1961                University of Kansas, Sculpture MFA

1958                University of Kansas, Industrial Design BFA

1932                Born in Emporia, Kansas        

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

2013-2012       Wendell Castle: A New Environment. Friedman Benda, New York, NY

                        Wendell Castle: Volumes and Voids. Barry Friedman, New York, NY

                        Wendell Castle: Wandering Forms – Works from 1959-79. The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT 

                        Wendell Castle: Forms within Forms, the 21st Century. Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY 

2012-2011       Wendell Castle: Best Leg Forward. Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery. London, UK

2011                Wendell Castle in the 21st Century. Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO

2010                Wendell Castle. Rockin’. Barry Friedman, Ltd. New York, NY

2008                Wendell Castle. New Work. Barry Friedman, Ltd. New York, NY

                        Wendell Castle: About Time. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

                        Wendell Castle. Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, London, UK

2006-2004       Wendell Castle in Rochester. Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

2005                Wendell Castle: What Pluck! Castellani Art Museum, Niagara, NY

2004                Wendell Castle: Auto Plastic. R 20th Century, New York, NY

2003                Wendell Castle: Seeing in the Dark. Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2001               Wendell Castle. Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY

2000                Furniture by Wendell Castle. Kendall College of Art & Design, Grand Rapids, MI

1996                One Man Exhibit. Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA

1995                Works by Wendell Castle. Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL

                        Art Furniture by Wendell Castle. Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL

                        One-Man Exhibit. Chang Gallery, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS

                        Wendell Castle: Cabinets 1985 – 1995. A Retrospective Exhibition. Peter Joseph Gallery, New York, NY

1994                Ambiguous Objecthood: New Furniture and Drawings by Wendell Castle. Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA

                        Wendell Castle: Coming to Grips. Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO

                        New Work by Wendell Castle. Carleton Art Gallery, Carleton College, Northfield, MN

1993                Wendell Castle: Environmental Works. Peter Joseph Gallery, New York, NY

                        Wendell Castle: Select Early Works (1971-75). Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY

1991                Angel Chairs: New Work by Wendell Castle. Peter Joseph Gallery, New York, NY

1991-1989       Furniture of Wendell Castle. Traveling retrospective exhibit: Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; American Craft Museum, New York, NY; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE; Memorial Art Gallery         , Rochester, NY

1989               Wendell Castle: New Work. Snyderman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1988               Wendell Castle: A Decade 1977-1987. Alexander Milliken Gallery, New York, NY     

1986               Time and Defiance of Gravity: Recent Works by Wendell Castle. Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, MA

                        Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

                        Wendell Castle. Works in Plastic 1968-1970. 20th Century Gallery, Toronto, Canada

                        Wendell Castle. Sculpture? Furniture? The Vanishing Line, Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1986-1985       Masterpieces of Time. The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

1985                Taft Museum, Cincinnati, OH 

1980                Furniture As Art II. Fendrick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

1969                The Furniture of Wendell Castle. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

                        State University of New York, Cortland, NY

1966-1965       Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

1962                Inaugural Show. Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Dartmouth, NH

                        Louisville Art Association, Louisville, KY

                        Ithaca College Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY

                        Scudder Gallery, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

 

 

­­­SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2012-2011       Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design. Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY

                        The Abstract Forms of Pablo Picasso and Wendell Castle. Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2010                The Edge of Art: New York State Artists Series. Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

                        Sotheby's at Sudeley Castle: A Selling Exhibition. Cheltenham, UK. May 28 - August 1, 2010

2009-2007      Craft in America: Expanding Traditions. Craft in America, Los

                        Angeles, CA

2008                New Work by Wendell Castle: Works on Paper by Chuck Close. Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2007                Shy Boy, She Devil, and Isis: The Art of Conceptual Craft. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

                        Not Furniture: XXI Design. Hedge Gallery, San Francisco, CA           

2006                Pop Art and Its Affinities. Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

2005                Recent Acquisitions. Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

                        Good Heart. Gerald Peters Gallery, Sante Fe, NM

2005-2004      Black & White. Galerie von Bartha, Basel, Switzerland

2004                Outrageous Home. The Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ         

                        The White House Collection of American Crafts. Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, Atlanta, GA

