Timeline

1916

Born on the island of Luzon in Manila, Philippines

1926 - 1929

Travels with his mother and two younger brothers, Frederic and Robert, to England. Attends Prior Park Christian Bros. School in Bath, then St. Richard's School in Malvern, Worcestershire.

1930 - 1934

Attends Portsmouth Priory, Providence, RI

1933

Naturalization as an American citizen

Naturalization as an American citizen

1934 - 1938

Studies at Harvard University. Studies with Wilhelm Köhler and Edward Waldo Forbes. Receives Bachelor of Arts degree. Thesis titled, "Spiritual Influences on the Visual Image of Christ." Meets Ananda Coomaraswamy, Eric Gill, Graham Carey, Philip Hofer, Lincoln Kirstein, Jared French, Paul Cadmus and George Platt Lynes; summers at St. Dominic's Guild in Sussex, England - the workshop of wood engraver Eric Gill.

1934

First wood engravings published privately in Cambridge, MA.

1938 - 1939

Studies at Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Studies with John Howard Benson and Eugene Kingman, who teach him the egg tempera technique.

1940

Marries Bridget Hubrecht. Couple lives in Taos, NM, on Frieda Lawrence's ranch.

1941

First solo exhibition at the Wakefield Gallery, New York, NY

Meets Betty Parsons in Taos. First one-man show at the Wakefield Gallery (Betty Parsons) in New York. Divorce from Bridget Hubrecht.

1943

Inducted into the US Army, becomes medical illustrator

1946 - 1947

Discharged from army. Spends winter with brother Robert, in Palm Springs, CA.

1948

Spends winter in New York at the Chelsea Hotel. In the summer, meets dancer Ted Dragon at Jacob's Pillow, MA.

1949

Buys first Pollock. Meets Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. Ossorio and Dragon spend first summer in East Hampton. Travels to Paris in fall to meet Jean and Lili Dubuffet.

1950

Spends ten months in Victorias, Negros Occidental, The Philippines completing a mural for the Chapel of St. Joseph the Worker

1951

In Paris, meets frequently with Jean and Lili Dubuffet. In April and May Ossorio and Dragon stay with the Dubuffets on the Ile du Levant, where Dubuffet writes the text for his monograph on Ossorio entitled, Peintures Initiatiques d'Alfonso Ossorio and introduces Ossorio to Michel Tapié. Tapié organizes a one-man show at the Studio Paul Facchetti in Paris of Ossorio's Victorias drawings - the wax resist works on paper - which Ossorio made while in the Philippines. In August Ossorio makes a quick trip to East Hampton at the suggestion of the Pollocks, to purchase The Creeks, the studio and home of painter/designers Albert and Adele Herter, then returns to Paris. To New York in November for an exhibition of the Victorias drawings at Betty Parsons Gallery. Writes the catalogue introduction for Jackson Pollock's "black and white" show at Betty Parsons. Plans for Pollock show to travel to Studio Facchetti for March exhibition in 1952. On December 20th, accompanies Dubuffets to Chicago for Dubuffet's lecture at the Art Club of Chicago, "Anticultural Positions." Dubuffet makes arrangement with Ossorio to house and exhibit the entire collection of the Companie L'Art Brut at The Creeks in East Hampton.

1952

Takes title to The Creeks in January. Meets Clyfford Still. Goes to Paris in mid February, returning in April with many of Dubuffet's works and makes preparations to house the Collection of L'Art Brut.

1956 - 1958

Organizes a series of exhibitions at Executive House, NYC. with works by Willem de Kooning, Jean Dubuffet, Hans Hoffman, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and David Smith among others.

1957 - 1960

Co-founds the Signa Gallery in East Hampton with Elizabeth Parker and John Little, and organizes exhibitions and symposia there.

1958

Participates in Osaka International Festival "The International Art of a New Era, USA., Japan, Europe."

1964

Ossorio and Dragon summer in Greece and Turkey

1970

Starts first plantings of Arboretum at The Creeks

1984 - 1990

Makes intaglio and monoprints with Hudson River Press

1988 - 1989

Hospitalized by heart failure. Undergoes triple by-pass. Works on drawings in hospital which he calls "Recovery Drawings."

1990

Dies at the age of 74 from a ruptured aneurysm

1994

Ossorio Foundation opens in Southampton, NY