Lawrence Ferlinghetti Bio

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: 1919-2021

Krevsky Fine Art mourns the loss of our friend and cultural icon Lawrence Ferlinghetti.  Known by most as a renowned poet, a founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers and a liberal political guidepost, his presence in the Bay Area will be missed.  It is not as well known that Lawrence was also a visual artist who wove his political and poetic themes into many spectacular and moving paintings and drawings.  Krevsky Fine Art is honored to have shown Lawrence’s artwork in many exhibitions over the years and his friendship will forever be treasured.

BORN             1919    Yonkers, New York

EDUCATION

1949               Doctorat de L’Université, Sorbonne, Paris

1946               MA, Columbia University, New York

1941                BA, University of North Carolina, NC

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (selected)

2019                “100 years Without a Net” Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA       

2018                “Lawrence Ferlinghetti: An American Icon” Elizabethtown College, PA

2017                “A Life: Lawrence Ferlinghetti” at the Museo di Santa Giulia, Brescia, Italy

2016                “Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Love & War”, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2015                “Legends of the Bay Area: Lawrence Ferlinghetti”, MarinMOCA, Novato, CA

2013                “Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Future Woman”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2012                “Lawrence Ferlinghetti: The Sea within Us”, Villanova di Guidonia, Italy

2012                “Cross-Pollination: The Art of Lawrence Ferlinghetti”, Sonoma Valley Museum,   Sonoma, CA

2010                “Lawrence Ferlinghetti: 60 Anni di Pittura, 60 Years of Painting” Foyer del Teatro Francesco Cilea, Reggio Calabria, Italy & Museo di Roma in

                        Trastevere, Rome, Italy

2009               “Evolution of a Painter,” George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2009               “Drawings From Life,” Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco, CA

2009               “Lyric Escape,” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA

2008               “Freedom of Art Celebration with Lawrence Ferlinghetti & Friends”, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2007                “Paintings and Poems,” Gallery of Art Karlovy Vary, Prague

2006                “Word Play,” George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006                “Crossing Boundaries: Visual Art by Writers”, Hamilton Club Gallery, New Jersey

2005                “Il Verbo Fluxare” (The verb to Flux), Zero Garvita, Verona, Italy

2005                “The Art of Lawrence Ferlinghetti”, Brentwood Business & Technology Center, Brentwood, CA

2005                “Star Art 1”, The Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY

2005                “A Coney Island of the Mind – Works on paper by Lawrence Ferlinghetti”, Museum

                         of  Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium

2004               “The Art of Lawrence Ferlinghetti”, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA

2004                “Life Studies, Life Stories”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2003                “Zen and Modern Art: Echoes of Buddhism in Western Painting and Prints”, California State University Art Gallery, Hayward, CA

2003                “Ferlinghetti: Art”, Marin Theater Company, Marin, CA

2002                “Lit.paint”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2002                “Lit.paint”, Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock, NY

2001                 Foyer degli Artisti, La Spezia, Florence, Italy

2001                William Turner Gallery, Venice, CA

2000                 Archivio Francesco Conz Gallery, Verona, Italy

2000                “Love in the Days of Rage”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1999                “The Painter’s Dream”, Shorenstein Company, San Francisco, CA

1999                “New Paintings”, Molly Barnes Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1999                “Lawrence Ferlinghetti: The Painter”, San Marco Gallery, San Rafael, CA

1998                “Pure Art Vs. Agit -Prop”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1998                Paterson Museum, Paterson, New Jersey

1997                 Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York, NY

1996                Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy

1996                Museo Italo Americano, San Francisco, CA

1995                University of Maryland Art Gallery, MD

1995                University of Charleston, Charleston, West Virginia

1994                Civic Center Gallery, Mountain View, CA

1993                The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio

1992                Instituto Italiano di Cultura, San Francisco, CA

1992                San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

1991                 Peter Lembcke Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1991                 Kennedy Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1990                Special Collections, University Library, UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

GROUP  EXHIBITIONS  (selected)

2017                “North Beach and Beyond”, Gallery Rockinghorse, San Francisco, CA

2012                “The Painted Word”, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2010                “Summer Reading”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2007                “The Writer’s Brush, Visual Art by Writers,” Pierre Menard Gallery, Cambridge, MA

2007                “Art Exhibit 2007”, Live Worms Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2006                “Crossing Boundaries: Visual Art by Writers”, Paterson Museum, Paterson, NJ

2005                “Contemporary Gallery Artists”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2004-05          “Poetry and its Arts Bay Area Interactions”, Poetry Center, San Francisco, CA

2001                 “Play Ball!” George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000                “Diamonds & Dust: The Art of Baseball”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1999                “By the Sea”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1999                “Writerly Art”, Trenton Art Museum, New Jersey

1998                “Contemporary Bay Area Artists”, George Krevsky Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1996                “Writers Who Paint”, George Krevsky Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

1996                “Beat Culture and the New America”, M.H. de Young Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA

1995                “Beat Culture and the New America”, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1995                Minna Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1995                SOMAR Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1994                “Beat Art”, New York University Gallery of Art, New York, NY

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS (selected)

Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington DC

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA

Rene & Veronica Di Rosa Foundation, Napa, CA

Francesco Conz Archive, Verona, Italy

Trenton City Museum of Art, New Jersey

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS (selected)

Molly Barnes, Santa Monica, CA

Dr. Edward Bate, San Francisco, CA

Martin Brest, Los Angeles, CA

Samuel G. Candler, Atlanta, GA

Don Freidman, South Orange, NJ

Deborah Gardner, Winter Park, FL

Barry Heisler, San Mateo, CA

Max Isaacman, San Francisco, CA

Suzanne & Joseph K. Jachinowski, San Francisco, CA

Francis & Niloofar Janssens, Geneva, Switzerland

Baird Jones, New York, NY

Rose & Phillip Kaufman, San Francisco, CA

Richard Nagler, Piedmont, CA

Holly Near, San Francisco, CA

James Rigler, Sausalito, CA

John Rosenbloom, Rockford, IL

Ruth & Marvin Sackner, Miami Beach, FL

Kim Steele, San Francisco, CA

Thomas Schwarz, New York, NY

Chris Vroom, San Francisco, CA

Malcolm Whyte, Mill Valley, CA

Brigitta & Martin Wolman, San Francisco, CA