                        Summer Group Show. Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY

                        Right at Home: American Studio Furniture. Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

                        The Perfect Collection: A Shared Vision of Contemporary Craft. The Fuller Museum, Brockton, MA

2003              Corporal Identity-Body Language. Museum of Arts & Design, New York, NY

                       The Maker's Hand: American Studio Furniture, 1940-1990. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA         

                        Kanazawa World Craft Forum 2003. Kanazawa, Japan           

                        Triennial 9 Form & Contents: Corporal Identity-Body Language. Museum Für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany                  

                        Teasing the Eye: Crafted Illusions. The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.      

                        Significant Objects from the Modern Design Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

2002               Deceptions and Illusions: Five Centuries of Trompe L'Oeil Painting. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

                        Embellished with Gold. Decorative Arts Museum, Little Rock, AK

2001                Objects for Use: Handmade by Design. American Craft Museum, New York, NY       

                        Contemporary Craft in the Museum of Fine Arts. Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, TX

1999                Recent Acquisitions. Decorative Arts. Traveling exhibition: Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris, France; Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany; J.B. Speed Museum, Louisville, KY; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; Canadian Museum of Civilization, Quebec, Canada; Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal, Canada

 

1999-1995       The White House Collection of American Crafts. Traveling exhibition: Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME; Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; American Craft Museum, New York, NY; Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY; The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

                        The Handmade: shifting paradigms. Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Japan

                        Recent Acquisitions of Furniture. The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

1997                Renwick at 25. Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

                        Celebrating American Craft. The Danish Museum of Decorative Art, Copenhagen, Denmark

Designed for Delight. Alternative aspects of twentieth-century decorative arts. Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Canada; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal, Canada; Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France; Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Krakow, Poland; Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA

1997-1996       Four Decades of Discovery: The 40th Anniversary of the American Craft Museum. American Craft Museum, New York, NY

1996                New Furniture: Beyond Form and Function. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY

                        Wendell Castle and Nancy Jurs: A Marriage of Life and Art. Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

1996-1995       Breaking Barriers: Recent American Craft. Traveling exhibition: American Craft Museum, New York, NY; Museum of Art, Albany, GA; Madison Art Center, Madison, WI; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR

1995                Art for Everyday. Wharton Esherick Museum, Paoli, PA

                        Please Be Seated: Masters of the Art of Seating. The Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, FL

1994                The Object of Pop. Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York, NY

1993                Furniture Fantasy. Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA

1993-1991       Design 1935-1965: What Modern Was. Traveling exhibition: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Quebec, Canada; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Canada; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas, City, MO; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA   

1992                Craft Today: USA. The Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal

1992-1989       Crafted Today USA. Traveling exhibition: The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; Sala Sant Jaume de la Fundacio La Caixa, Barcelona, Spain; The Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany; Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia; Eommex Cultural Center-Zapperion, Athens, Greece; American Haus, Berlin, Germany; St. Peter’s Abbey, Ghent, Belgium; The Oslo Museum of Applied Art, Oslo, Norway; Ataturk Cultural Center, Ankara, Turkey; Museum of Applied Arts, Moscow, Russia; Musée des Art Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland; Zacheta Gallery, Warsaw, Poland; Museum Für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt, Germany; Taidetollisuusmustoi, Helsinki, Finland; Musée des Art Décoratifs, Paris, France

1991                1991 Kanazawa Gran-Prix Arts & Crafts Competition. Kanazawa Culture Hall Gallery, Kanazawa, Japan

                        Masterworks. Peter Joseph Gallery, New York, NY

1991-1987       The Eloquent Object: the Evolution of American Art in Craft Media since 1945. Traveling exhibition: Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan; Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA; Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; The Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

1989                Artful Objects: Recent American Crafts. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN

1988              Clockwork! List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA

1988-1986       Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical. Traveling exhibition: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; The Denver Art Museum; American Craft Museum, Denver, CO

