively at others as if to seek companionship in their bewilderment; the sophisticated were often quite frank about their stupefaction. Nothing like this had been seen in such large amounts in one place.31 It was this spirit of revolution, a complete departure from established artistic traditions of representational painting, that characterized the Bay Area school. San Francisco artists possessed a predilection for the inexplicable and the crude.32 In the words of Smith, their work was “marked by its ungraciousness, its positive unwillingness to please. In no other locality will you find so many paintings produced [about] which it can be said, ‘I wouldn’t put that on my shithouse wall.’”33 Ernest Briggs, another classmate of Bing, said that students used to compete “to see who could make the nastiest painting, get the greasiest black.”34 Works like Edward Corbett’s 1950 Untitled (Black Painting) were typical of the school’s production (See Fig. 4). In tandem with their defiance of the aesthetically pleasing, anti-commercialism prevailed among the San Francisco artists, despite SFMOMA’s avant-garde vision. Bing’s white friends from the Beat movement, including Brown and Bruce Conner, retreated from attention and
31 Landauer, 9.
32 Landauer, 83.
33 Griffin, "Bella Pacifica," Jonathan Griffin (blog).
34 Ernest Briggs. Interview with Mary Fuller McChesney. April 20, 1966.
Figure 4. Corbett, Edward. Untitled (Black Painting). Oil and enamel on canvas, 60 x 50 in. San Jose Museum of Art. promotional opportunities.35 Yet no figure despised the art market as much as Clyfford Still, who left New York because of its commerce-frenzied scene. He suspected that artists faced threats from art dealers and critics, who transmuted paintings into commodities and warped their intended significance.36 Under his teachings and influence, graduate students at the CSFA intentionally created commercially unappealing paintings by using tar black, lurid yellow, and other acid-washed colors. They even boycotted the annual exhibitions at SFMOMA.37 Outside of
35 Anastasia Aukeman, “'Woodshedding’ Years: The RBPA into the 1960s,” Welcometo Painterland:BruceConnerandtheRatBastardProtectiveAssociation.Oakland, University of California Press, 2016.
36 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 81.
37 Landauer, 84.
major museums, most operating galleries on the West Coast were artist-run and prioritized presenting work over pushing sales.38
The aversion to the art establishment profoundly affected artists like Bing who depended on sales to sustain their work and themselves. Despite her dedication to her craft, Bing found herself grappling with the realities of financial instability in an environment that rejected marketability. Unlike her white peers, who were often financially secure, had deep roots in America, and benefited from generational connections, Bing did not have the privilege of choosing to step away from the public eye while still maintaining respect and recognition. As a result, after completing the MFA program at CSFA, Bing retreated from San Francisco’s urban art scene and moved to the Mayacamas mountains in Napa Valley.39 “After I left school, I needed to do something to support myself, and this job came up at the vineyards, and I thought, well I’ll just take a year off but instead of taking a year, I took three years,” she said in a 1991 interview.40
Bay Area school artists tended to turn to the natural landscapes of the San Francisco Bay Area for subject matter.41 Landauer argues that in comparison to its East Coast counterpart, the Bay Area school was “perhaps slower, less flashy, and more deeply rooted in nature.”42 The region’s stunning vistas and rugged topography served as wells of inspiration, influencing the
38 Aukeman, “Artist-Run Galleries of the Fillmore,” WelcometoPainterland:BruceConner andtheRatBastardProtectiveAssociation . Oakland, University of California Press, 2016.
39 Matthews, "Quantum Bingo."
40 Bing, interview.
41 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 23.
42 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , XVI.
