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)
Silkscreen (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Lee Bontecou

Silkscreen (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Sale Date: November 17, 2011

Auction Closed

Eleventh stone, 1966–1970

Lee Bontecou

Eleventh stone, 1966–1970

Sale Date: November 17, 2011

Auction Closed

Bird, 1958–1959

Lee Bontecou

Bird, 1958–1959

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1960

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1960

Sale Date: November 9, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled (from New York collection for..., 1973

Lee Bontecou

Untitled (from New York collection for..., 1973

Sale Date: October 27, 2011

Auction Closed

First stone, 1962

Lee Bontecou

First stone, 1962

Sale Date: October 27, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled (from Ten from Castelli)

Lee Bontecou

Untitled (from Ten from Castelli)

Sale Date: August 6, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled from the women's portfolio, 1990

Lee Bontecou

Untitled from the women's portfolio, 1990

Sale Date: May 17, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1967

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1967

Sale Date: May 20, 2011

Auction Closed

Women's portfolio-7, 1990

Lee Bontecou

Women's portfolio-7, 1990

Sale Date: March 26, 2009

Auction Closed

Untitled (from Women's portfolio), 1990

Lee Bontecou

Untitled (from Women's portfolio), 1990

Sale Date: February 25, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1979–1982

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1979–1982

Sale Date: February 24, 2011

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1964

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1964

Sale Date: November 10, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1959

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1959

Sale Date: November 10, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1962

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1962

Sale Date: November 10, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1963

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1963

Sale Date: September 27, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1960

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1960

Sale Date: September 27, 2010

Auction Closed

Ninth stone, 1965–1968

Lee Bontecou

Ninth stone, 1965–1968

Sale Date: July 21, 2010

Auction Closed

Third stone, 1963

Lee Bontecou

Third stone, 1963

Sale Date: July 21, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1962

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1962

Sale Date: May 11, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1967

Lee Bontecou

Untitled, 1967

Sale Date: April 20, 2010

Auction Closed

Untitled (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Lee Bontecou

Untitled (from Ten from Leo Castelli), 1968

Sale Date: April 7, 2010

Auction Closed

Fifth stone, sixth stone (bk w/ text by Tony...

Lee Bontecou

Fifth stone, sixth stone (bk w/ text by Tony...

Sale Date: December 15, 2009

Auction Closed

Seventh stone, 1965–1968

Lee Bontecou

Seventh stone, 1965–1968

Sale Date: November 1, 2009

Auction Closed

English (US)

©2024 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All rights reserved.