James Welling (American, born )

James Welling is an American photographer known for his color-filtered and digitally manipulated photographs. Throughout his practice, Welling often focuses on locations that were personally or historically meaningful, particularly landscapes and architecture such as Phillip Johnson’s seminal Glass House. He explores both ambiguity and skepticism while maintaining a deeply formal process that connects the legacy of Conceptual Art to the technical practice of photography. Born in 1951 in Hartford, CT, Welling went on to study at the California Institute of the Arts under notable professors such as John Baldessari. Welling is in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, among others. Welling resides in New York City.

Timeline

1951
born in Hartford, CT, USA
1969–1971
attended Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA
1970–1971
attended University of Pittsburgh
1971–1974
received BFA and MFA, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, USA
1985
received National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1986
received New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
1995
Professor of Fine Art at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA
1995
Professor of Fine Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge and Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, USA
1999
received DG BANK-Förderpreis Fotografie award, Sprengel Museum Hannover
2007–2008
received International Association of Art Critics Award of Excellence to James Welling/First Place/Best Show in a Commercial Gallery Nationally for James Welling, Regen Projects, Los Angeles
2009
became Pilara Foundation Distinguished Visiting Photography Fellow
2014
received 2014 Infinity Award, International Center of Photography, New York
Lives and works in New York City, New York