1988                The World of Art, Today. Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee,

WI

1987                New Work: Wendell Castle, Garry Knox Bennet, Fred Baier. Alexander Milliken Gallery, New York, NY

1987-1985       Material Evidence, New Color Techniques in Handmade Furniture. The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

1985                High Styles: Twentieth-Century American Design. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

1983                Ornamentalism: The New Decorativeness in Architecture and Design. Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

1980                Sitting in Style. The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA

                        The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

1980-1979       New Handmade Furniture. Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY

1979                Paley/Castle. Wildenhain, Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY

1977                American Crafts 1977/ The Philadelphia Craft Show. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA

                        Drawing Show. Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY

1976                American Crafts '76, an Aesthetic View. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

 

1976-1975       Craft Multiplies. The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.          

1974-1973       Innovations: Contemporary Home Environs. La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA                 

1972                Woodenworks: Furniture Objects by Five Contemporary Craftsmen. The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

                        Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN

1972-1969       Objects USA: The Johnson Collection of Contemporary Crafts. Traveling exhibition: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.; University of Rochester, Rochester, NY; Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinatti, OH; St. Paul Art Center, Saint Paul, MN; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

1970                Attitudes. The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

                        Environments for Contemplation. Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY

1966                Wendell Castle, Wharton Esherick, Sam Maloof, Marcello Grassman. Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

                        Fantasy Furniture. Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY

                        Internationals Kunsthandwerk, 1966. Stuttgart, Germany

1964                United States of America Section at the 13th Triennale. Milan, Italy

                        The American Craftsman. Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY

1962                        1962 Young Americans. Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY

 

Awards

 

 2007               Lifetime Achievement Award, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY

 2003               Outstanding Achievement Award. The National Association of                                                Schools of Art & Design, Los Angeles, CA

2002                Distinguished Achievement Award. University of Kansas School                                 of Fine Arts, Manhattan, KS

1999                Master of the Medium, The James Renwick Alliance of The                                        National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC

1994              Visionaries of the American Craft Movement, American Craft                            Museum, New York, NY

1988               Visual Artists Fellowship Grant, National Endowment for the Arts

        

         1979                   Honorary Degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, Sculptor/Designer, Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, MD

 

         1976-75, 73        National Endowment for the Arts Grant(s)

                                    Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant

 

 

 

Museum and Public Collections
                                              
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
American Express, New York, NY
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Art Museum Project, Dearborn, MI
Bausch & Lomb, Rochester, NY
Beach Museum of Art. Kansas City University, Manhattan, KS
Belger Art Center, Kansas City, MO
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH
Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY
Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
Design Museum Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
DuPont Center, Orlando, FL
Encyclopedia Brittanica Company, Chicago, IL
Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
Forbes Company, New York, NY
Gannett Corporation, Washington, D.C.
Gilman Foundation, New York, NY
Greater Rochester International Airport, NY
Hammerson, Toronto, Canada
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
Ithaca College Art Museum, Ithaca, NY
Johnston Wax, Racine, WI
Lannan Foundation Collection, Los Angles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Maccabees Insurance, Detroit, MI
Malcom Forbes Foundation
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Manhattan, KS
Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
Mobile Museum of Arts, Mobile, AL
Monroe County-Greater Rochester International Airport, Rochester, NY
Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO
Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
Museum of Decorative Arts, Montreal, Canada
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Nations Bank, Atlanta, GA
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo, Norway
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Pillar Bryton Partners, FL
Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
Rochester Institute of Technology, Bevier Gallery, Rochester, NY
Rosecliff Investments, New York, NY
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C
Society fro Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, PA
Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
Steinway Company, Long Island City, NY
Sydney Bestoff, New Orleans, LA
Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
University of New Hampshire Art Museum, Durham, NH
University of Utah Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
White House Collection of American Crafts, Washington, D.C.
Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, KS
Wolfsonian Foundation, Miami Beach, FL

 

Select Literature

 

Albrecht, Donald. Auto Plastic: Wendell Castle. New York: R20th Century, 2005.

 

Bates, Elizabeth Bidwell and Jonathan Fairbanks. American Furniture, 1620 to the Present. New York: Richard Marek Publishing, 1987.

