Lee Bontecou

(American, 1931–2022)

Lee Bontecou is an American artist best known for her abstract sculptural wall works. Built using canvas, conveyer belts, and mail sacks attached to welded steel frames, Bontecou’s sculptures feature dark openings that evoke bodily orifices. Despite their accepted vaginal symbolism, these works primarily address materiality as a conceptual gesture, thereby linking Bontecou to both the Minimalist Donald Judd and feminist artists like Judy Chicago. “The natural world and its visual wonders and horrors—man-made devices with their mind-boggling engineering feats and destructive abominations, elusive human nature and its multiple ramifications from the sublime to unbelievable abhorrences—to me are all one,” the artist has explained. Born on January 15, 1931 in Providence, RI, she studied at the Art Students League in New York under William Zorach before attending the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture in Maine, where she learned to weld. Bontecou exhibited at Leo Castelli Gallery in New York during the 1960s alongside prominent artists such as Frank Stella and Robert Rauschenberg. Today, her works are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., among others. Bontecou lives and works in Orbisonia, PA.

Lee Bontecou News

Artnet News Pro

Here Are the 15 Most Expensive Lots Sold at Auction Around the World in September 2023

by Artnet News
Here Are the 15 Most Expensive Lots Sold at Auction Around the World in September 2023
People

Lee Bontecou, the American Artist Who Sculpted the Void, Has Died at Age 91

by Richard Whiddington
Lee Bontecou, the American Artist Who Sculpted the Void, Has Died at Age 91
Art & Exhibitions

Dominique Levy Gallery Revisits the Experimental Drawing Surge of the 1960s

by Ben Davis
Dominique Levy Gallery Revisits the Experimental Drawing Surge of the 1960s

Lee Bontecou Artworks

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

Lee Bontecou (279 results)
Untitled, 1963

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1963

Sale Date: May 11, 2006

Auction Closed

Silkscreen (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Lee Bontecou

Silkscreen (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Sale Date: November 17, 2005

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1981–1982

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1981–1982

Sale Date: October 29, 2005

Auction Closed

An untitled print, 1981–1982

Lee Bontecou

An untitled print, 1981–1982

Sale Date: April 30, 2005

Auction Closed

Pirates, 1979–1982

Lee Bontecou

Pirates, 1979–1982

Sale Date: April 30, 2005

Auction Closed

Untitled etching, 1967

Lee Bontecou

Untitled etching, 1967

Sale Date: February 8, 2005

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1960

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1960

Sale Date: November 11, 2004

Auction Closed

Pirates, 1979–1982

Lee Bontecou

Pirates, 1979–1982

Sale Date: November 3, 2004

Auction Closed

Twelfth stone, 1966–1970

Lee Bontecou

Twelfth stone, 1966–1970

Sale Date: November 3, 2004

Auction Closed

Untitled (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Lee Bontecou

Untitled (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Sale Date: November 3, 2004

Auction Closed

Fifth stone, sixth stone (set of 6), 1967–1968

Lee Bontecou

Fifth stone, sixth stone (set of 6), 1967–1968

Sale Date: November 3, 2004

Auction Closed

Sixth stone II, 1964

Lee Bontecou

Sixth stone II, 1964

Sale Date: November 3, 2004

Auction Closed

Fifth stone (Black), 1964

Lee Bontecou

Fifth stone (Black), 1964

Sale Date: November 3, 2004

Auction Closed

Third stone, 1963

Lee Bontecou

Third stone, 1963

Sale Date: November 3, 2004

Auction Closed

Untitled (from Brooklyn College Lithographs), 1977

Lee Bontecou

Untitled (from Brooklyn College Lithographs), 1977

Sale Date: September 28, 2004

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1990–1990

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1990–1990

Sale Date: February 12, 2004

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1968–1968

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1968–1968

Sale Date: February 12, 2004

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1977–1977

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1977–1977

Sale Date: February 12, 2004

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1959–1960

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1959–1960

Sale Date: November 13, 2003

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1960–1960

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1960–1960

Sale Date: November 12, 2003

Auction Closed

Fourteenth stone, 1968–1972

Lee Bontecou

Fourteenth stone, 1968–1972

Sale Date: September 24, 2003

Auction Closed

Third stone, 1963–1963

Lee Bontecou

Third stone, 1963–1963

Sale Date: September 25, 2002

Auction Closed

Untitled (Cocoon), 1967–1967

Lee Bontecou

Untitled (Cocoon), 1967–1967

Sale Date: May 16, 2002

Auction Closed

Eight stone, 1965–1968

Lee Bontecou

Eight stone, 1965–1968

Sale Date: May 4, 2002

Auction Closed

English (US)

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