Bruce Conner

(American, 1933–2008)

Bruce Conner was an American conceptual artist and member of the San Francisco Beat movement. His diverse range of films, collages, and sculptural assemblages are defined by the artist’s fascination with the grotesque and mortality. Conner’s inspiration often came from Surrealist artwork and Victorian-era aesthetics, resulting in a unique juxtaposition of form and content, fact and fiction. One of his most famous works, Child (1959), functions as an homage to the executed inmate Caryl Chessman, and takes the form of a haunting skeletal figure rotting in a chair. “My work is described as beautiful, horrible, hogwash, genius, maundering, precise, quaint, avant-garde, historical, hackneyed, masterful, trivial,” the artist once wrote, listing numerous contradictions before concluding “it’s all true.” Born on November 18, 1933 in McPherson, KS, Conner received his BFA from Nebraska University before studying at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and the University of Colorado. Like other artists of his generation such as Robert Rauschenberg and Eva Hesse, he would be influenced by in different contemporary and historical movements, including Abstract Expressionism and Dada. Today, his works can be found in the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others. Conner died on July 7, 2008 in San Francisco, CA. In 2016, The Museum of Modern Art in New York mounted a major retrospective titled “It’s All True.”

Bruce Conner Artworks

Bruce Conner (348 results)
Room, 1960

Bruce Conner

Room, 1960

Sale Date: May 14, 2015

Auction Closed

The Ballad of Lemon and Crow, 2002..., 2002

Bruce Conner

The Ballad of Lemon and Crow, 2002..., 2002

Sale Date: May 7, 2015

Auction Closed

Slides from light shows with the North..., 1967

Bruce Conner

Slides from light shows with the North..., 1967

Sale Date: March 1, 2015

Auction Closed

Inkblot Drawing (5/13/93), 1993

Bruce Conner

Inkblot Drawing (5/13/93), 1993

Sale Date: October 13, 2014

Auction Closed

Box, 1963

Bruce Conner

Box, 1963

Sale Date: October 12, 2014

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1970

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1970

Sale Date: May 18, 2014

Auction Closed

Holiness Temple in Christ, 1961

Bruce Conner

Holiness Temple in Christ, 1961

Sale Date: November 13, 2013

Auction Closed

Cherries, 1960

Bruce Conner

Cherries, 1960

Sale Date: October 21, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1970

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1970

Sale Date: September 29, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1970

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1970

Sale Date: July 28, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1965

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1965

Sale Date: July 28, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1993

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1993

Sale Date: April 18, 2013

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1966

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1966

Sale Date: November 11, 2012

Auction Closed

May 9, 1959

Bruce Conner

May 9, 1959

Sale Date: November 15, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1953

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1953

Sale Date: October 7, 2012

Auction Closed

Monument, 1965

Bruce Conner

Monument, 1965

Sale Date: September 20, 2012

Auction Closed

Box, 1963

Bruce Conner

Box, 1963

Sale Date: October 2, 2012

Auction Closed

March 25, 1996

Bruce Conner

March 25, 1996

Sale Date: October 2, 2012

Auction Closed

Inkblot drawing (11/21/93), 1993

Bruce Conner

Inkblot drawing (11/21/93), 1993

Sale Date: September 19, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1966

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1966

Sale Date: June 10, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1965

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1965

Sale Date: June 10, 2012

Auction Closed

Inkblot drawing 5/2/94, 1994

Bruce Conner

Inkblot drawing 5/2/94, 1994

Sale Date: March 7, 2012

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1970

Bruce Conner

Untitled, 1970

Sale Date: December 11, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled (Seated female nude) (+ Untitled..., 1957

Bruce Conner

Untitled (Seated female nude) (+ Untitled..., 1957

Sale Date: November 22, 2011

Auction Closed