color palettes, textures, and forms found in their artworks. Bing, for one, found her muse in such terrain. In 1962, she left the city for the Mayacamas vineyards to assume the caretaker position.43 There, she painted landscapes prolifically, with A Lady and a Road Map among those produced. “I was profoundly touched by this new world nature and the changes of the seasons that I had suddenly discovered. So I did a series of landscapes which were very organic ”44
In the Mayacamas, Bing led a quiet, rural lifestyle, leaving behind her socially active student days. Finding inspiration in the tranquility of nature as a vineyard caretaker, Bing painted prolifically and created her Mayacamas series. According to art reviewer Elizabeth M. Polley, during her three years in the Mayacamas, Bing produced over 20 full works along with multiple sketches.45 Despite her move to the countryside, the art world maintained interest in Bing’s work, and her landscape paintings were exhibited in three shows over the course of four years. She once again received critical acclaim for her work. An Artforum review of her two-person 1964 Berkeley Gallery show with Margot Campbell recognized Bing’s evolution in viewing her surroundings:
The earliest works, though competently painted, are completely detached views of the expanse of valley from a mountain top lifeless, without the foil of a figure. But in #12 and #13, done in October and November of 1963, Miss Bing begins to see the landscape as environment, and to enjoy it as such. She loses the dry, still-life-of-mountains
43 Matthews, "Quantum Bingo."
44 Bing, interview.
45 Elizabeth M. Polley, "Bernice Bing and Margot Campbell," Artforum , May 1964, 46, accessed April 9, 2024, https://www.artforum.com/events/bernice-bing-and-margotcampbell-237385/.
46
approach and responds with genuine enthusiasm to the plastic movement of a rock-face, a sweep of hilltop, or an upland meadow.
Despite her budding “genuine enthusiasm” for her surroundings, Bing’s departure from the city ultimately proved untimely for her work’s visibility, as her exhibition history paused until 1968. Nevertheless, her artistic pursuits flourished in the rural setting as Bing reached a new level of understanding with the landscape. During her last year in the countryside, Bing painted Blue Mountain, No. 2 (See Fig. 5). Demonstrating her mastery of abstraction, Bing reduces the elaborate scene of the Mayacamas mountains to mere color and form. Bing also borrows from painting traditions in East Asia, influenced by California College of Arts and Crafts mentor and Zen Buddhism practitioner Saburo Hasegawa.47 Traditional Chinese landscape paintings aimed to visualize the spirit of the world, speaking to emotion and the sublime rather than a literal scene. In Blue Mountain, No. 2, Bing captures serenity and fluidity on canvas: Soft wisps of cloud, depicted in rich blues, creep into the saddles of the black mountain range, transmuting solid structures into malleable entities that appear to be on the brink of dissolving.
46 Polley, 46-48.
47 Roth, “A Narrative Chronology.”
At first glance, Blue Mountain, No. 2 strongly resembles select works by Still like PH921 (See Fig. 6). In a side-by-side comparison, both paintings employ an intense color palette and display powerful vertical dynamism. Yet while Bing’s painting soothes the soul with its fluid motion, Still’s disrupts it with his trademark jagged brushstrokes. Despite the remarkable resemblance between Blue Mountain, No. 2 and PH-921, Bing’s works face a different fate in the art world. While Still’s paintings gained significant recognition and are highly coveted by collectors and institutions, a tragic reality shadows Bing’s artistic legacy. As art critic Jonathan Griffin writes, “Many important paintings have been lost, or were stolen, or have been destroyed.”48 Another portion of Bing’s paintings were ruined due to exposure to natural elements, due to her makeshift studio in the Mayacamas vineyards being a barn. Recalling Diptych [Plate 1], a standout work from her debut, Bing explained, “Unfortunately the painting
48 Griffin, "The Irresistible,".
got ruined in Mayacamas because I stored it there in the barn; it got very badly mildewed, so that it does not exist any more I only have a slide.”49 Such factors stripped records of a substantial part of Bing’s artistic output. The divergence in the reception and preservation of Bing’s and Still’s respective works underscores the disparities faced by artists of different identities and backgrounds within the art establishment.50
The Inextricable Link Between Identity and Art
While Bay Area school artists looked to nature for inspiration, the objectivity with which they painted resulted in works containing complex metaphors that divested the subject of nature from its physical form.51 Artists infused their landscapes, portraits, and sculptures with elements of identity, reflective of the diverse and eclectic cultural landscape of the region. Drawing upon their personal and cultural heritage, artists erected authentic and intimate works of art Bing, Carlos Villa, and Jay DeFeo, among others, were influenced by their experiences as women, people of color, or members of the LGBTQ+ community and explored themes of identity and belonging in their artwork. Therefore, it is impossible to study Bing’s work in a vacuum. For artists like Bing, who had overlapping marginalized identities, everything they created was an extension of themselves.
