Wallace Berman

(American, 1926–1976)

Wallace Berman was an American artist known for his mystical photo assemblages made with a Verifax photocopier and painted text. Culling from the Kabbalah, popular culture, jazz music, and American folklore, Berman’s psychedelic art manifested itself in many forms, including cryptic letters to friends, the publication Semina, and writing Hebrew script upon stones. The poet Jack Hirschman once said of his work, “All his images have about them a texture of tough bodily concentrated realism mixed with demonic funk-sense of the forlorn and violent eros of wanderers in the lush Los Angeles night of the 1960s.” Born on February 18, 1926 in Staten Island, NY, he and his family moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1930s. During the 1940s, he became involved with the West Coast jazz scene, attended art classes at the Chouinard Art Institute, and worked in a furniture factory. By the early 1950s, Berman was involved within the milieu of the Beat Movement in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. He had his first exhibition at the famed Ferus Gallery in 1957, and counted Dennis Hopper, Edward Kienholz, Jay DeFeo, and Allen Ginsberg among his friends. The artist died in a car accident on his 50th birthday on February 18, 1976 in Topanga Canyon, CA. Berman’s contribution to the culture of California in the 1960s was both influential and largely forgotten. In 2016, Kohn Gallery staged “Wallace Berman: American Aleph,” the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist in nearly 40 years. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Gallery in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.

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Wallace Berman Artworks

Wallace Berman (138 results)

Untitled, 1966

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1966

Sale Date: April 17, 2024

Auction Closed

Untitled (Verifax Collage), 1965

Wallace Berman

Untitled (Verifax Collage), 1965

Sale Date: February 29, 2024

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1965

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1965

Sale Date: February 21, 2024

Auction Closed

Untitled (80.10), 1970

Wallace Berman

Untitled (80.10), 1970

Sale Date: December 14, 2023

Auction Closed

The Beard poster, 1967

Wallace Berman

The Beard poster, 1967

Sale Date: November 30, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1966

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1966

Sale Date: October 24, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1974

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1974

Sale Date: October 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Opt. 82. BOOSTER BNG. ANGUINEA, 1967

Wallace Berman

Opt. 82. BOOSTER BNG. ANGUINEA, 1967

Sale Date: October 3, 2023

Auction Closed

Dirty Tree, 1969, 1969

Wallace Berman

Dirty Tree, 1969, 1969

Sale Date: September 13, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1969

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1969

Sale Date: June 21, 2023

Auction Closed

Ephemera (two works), 1969

Wallace Berman

Ephemera (two works), 1969

Sale Date: June 21, 2023

Auction Closed

Ephemera (five works), 1968

Wallace Berman

Ephemera (five works), 1968

Sale Date: June 21, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled (The Beard Poster), 1967

Wallace Berman

Untitled (The Beard Poster), 1967

Sale Date: June 21, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1970

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1970

Sale Date: May 18, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1965

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1965

Sale Date: February 22, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled #106, 1964–1976

Wallace Berman

Untitled #106, 1964–1976

Sale Date: February 22, 2023

Auction Closed

Art, Illustration and Fine Press, BERMAN,...

Wallace Berman

Art, Illustration and Fine Press, BERMAN,...

Sale Date: December 13, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled Christmas cards (six works), 1965

Wallace Berman

Untitled Christmas cards (six works), 1965

Sale Date: October 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Semina 9, 1964

Wallace Berman

Semina 9, 1964

Sale Date: October 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Exhibition announcements (three works), 1965–1978

Wallace Berman

Exhibition announcements (three works), 1965–1978

Sale Date: October 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Ephemera (three works), 1962

Wallace Berman

Ephemera (three works), 1962

Sale Date: October 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Booster Bng), 1967

Wallace Berman

Untitled (Booster Bng), 1967

Sale Date: October 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (C3-Cross, Al-White Horse), 1975

Wallace Berman

Untitled (C3-Cross, Al-White Horse), 1975

Sale Date: October 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled, 1974

Wallace Berman

Untitled, 1974

Sale Date: September 28, 2022

Auction Closed

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