Exhibitions

2022
Thomas Ruff James Welling (with Thomas Ruff), Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (solo)
2022
A Family Story, Collection(s) Robelin, Musée d'Art Contemporain Lyon, Lyon, France
2022
True Pictures? Zeitgenössische Fotografie aus Kanada und den USA, Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
2021
True Pictures? Zeitgenössische Fotografie aus Kanada und den USA, Sprengel Museum, Hanover, Germany, traveled to: Salzburg, Austria
2021
Europe: Ancient Future, HALLE FÜR KUNST Steiermark, Graz, Austria
2020
Where Art Might Happen. The Early Years of CalArt, Kunsthaus Graz
2020
Out of Order – Werke aus der Sammlung Haubrok, Teil 2, Neues Museum Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design Nürnberg, Nuremberg, Germany
2019
James Welling Selected Exhibitions in 2019:
Seascape by James Welling, Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine (solo exhibition)
Transform, David Zwirner, New York (solo exhibition)
Disappearing—California, c. 1970: Bas Jan Ader, Chris Burden, Jack Goldstein, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas
Fiction and Fabrication. Photography of Architecture After the Digital Turn, Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT), Lisbon
God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin, David Zwirner, New York
Highlights for a Future: De Collectie (1), Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent [collection display]
Now Is the Time: 25 Years Collection Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany [collection display]
Psychedelic Healing Center, Essex Flowers Gallery, New York
2018
James Welling Selected Exhibitions in 2018:
James Welling: Choreograph, Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid (solo exhibition)
Materials and Objects: James Welling and Zoe Leonard, Tate Modern, London [collection display]
Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
By the Sea, MARQUEE PROJECTS, Bellport, New York
David Zwirner: 25 Years, David Zwirner, New York
Jack Goldstein: Under Water Sea Fantasy, 1301PE, Los Angeles
Résonance-Part 2, FRAC Normandie Rouen, Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France
Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art, Tate Modern, LondonStill Life: Obstinacy of Things, Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna
Une collection de photographies, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels
2017
James Welling Selected Exhibitions in 2017:
James Welling: Seascape, David Zwirner, New York (solo exhibition)
James Welling: Chronology, Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris (solo exhibition)
James Welling: Metamorph, LOGIN, Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, Vienna (solo exhibition)
James Welling: Metamorphosis, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent [itinerary: Kunstforum Wien, Vienna] (solo exhibition)
James Welling: New Work, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo (solo exhibition)
2nd Chicago Architecture Biennial: MAKE NEW HISTORY, Water Tower Gallery, Chicago
The Arcades: Contemporary Art and Walter Benjamin, Jewish Museum, New York
Light Play: Experiments in Photography, 1970 to the Present, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
2016
James Welling Selected Exhibitions in 2016:
James Welling: Choreograph, Regen Projects, Los Angeles (solo exhibition)
James Welling: Chronograph, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle (solo exhibition)
65 Works Selected by James Welling: Exhibition and Sale to Benefit the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, David Zwirner, New York
A Change of Heart, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles
EXTRA #20: Apparaat. Texts by Tamara Berghmans, Kenneth Goldsmith, Inge Henneman, Andrew Lugg et al. Fotomuseum Provincie Antwerpen, Antwerp and Fw:Books, Amsterdam
Every Future Has a Price: 30 Years After Infotainment, Elizabeth Dee, New York
A History of Photography: Selection from the Museum’s Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
A Matter of Memory: Photography as Object in the Digital Age, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York
In Place: Contemporary Photographers Envision a Museum, Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut
L.A. Exuberance: New Gifts by Artists, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Pandora’s Box - Another photography by Jan Dibbets, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Retro-spective: Analog Photography in a Digital World, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Florida
The Sun Placed in the Abyss, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
2015
James Welling Selected Exhibitions in 2015:
James Welling: Choreograph, David Zwirner, New York (solo exhibition)
Things Beyond Resemblance: James Welling Photographs, Brandywine River Museum of Art, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania (solo exhibition)
Another Minimalism: Art after California Light and Space, The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh
Blind Architecture, Thomas Dane Gallery, London
Cámara de Maravillas/Camera of Wonders, Centro de la Imágen, Mexico City [organized in collaboration with Colección Isabel y Augustin Coppel (CIAC), Mexico City and Kadist Art Foundation, Paris as part of Foto México 2015] [itinerary: Museo de Arte Moderna de Medillín, Colombia; Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro]
Collected by Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York [itinerary: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris]
The Human Apparatus, Klemm’s, Berlin
Grand Illusions: Staged Photography from the Met Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography, The Getty Center, Los Angeles
The Noing Uv It, Bergen Kunsthall, Norway
Part Picture, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto [co-organized by Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto]
RIDEAUX/blinds, Institut d’art contemporain Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, France
The Secret Life, Murray Guy, New York
2014
James Welling Selected Exhibitions in 2014:
James Welling: Diary of Elizabeth and James Dixon, 1840-41/Connecticut Landscapes, 1977-86, Art Institute of Chicago (solo exhibition)
Altarations: Built, Blended, Processed, The University Galleries at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Darren Bader: Photographs I Like, Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York
A Machinery for Living, Petzel Gallery, New York [organized by Walead Beshty]
Trouble with the Index, California Museum of Photography, University of California, Riverside
Staring at the Sun, Griffin Editions, Blind Spot Lab, New York
What is a Photograph?, International Center of Photography, New York
The Will to Architecture, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
2013
Tulsa Art Museum, Tulsa, USA (solo)
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA (solo)
Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Switzerland (solo)
2012
Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, USA (solo)
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, USA (solo)
Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, USA (solo)
The Mind on Fire, Milton Keynes Gallery, London, England (solo)
2011
James Welling Photographs: The Phillip Johnson Glass House, Four Seasons Restaurant, New York, USA
2010
25 or 30 Years Gallery Part III: Photography, Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Connecticut, D’Amelio Terras, New York, USA
After Architects, Kunsthalle Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Group Show, BravinLee programs, New York, USA
How Many Billboards? Art In Stead, MAK Center for Art + Architecture at the Schindler House, Los Angeles, USA
Milk Drop Coronet, 30 Exhibitions on the Virtuosity of Thingness, Camera Austria, Graz, Austria
Mixed Use, Manhattan: Photography and Related Practices 1970s to the Present, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Outside the Box: Edition Jacob Samuel, 1988-2010, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA
Stairway to Heaven: Paul McMahon, Matt Mullican, James Welling, 1970–1976, Susan Inglett Gallery, New York, USA
James Welling: Glass House, David Zwirner, New York; Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
New Pictures 3: James Welling, Glass House, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA (solo)
2009
La Pintura y sus Alrededores, Galerie naechst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria
2008
James Welling, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
Wurtz, Welling and S. Prina, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, USA
Photography on Photography: Reflections on the Medium since 1960, Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography, New York, USA
Whitney Biennial 2008, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
James Welling: Works 1980-2008, David Zwirner, Inc., New York, USA (solo)
2007
James Welling, Maureen Paley, London, England (solo)
2006
THE MATERIALIZATION OF SENSIBILITY: ART AND ALCHEMY, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, USA
Dark Places, Santa Monica Museum of Modern Art, Santa Monica, USA
The Los Angeles Art Scene, 1955-1985, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
James Welling, Galerie Nelson, Paris, France (solo)
James Welling, Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium (solo)
2005
James Welling: New Work, David Zwirner, New York, USA (solo)
James Welling: New Photographs, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
Photographies, Galerie Nelson, Paris, France
The Photograph in Question, von Lintel Gallery, New York, USA
Theorema. Une collection privée en Italie, la collection d’Enea Righi, Collection Lambert en Avignon, Avignon, France
Blooming: A Summer Garden for the Picking, Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, USA
PAIRS, GROUPS, AND GRIDS, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, USA
2004
In America; William Eggleston, Roe Ethridge, Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld, James Welling, Sutton Lane, London, England
Eblouissement, Jeu de Paume, Paris, France
100 Artists See God, Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach; Contemporary Art Center of Virginia, Virginia Beach, USA
The Big Nothing, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, USA
New Photographs, Wako Works of Art, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Agricultural Works, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz; Albany Institute of Art and History, Albany, USA (solo)
California, Galerie Nachst St. Stephan, Vienna, Austria (solo)
Art History: Photography References Painting, Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, USA
Likeness: Portraits by Artists by Other Artists, CCA Wattis Institute and Independent Curators International, San Francisco, USA
Double Exposure: A Portfolio of Photographic Diptychs, Inman Gallery, Houston, USA
2003
The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography, 1960-82, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA; Museo de Arte Contemporanea deVigo, Vigo, Spain; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
Prima Facie, Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, USA
Double Exposure, Edition Schellmann, New York, USA
Inaugural Exhibition, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA
Stéphane Couturier – Philippe De Gobert – Matthias Hoch – Bernard Voïta – James Welling, Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
James Welling: Los Angeles, Gorney Bravin + Lee, New York, USA (solo)
James Welling: New Photographs, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
James Welling, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan, Italy (solo)
2002
James Welling Abstract, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Canada; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium; Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, USA (solo)
2001
Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, Germany (solo)
ELLIPSIS, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, USA
2000
New Abstractions and Photographs from the Seventies, Galerie Xavier Hufkens, Brussels, Belgium (solo)
New Abstractions and Work from the Seventies, Donald Young Gallery, Chicago, USA (solo)
James Welling: 1974-1999, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
New Abstractions, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA (solo)
Galerie Nelson, Paris, France (solo)
Gorney Bravin + Lee, New York, USA (solo)
1999
New Abstractions, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany (solo)
PENCILS OF NATURE: A DIALOGUE, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, USA
1998
James Welling Early Photographs: 1976-1985, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, USA (solo)
James Welling, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA (solo)