Throughout her life, Bing continuously sought to seek out her role and place as a female painter. In Self Portrait with a Mask (See Fig. 9), Bing’s singular self-portrait, a woman with her hair tied back in a ponytail turns slightly toward the viewer. Unlike the prevailing depictions of
49 Bing, interview.
50 Matsumoto, "Pioneers, Renegades," in Asian American, 169.
51 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 19.
female figures at the time, a male gaze-centered perspective that featured unclothed, barbarian creatures, Bing depicts herself wearing simple, loose-fitting blue robes, simultaneously reclaiming autonomy over her body and the female gaze. Art critic John Yau deems the attire reminiscent in color and style of “‘Shanghai blue’ coats traditionally worn by peasants and factory workers,” usually male.52 By incorporating such a garment, Bing recontextualizes the symbol of the blue coat and challenges the ways in which historical and contemporary power dynamics shape self-perception. The garment could also represent the lingering effects of colonialism on personal and cultural identities, inviting a reflection on the complexities of heritage. For Bing, a third-generation Chinese American who grew up in various white foster homes, such ideas were consuming. “I had no idea what it meant to be an Asian woman,” she remembered of her time at the CCAC 53 Tilting her head toward the viewer, the woman dons a white mask with red lips that can be interpreted as ill-fitting due to the protruding jaw. The painting poses the question: Can one ever reach an authentic self if they are forced to wear some kind of mask? The mask is largely devoid of any defining features and draws parallels with those used in Japanese Noh theater.54 These masks were renowned for their complacent expressions, similar to how Bing would have presented herself in sexist academic and professional settings. In Noh, male actors wear various
52 John Yau, "Bernice Bing's Search for a Unified Self," Hyperallergic, November 10, 2022. accessed April 11, 2024, https://hyperallergic.com/777991/bernice-bing-search-for-a-unifiedself/.
53 Bernice Bing, "Artist's Statement," Queer Cultural Center, last modified 1990, accessed April 10, 2024, https://queerculturalcenter.org/artists-statement/. 54 Seed, "Unearthing a Treasure.”
masks to assume all roles, regardless of gender.55 Self Portrait with a Mask underscores Bing’s awareness of the fact that she was inhabiting a role traditionally limited to men. For Bing, a “woman who painted with the confidence of a male Abstract Expressionist,” assuming the role of a man was a routine aspect of life.56
Figure 9. Self Portrait with a Mask. Bernice Bing,1960. Oil on canvas, 33 1/4 × 29 1/4 in. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
Gender Roles in Abstract Expressionism
Both Bay Area Abstraction and the Beat Generation were dominated by male artists who associated their work with notions of rugged individualism, emotional intensity, and bravado.57
55 Seed.
56 Desmarais, "What if Bernice,”.
57 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 16.
The prevailing attitudes toward gender norms of the time, as exemplified by Still, emphasized masculinity through brutality in artistic expression.58 As a result, women artists like Bing faced significant hurdles in gaining acceptance and recognition or even a place within the classroom.
Landauer expounds on Still’s obsession with masculine culture, which permeated the paintings and the culture of the CSFA: Still considered masculinity so important to his work that for a time he refused to paint horizontal canvases or rounded forms because of their feminine associations. Attitudes such as these made it difficult for women artists to find acceptance among the CSFA artists. Dorr Bothwell, a Surrealist painter on the school’s staff, described being ‘shoved over in the corner to talk to the wives’ at faculty parties when discussion got around to art and the men deemed their four-letter terminology too crude for her sensitive ears.59 The refusal to engage with certain artistic forms or styles due to their perceived femininity underscores the rigid gender norms that governed artistic production. Moreover, Bothwell’s anecdote reveals the prevalent sexism within academic and professional circles. Her relegation to the sidelines during discussions and dismissal as incapable of engaging in “crude” art conversations due to her gender reflects the pervasive disregard for women's intellectual and artistic contributions.60
Despite such stiff attitudes, there were standout female artists from Bing’s generation who gained recognition, some even during their lifetimes. These artists, including DeFeo,