 

Busch, Akiko and Paul J. Smith. Objects for Use: Handmade by Design. New York: Harry H. Abrams, Inc., 2001.

 

Conway, Patricia. Art for Everyday. New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 1990.

 

Conway, Patricia and Robert Jensen. Ornamentalism: The New Decorativeness in Architecture and Design. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1982.

 

Danto, Arthur C. The Endowed Chair. New York: Franklin Parrasch Gallery, 1992.

 

Domergue, Denise. Artists Design Furniture. New York: Harry H. Abrams, Inc., 1984.

 

Eidelberg, Martin. Designed for Delight. Alternative aspects of twentieth-century         decorative arts. Canada: Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, 1997.

 

Falino, Jeannie. Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design. New

            York: Museum of Art & Design, 2011.

 

Fiell, Charlotte and Peter. Design and the 20th Century. Germany: Taschen, 1999.

 

________. 1,000 Chairs. Germany: Taschen, 1997.

 

Garner, Philippe. Contemporary Decorative Arts. England: Phaidon Press, Ltd., 1980.

 

Giovanni, Joseph and Davira S. Taragin. Furniture by Wendell Castle. Edited by Edward S. Cooke. New York: Hudson Hills Press in association with The Founders Society, Detroit Institute of Arts. Distributed by Rizzoli International Publications, 1989.

 

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. New Furniture: Beyond Form and Function. Edited by Sara Benson. New York: Cornell University Press, 1996.

 

Herman, Lloyd and Matthew Kangas. Tales and Traditions: Storytelling in Twentieth Century American Craft. Missouri: Craft Alliance, 1993.

 

Joseph, Peter T. and Matthew Kangas. Wendell Castle: Environmental Works. New York: Peter Joseph Gallery, 1993.

 

Kangas, Matthew. Breaking Barriers: Recent American Craft. New York: American Craft Museum, 1995.

 

Linley, David, Charles Cator and Helen Chislett. Star Pieces. The Enduring Beauty of Spectacular Furniture. London: Thames and Hudson, 2009.

 

Manhart, Marcia and Tom. The Eloquent Object: The Evolution of American Art in Craft Media Since 1945. Oklahoma: The Tulsa Museum of Art, 1987.

 

Miller, R. Craig. Modern Design in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Harry H. Abrams, Inc., 1991.

 

Miller, Judith. Chairs. London: Conran Octopus Ltd., 2009.

 

Milwaukee Art Museum. 1988, The World of Art, Today. Wisconsin: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1988.

 

Monroe, Michael W. The White House Collection of American Crafts. New York: Harry H. Abrams, Inc., 1995.

 

Newman, Thelma R. Plastics as Sculptures. Pennsylvania: Chilton Press, 1974.

 

Nordess, Lee. Objects USA. New York: Viking Press, 1970.

 

diNoto, Andrea. Art Plastic: Designed for Living. New York: Abeville Press, 1984.

 

Rafferty, Rebecca. Art Review: Mentors and Makers at Rochester Contemporary. City Newspaper, 2011.

 

Simpson, Tommy. Hand and Home: The Homes of American Craftsmen. Massachusetts: Little, Brown and Co., 1994.

 

Smith, Edward Lucie. Artoday. England: Phaidon, 1995.

 

________. American Art Now. New York: William Morrow Publishers, 1985.

 

________. Art in the Seventies. New York: Cornell University Press, 1980.

 

________. Furniture: A Concise History. England: Oxford University Press, 1979.

 

________ and Paul Smith. Craft Today: Poetry of the Physical. England: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1986.

 

________. Recent Acquisitions to Inaugurate New Space at Brooklyn Museum.

            Antiques and the Arts Weekly, February 25, 2011.

 

Smith, Paul. Introduction to Craft Today USA, by The American Craft Council and Museum. New York: The American Craft Council and Museum, 1989.

 

Williams, Gerry, ed. Apprenticeship in Craft. New Hampshire: Daniel Clark Books, 1981.