BIOGRAPHY

1925

Born November 5th in Orlando, Florida, to Dorothy Paul and Julian Harris.

1931

Mother dies. Lives with his sister at the home of his maternal grandparents.

1936

His father marries Helga Ebsen. Encouraged to be an artist by Helga and her sister Vilma Ebsen, both dancers. Studies dancing with Helga.

1943

Lives with Helga and Vilma in Pacific Palisades, California, during the summer of 1943. Attends classes at the Chouinard School of Art and works as a riveter at Douglas Aircraft in Los Angeles.

1944

Graduates from Orlando High School in June. Enlists in the U. S. Navy. In December 1944, the USS Ault enters the Pacific war zone.

1945

Experiences a typhoon in the South China Sea and Kamikaze attacks in the North Pacific. Observes the signing of the Japanese surrender from the deck of the USS Ault in Tokyo Bay. U.S. Navy Fleet Appointment to U.S. Naval Academy Annapolis, Maryland.

1946

Contracts rheumatic fever and spends six months in various naval hospitals. Released from Navy in June. In September enrolls as a freshman at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

1947

Hitchhikes in Mexico and Guatemala. Jailed as a vagrant in San Marcos, Guatemala.

1948

Attends the New School for Social Research, New York City, for his junior year. The German painter, Johannes Molzahn, one of his teachers, is an important influence.

1949

Becomes engaged to Marguerite Kirk. That summer he studies with Hans Hofmann in Provincetown, MA.

1950

Returns to the University of New Mexico. Receives degree in Fine Arts. Marries Marguerite Kirk June 3rd in Beaver, Pennsylvania. Serves as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of New Mexico. Richard Diebenkorn is a fellow student. A lifelong friendship with Phyllis and Richard Dicbenkorn begins at this time. Participates in a group exhibition, Six Young Artists, at the Jonson Gallery, University of New Mexico.

1951

Son Christopher is born in Albuquerque, NM. Moves with wife and son to Gallup, NM. Partici­pates in a group exhibit, Three Sculptors, Three Painters at the Albuquerque Public Library.

1952

Moves with his family to Jamaica, British West Indies. Teaches at the Quaker School in Highgate and later at Knox College, Spalding, Jamaica.

1953

Participates in a group show, Artists in the Island, at the Institute of Jamaica, Kingston.

1954

Son Nicholas is born in Papine/St. Andrew, Jamaica. The family returns to the United States.

1955 - 1956

Begins study at Teachers College, Columbia University. Named Arthur Wesley Dow Scholar and Naomi Noteworthy Fellow. Becomes editorial associate for Art News magazine.

1957

Appointed Assistant Professor of Art, State University of New York at New Paltz. Writes An Introduction to the Painting of Johannes Molzahn for Art News magazine.

1958

Solo exhibition at Poindexter Gallery, New York.

1959

Work exhibited in Recent Sculptures U.S.A., Museum of Modern Art, New York, and in New Forms-New Media II, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York.

1960

Solo exhibition at the Poindexter Gallery. Receives Longview Foundation Grant.

1961

Appointed Fulbright Professor at Universidad Catolica in Santiago, Chile. Begins a series of string sculptures. Participates in the exhibition, Escultura 4, with three Chilean artists at the Universidad Catolica. Contributes to the book of engravings, Cantar de los Cantares de Solomon, Taller 99, Santiago, Chile.

1962

Serves a second year as Fulbright Professor. Named Miembro Academico de la Facultad de Bellas Artes de la Universidad Catolica. Participates in a group exhibition, Arte de Chile, at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Chile in Santiago.

1963

Exhibition of string sculpture at the Poindexter Gallery, New York City. His string sculpture is included in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, traveling exhibition (1963-65), Hans Hofmann and His Students. Moves to Bolinas, California. Makes first stuffed cloth figures.

1964

Begins teaching at San Francisco Art Institute and builds house in Bolinas. Participates in the Arts Council of Philadelphia group exhibition, Dial Y for Sculpture.

1965

Solo exhibitions at the Berkeley Gallery, Berkeley, California, and the Lanyon Gallery, Palo Alto, California. Cloth figures exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and New York World’s Fair. Participates in Arts Council of Philadelphia group show, How the West Has Done.

1966

Teaches at the University of California in Berkeley. Cloth figures exhibited in People Figures, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York; Eleventh Annual Selection for the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Art; The Work of Visiting Artists, 61-66, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore; New Art in Philadelphia, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

1967

Cloth figure sculptures shown as part of the exhibition, American Sculpture of the Sixties, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Represented in the IX Bienal de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Receives Neallie Sullivan Award from the San Francisco Art Institute. Exhibits cloth figure sculptures in a solo exhibition at the Poindexter Gallery, New York City.

1968

Cloth figure sculptures included in the Smithsonian Institution’s New American Figurative Art, 1963-68. European venues, 1968-69: Museum of Modern Art, Belgrade: Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; Staaliche Kunsthalle, Baden-Baden; Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Geneva; Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels; Museum des 20, Jahrhunderts, Vienna; Gallerie d’Art Moderna, Contemporanea, Milan. Exhibited in Prospect ‘68 at the Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Germany. Begins teaching at California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, California.

1969

Receives Tamarind Institute of Lithography fellowship. Completes The Shut-In Suite (20 lithographs). Solo exhibition at the William Sawyer Gallery in San Francisco.

1970

Solo exhibition at the Galerie Thelen, Essen, Germany and at the Poindexter Gallery, New York City. Participates in group shows: Art 70, Basel, Switzerland; Kunstmarkt 70, Cologne, Germany; and Ruhrfestspiele, Recklinghausen, Germany.