58 Landauer, 15.
59 Landauer, 16.
60 Landauer, TheSanFrancisco , 16.
Brown, and Deborah Remington, often had distinct advantages or connections. With her experimental multimedia approach that attempted to unite splices in nature, DeFeo achieved significant commercial success and was showcased in a collective exhibition at MoMA while Bing was still in college.61 Sculptor Edward Kienholz deemed DeFeo as the “seminal force in San Francisco,” and her work’s originality extended its influence to collectors and budding artists in Los Angeles.62 Over the course of eight years, DeFeo, with borderline obsession, constructed her monumental painting The Rose, now part of the Whitney Museum of Art’s permanent collection (See Fig. 10). The painting accumulated thick layers of paint throughout its creation, growing so massive that it could not fit through the doorway and necessitated the removal of a window and the deployment of a forklift. 63 In Greek mythology, the rose is linked with Aphrodite, who is often depicted with roses in her hair. The rose symbolizes the female form and female sexuality. DeFeo subverted such an association with her rose, a threatening painting that juts out at the viewer with its mountains of slathered paint.
61 Griffin, "The Irresistible,"
62 Smith, UtopiaandDissent , 191.
63 "Jay DeFeo on the Making of The Rose, 1958-66," The Jay DeFeo Foundation, last modified January 23, 1976, accessed April 10, 2024, https://www.jaydefeofoundation.org/artwork/therose/.
Figure 10. The Rose. Jay DeFeo,1958-66. Oil on canvas, 123 × 92 in. The Whitney Museum of American Art Brown, Bing’s friend, and classmate at the CSFA, “was one of San Francisco’s bestknown painters” between 1957 and 1964.64 She invited Bing to join her on a trip to New York in 1960 for her debut solo commercial exhibition and participation in Young America 1960, becoming the youngest person to exhibit at the Whitney. Concurrent to the recent Bing survey Into View: Bernice Bing at the Asian Art Museum, Brown’s larger retrospective was exhibited at SFMOMA from November 19, 2022 to March 12, 2023.65 Remington, another contemporary of Bing’s from the CSFA, was notably the sole female founder of the Six Gallery in San Francisco, where Allen Ginsberg first read his epic poem “Howl ”
64 Smith, UtopiaandDissent , 172.
65 "Joan Brown," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Many accounts from this era emphasize personal connections or relationships when discussing these successful female artists. For example, DeFeo married artist Wally Hedrick, director of Six Gallery and administrator of the night school program at the CSFA.66 Smith asserts that while DeFeo was considerably withdrawn from the public eye, Hedrick was “one of the most active, vocal figures in the local arts community.”67 Brown’s marriage to sculptor Manuel Neri and Remington’s connection to Western painter Frederic Remington are also frequently highlighted.68 Even female Asian American artists tended to marry well-known white male artists, like Japanese American artist Ruth Asawa’s marriage to European American architect Albert Lanier.69 In a survey conducted by art historian Valerie J. Matsumoto, seven of twenty four Asian American women artists married interracially, a much higher percentage than the overall Asian American population of this era.70 While these personal life details may not be relevant to understanding their artistic contributions, it is telling that successful female artists often have their biographies intertwined with those of white male artists. This phenomenon is particularly evident among the Abstract Expressionists. Many accomplished female artists, such as Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, and Lee Krasner were romantically involved or associated with more successful male artists or critics.71 While
66 Griffin, "The Irresistible,”.
67 Smith, UtopiaandDissent , 194.
68 Griffin, "The Irresistible,”
69 Matsumoto, "Pioneers, Renegades," in Asian American, 172.
70 Matsumoto, 173.
71 Yasmeen Siddiqui, "Women of Abstract Expressionism' Challenges the Canon but Is Only the Beginning," Hyperallergic, last modified August 9, 2016, accessed April 10, 2024,
this occurrence does not diminish the accomplishments of these talented women artists, it underscores the reality that, during this period, opportunities were often more accessible to women who were connected to influential men.