Public Collections

Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art at Rollins College, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, Florida
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Art Institute of Chicago
Aspen Art Museum, Colorado
Baltimore Museum of Art
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio
City Collection, Geneva
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
Dallas Museum of Art
Denver Art Museum, Colorado
Des Moines Art Center, Iowa
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Fondation Belgacom, Brussels
Fonds National d'Art Contemporain (FNAC), Paris
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Bourgogne, Dijon, France
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Bretagne, Châteaugiron, France
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Nord Pas-de-Calais, Dunkerque, France
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Henry Art Gallery, Seattle
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
KPN Collection, The Netherlands
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota
Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey
Musée d'art contemporain de Lyon, Lyon, France
Musée de La Roche-sur-Yon, Roche-sur-Yon, France
Musée départemental d'art contemporain de Rochechouart, Rochechouart, France
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna
National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
Olympic Collection, Oslo
Sammlung Goetz, Munich
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Tate Gallery, London
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Vancouver Art Gallery
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Yale University Museum of Art, New Haven, Connecticut

Literature

2002
Mahoney, Robert. “Justine Kurland, Catherine Opie, Martha Rosler and James Welling at Gorney Bravin + Lee”, Time Out New York, 27 June - 4 July 2002; p. 56
2002
Tumlir, Jan. "Previews: James Welling, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bruxelles", Artforum, Jan.; p. 72
2001
Tillman, Lynne "Portfolio: James Welling", Artforum, May; pp. 139-143
2001
Joselit, David. "Surface Histories: The Photography of James Welling", Art in America, May, pp. 136-143
2001
Jones, Kristin M. "James Welling at Gorney Bravin + Lee", Frieze, May; pp. 99-100
2001
Intra, Giovanni. "Reviews: James Welling at MoCA", artext, August - October 2001; p. 77
2001
Zellen, Jody. "Mining the Photographic Process", dArt International (Canada), Winter, p.40
2000
Giuliano, Mike, "James Welling Finds the Complexity", City Paper (Baltimore), 6 Sept., p. 37
2000
Sarah J. Rogers (ed. by), James Welling : Photographs 1974 – 1999, Wexner Center for the Arts, (essay by Michael Fried)
1984
Gelatin Photographs 1-12. Buffalo: C.E.P.A
English (US)

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