1971

Solo exhibition at the William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco. Participates in three group shows: San Francisco Art Institute Centennial Exhibition, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum; Made in California, Gruenwald Arts Foundation Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles and Tama­rind, A Renaissance of Lithography, International Exhibition Foundation, Washington D.C.

1972 - 1973

Solo exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Art. The exhibition travels to the University Galleries, University of California at Santa Barbara, the Art Gallery of the University of New Mexico, and the Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock. Participates in the group show Looking West at the ACA Galleries, New York.

1973 - 1974

Exhibits in group shows: Sewn, Stitched and Stuffed, Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York; Anatomy in Fabric, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Sculpture in Cloth, Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati. Establishes Wrongtree Press with Dorothy Schmidt. Publishes Torso, text by Dorothy Schmidt with lithographs by the artist.

1975

Harry N. Abrams, Inc. publishes the book Paul Harris. Collaborates with Leni Alexander, a German-Chilean Composer, on aspects of a ballet entitled A False Alarm on the Nightbell Once Answered based on The Country Doctor, a story by Franz Kafka. Participates in a group show at the JPL Gallery, London.

1977

Works on drawings for Pas d’Une at the MacDowell Colony. Participates in the exhibition, The Object as Poet, Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington D.C.

1978

Receives a Lebovitz Family Grant for the printing of Pas d’Une.

1980

Two man show with Rick Hall at the Falkirk Cultural Center, San Rafael, California.

1981-82

Solo exhibition at the Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, Florida. The exhibition travels to the Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina. Solo exhibition at the Stanford University Museum of Art, Palo Alto, California. Participates in a group show at the Transamerica Building Gallery, San Francisco.

1983

Solo exhibition at the Fuller Goldeen Gallery, San Francisco.

1984

Participates in the exhibition, Still Life, at the Fenwick Gallery, Washington, D.C. and in an exhibition of artist books at the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, and Parsons School of Design, New York City.

1985

Participates in a group show at the William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco.

1986

Solo exhibition of bronze sculptures at the William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco.

1987

Exhibits bronze sculptures in the group show, Six From the San Francisco Area at the Iannetti-Lanzone Gallery, San Francisco. Shows new work with Rick Hall and Christian Van Deusen at the William Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco.

1988

Works at Shidoni Foundry, Tesuque, New Mexico on bronze sculptures. Participates in group shows at the Memorial Union Art Gallery, University of California at Davis and at the Civic Arts Gallery, Walnut Creek, California.

1989 - 1990

Solo exhibition, initiated at the Iannetti-Lanzone Gallery in April, travels to the Constantine Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, in September and to the Galerie Redmann, Berlin, in February 1990. Bronzes and drawings exhibited at the Kunstmarkt 90, Cologne, Germany. Participates in the group exhibition, Homage to Elaine de Kooning, at the 871 Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco.

1991

Participant in the exhibition, Sui Generis, at the Galerie Redmann, Berlin.

1992

Retires from teaching at the California College of Arts and Crafts.

1993

Solo exhibition at the Michael Himovitz Gallery, Sacramento, California. Exhibits work at the I. Wolk Gallery in St. Helena, California. Wrongtree Press publishes Motives and Cues by Marguerite Harris. Participates in a group show in memory of William Sawyer at the Sawyer Gallery, San Francisco.

1994

Participates in the exhibition, Die Dritte Dimension, at the Galerie Redmann, Berlin.

1995

Solo exhibition of bronzes and drawings at the Galerie Redmann, Berlin. Wrongtree Press publishes Phases of the Moon, a collection of short stones by the artist. Attends fiftieth reunion for the crew of the USS Ault in South Carolina. Bronze sculpture and drawings exhibited at the Kunstmarkt 95, Cologne.

1996

Completes Paradise Variations, a portfolio of lithographs. Works on a group of bronzes at the Shidoni Foundry. Receives Rounce and Coffin Club Award for Phases of the Moon which was exhibited in the fifty-fifth annual Western Book Exhibition, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, exhibits the cloth sculpture, Norissa Rushing.

1997

Galerie Redmann, Berlin, includes his sculpture and drawings in the exhibition Friends of Kienholz. The Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin exhibits the bronze Woman Lying Down in the Sculpture Garden, June 1997 - May 1998. Bronze sculptures and drawings exhibited at the Kunstmarkt 97, Cologne.

1998

Paul Harris, Drawings, published by Wrongtree Press in association with the University of Washington Press. Works on three large bronzes at the Shidoni Foundry in Tesuque, New Mexico.

1999

Solo exhibition of sculptures and drawings at the Bolinas Museum, Bo­linas, California, May – July. Solo exhibition the Fresno Art Museum in Fresno, California, November 1999 - January, 2000. Participated in group exhibit New Acquisitions, University of California Berkeley Art Museum.

2000

Solo exhibition at College of Marin Gallery, Kentfield, California. Wrongtree Press publishes Paul Harris, Sculpture, in association with the University of Washington Press.

2001

Solo exhibition at Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Montana.

2015

Solo exhibition, Some Works at College of Marin Gallery.

2017

Solo exhibition, Hats Off, Americans, at Bolinas Museum.

2018

Died in Bozeman, Montana.

2019

Solo exhibition, Pairs: Seeing Doubles, at White Chapel, Bozeman, Montana.

2020

The Marguerite Kirk & Paul Harris Gallery opens in Belgrade, MT to house and exhibit Paul’s work.