On Being a Queer Woman in San Francisco
“Never out me,” Bing was reported to have confided in her closest friends.72 A closeted lesbian, Bing kept her sexuality concealed from her traditional Chinese family and community. Nevertheless, she actively engaged with lesbian groups.73 As a student, Bing frequented the Wild Side West Bar in North Beach, a popular spot with both gay and straight patrons who enjoyed playing pool.74 Two decades later, when she relocated to Philo in California’s Mendocino county, Bing became a cherished member of a thriving rural lesbian community.75 Although she generally refrained from affiliating herself with labels and strongly opposed separatist ideologies, Bing actively participated in organizations that championed women pursuing unconventional lifestyles in the arts.76
https://hyperallergic.com/316538/women-of-abstract-expressionism-challenges-the-arthistorical-canon-but-is-only-the-beginning/.
72 Julie Zigoris, "3 Takeaways from the Asian Art Museum's Celebration of Bernice Bing, the Groundbreaking SF-born painter," TheSanFranciscoStandard , last modified October 8, 2022, accessed April 10, 2024, https://sfstandard.com/2022/10/08/3-takeaways-from-theasian-art-museums-new-bernice-bing-exhibition/.
73 Matthews, "Quantum Bingo."
74 Matthews.
75 Matthews.
76 Matthews.
Near the beginning of her career, Bing held reservations with expressing her sexuality in her work, with the most figure-suggestive of her paintings being the abstract forms in A Lady and a Road Map. Yet as San Francisco’s queer community demonstrated increasing visibility in the 1960s, so did Bing’s work.77 Compared to A Lady and a Road Map, her painting Visionary Figurescape, produced nearly a decade later in 1971, illustrates Bing’s tentative embrace of her sexuality as she transitions from abstraction to more defined figuration (See Fig. 11).
Along a diagonal plane, strata of blue gradients form two androgynous figures, their limbs overlapped and entwined. Lacking any defining features, the figures invite reflection on and challenge the traditional gender binary. The work’s primary color palette references the universality of love and its ability to transcend societal norms. Later cleverly titled works reveal a more direct exploration of sexuality, like 1983 series Unfoldings and 1988 drawing Cuntry Though Bing chose to never publicly display these works, curator Lydia Matthews writes that the latter “manifests an unmistakably vaginal tree trunk accompanied by wildly energetic limbs.”78
78 Matthews.
Figure 11. Visionary Figurescape. Bernice Bing, 1971. Oil on canvas, 30 × 36 in. Berry Campbell Gallery.
Even though Bing’s burgeoning self-expression benefited her artistic output, her career felt the impact of financial instability. Even as one of the most liberal and progressive cities in America, San Francisco did not legalize queer marriage until 2004. Lesbian artists therefore faced unique obstacles, as they lacked the support of a partner’s income that their heterosexual counterparts possessed. As Matsumoto posits, “The stakes were particularly high for single or widowed women . . . who lacked the safety net whether primary or supplementary of a partner’s income.”79 For queer women like Bing, who chose to keep their sexual orientation private for much of their lives, such alliances were not an option.
Parallel Worlds
While her community was not overtly prejudiced against her sexuality or race as a Chinese American, the crossroads of all aspects of her identity may have barred Bing from the 79 Matsumoto, "Pioneers, Renegades," in Asian American, 194.
recognition one would expect her talents to garner. Curator of the Asian Art Museum’s Bing exhibition Abby Chen said, “[Bing] was thriving at a time when multiculturalism was just starting to sprout on the West Coast with the Beat generation. She had a seat at the table but, gradually, she just got forgotten. And I think that has a lot to do with intersectionality.”80
Bing’s grandmother, a first generation Chinese American, did not speak English. Bing, a third generation Chinese American, had never been to China and grew up bouncing between white foster homes and orphanages. Struggling to conform to either category, Bing explored her dueling identities in the canvas. In her 1990 Completing the Circle artist statement, Bing wrote of her creative process: “I was living in and reacting to parallel worlds one, the rational, conscious world of the West; the other, the intuitive, unconscious world of the East. This duality caused me to explore the differences and samenesses in art forms.”81
In late 1984, Bing travelled to Korea, Japan, and China under a Fulbright scholarship.82 During her time at the Zhejiang Art Academy in Hangzhou, she delved into Chinese calligraphy while studying with a traditional Chinese landscape painter.83 Chinese characters or ideograms fascinated Bing, and her instruction in China influenced the integration of Eastern and Western elements in later works.84 She wrote, “Chinese calligraphy has been evolving for six thousand years whereas in our western society we are but primitives experiencing a new aesthetic. In my
