Creator of 'The Rose' gets first retrospective at Whitney

Associated media

Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective

28 February – 2 June 2013

American artist Jay DeFeo, best known for her monumental painting The Rose (1958–66), was an artist of unusual vision whose experimental work has been described as ‘groundbreaking’. ‘Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective’ is the first exhibition to place The Rose in the context of the artist’s entire career, presenting DeFeo’s highly diverse body of work – collages, drawings, paintings, photographs, small sculptures, and jewellery – made over four decades. The Rose took almost eight years to create and weighs over 2000 pounds.

In her youth, DeFeo (1929–89) was associated with the ‘Beat Generation’ of Jack Kerouac and his associates. She was influenced by Native American, African and prehistoric art, and studied in London, UK and Florence, Italy, as well as in California. Her work is now held in numerous important collections across the USA.

Whitney Museum of American Art


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