80 Griffin, "The Irresistible,”.
81 Bing, "Artist's Statement.”
82 Roth, "A Narrative,".
83 Roth.
84 Jabbar, "Overlooked Abstract Expressionist," Artsy .
abstract imagery I am attempting to create a new synthesis with a very old world.”85 The culmination of this fusion produced some of Bing’s strongest and most ambitious work, including the monumental triptych Epilogue, one of Bing’s final works (See Fig. 12).
Measuring two meters high and a staggering seven meters across, Epilogue reads like an unrolled Chinese scroll, though punctuated with distinct vertical splices that draw parallels with of Bing’s multifaceted identity. These delineations hint at the simultaneous presence of disparate perspectives, influences, and histories, as well as unique ways of living.86 Bing unites elements of her artistic output across her career, including organic forms from her early abstraction days, calligraphic strokes from her instruction in China, and “majestic” blacks from her solo debut exhibition. As indicated by the creation of this single work, it seems that Bing finally managed to reconstruct her fragmented sense of self.
Completing the Circle
"In her essay “Quantum Bingo,” Matthews uses the analogies of quantum dimensions and the game bingo to illuminate the complexity of Bing’s identity. Just as quantum theory reveals
85 Bing, "Artist's Statement.”
86 Griffin, "The Irresistible,”.
the interconnectedness of the universe, Bing’s life and work are a network of influences, past and present, that defy simple categorization. Matthews presents nine aspects of Bing’s life that each represent a number in the game of Quantum Bingo. Together, they paint a dynamic and multifaceted portrait of Bing.87
Matthews emphasizes that understanding Bing’s legacy requires acknowledging the complex interplay between these various identities and practices. Yet omitting the support of the queer community and recent exhibitions, Bing’s legacy has remained mostly elusive. This is a devastating circumstance when considering her community impact through social activism. Near the end of her life, Bing was deeply involved in various programs that aimed to uplift and promote cultural understanding.
88 While her activism took away from her artistic output, Bing made significant change in her local community, co- founding SCRAP (Scroungers’ Center for Reusable Art Parts) and directing the South of Market Cultural Center to highlight cultural art.89 She championed causes related to LGBTQ+ rights and racial equality, using her platform as an artist.90
In recent years, the movement to recognize and celebrate overlooked artists like Bing is gaining momentum. Artists who were once sidelined due to biases against their multifaceted identity the tragedy of intersectionality are now being reinserted into art historical narratives.
Carlos Villa, a pioneering Filipino American artist whose work explored themes of cultural identity, colonialism, and hybridity, is another artist benefiting from renewed attention and
87 Matthews, "Quantum Bingo."
88 Roth, "A Narrative,".
89 Griffin, "The Irresistible,”.
90 Roth, "A Narrative,".
appreciation. AAM’s Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collision was on display shortly before the Bing survey from June 17, 2022 to October 24, 2022. The expanding awareness and reevaluation of artists like Bing and Villa serve as reminders of the multifaceted influences and perspectives that shape artistic expression. It underscores the importance of recognizing personal and cultural identity in art and the need to continually challenge the representation in established narratives.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to the Asian Art Museum for offering the Art Speak internship program. This unique opportunity has been instrumental in shaping my understanding of Asian art, cultural traditions, and the intersections of art with social justice and youth activism. The experiences, knowledge, and skills I have gained through this program have been invaluable and have enriched my academic and personal growth. Exhibits like Into View: Bernice Bing are essential in challenging and reshaping conventional art historical narratives, and without them, I would have not even thought of researching the life and legacy of Bing.
I would like to extend my appreciation to my employer Triana Patel for believing in me and supporting my decision to propose this topic for my paper. Your encouragement, guidance, and confidence in my abilities have been instrumental in empowering me to explore the stories of local Asian American artists.
Lastly, I want to thank all the artists, educators, and professionals who have shared their knowledge and insights about Bing with me throughout this journey. Your contributions and dedication to the Bay Area arts community have served as a constant source of inspiration and motivation.