Biography

Biographical Timeline

  • 1919, Born on April 4, 1919 in New Orleans, LA

  • 1931 - 1932, Began his art studies at age 13 with artist Morris Graves, who was visiting New Orleans, LA

  • 1932 - 1935, Studied at New Orleans Arts and Crafts School, New Orleans, LA

  • 1935 - 1937, Studied at Munich Preparatory School, Munich, Germany where he met Hans Hofmann

  • 1937 - 1938, Studied at New Bauhaus School, Chicago, IL

  • 1938 - 1941, Studied at Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts, New York, NY

  • Studied at Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts, Provincetown, NY

  • 1940, Met Tennessee Williams in Provincetown, MA

  • Williams visited Bultman in Greenwich Village, NY in the 1940s

  • 1943, Married Jeanne Lawson, a dancer, in December in New York, NY

  • 1945, Moved to Provincetown, MA

  • 1950, Signed the historical and infamous "Irascibles" letter to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, along with other New York School of Abstract Expressionist painters: William Baziotes, James Brooks, Willem de Kooning, Jimmy Ernst, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette Dart, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, Hedda Sterne, Clyfford Still and Bradley Walker Tomlin.

  • 1950 - 1957, Member of the New York School of Abstract Expressionists

  • 1951, Received a grant to study sculpture in Italy. As a result, he was in Italy at the time of the photo shoot for the famous Abstract Expressionist photograph called "The Irascibles", and was therefore not in the photo, which was published on January 15, 1951 in Life magazine

  • 1952, Moved back to New York City

  • 1955 - 1969, Visited friends Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock in East Hampton, NY

  • 1958, Tennessee Williams visited the Bultman Family home in the Garden District of New Orleans, where he wrote and set the play 'Suddenly Last Summer'

  • 1958 - 1963, Taught at Pratt Institute, New York, NY

  • 1959 - 1964, Taught at Hunter College, New York, NY

  • 1962, Began to work more with collages, which would be his primary media for the next two decades

  • 1964 - 1965, Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, Paris, France

  • 1968, Co-Founded the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

  • 1968 - 1972, Taught at Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA

  • 1975, Awarded TheJohn Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, New York, NY

  • 1985, Died on July 20, 1985 in Provincetown, MA

Select Solo Exhibitions

  • 2018, Fritz Bultman: Form, Space, Surface: Paintings and Collages, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY

  • 2018, Fritz Bultman, Octavia Gallery, Houston, TX & New Orleans, LA

  • 2016, Fritz Bultman - The Irascible Remembered, Octavia Gallery, Houston, TX & New Orleans, LA

  • 2015, Fritz Bultman: Cutouts, Edelman Arts, New York, NY

  • 2013, Fritz Bultman – The Missing Iracible, Edelman Arts, New York, NY

  • 2013, Fritz Bultman – An American Abstractionist, Louisiana Arts & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA

  • 2011, Fritz Bultman - Torn Paper Collages, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2010, Fritz Bultman, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2009, Jeanne and Fritz Bultman - A Provincetown Collection and Salon, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

  • 2008, Fritz Bultman - Drawings from the early 1960’s, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2007, Fritz Bultman - Collages from the 1980’s, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2007, Fritz Bultman - Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture and Collage, Reynolds Ryan Art Gallery - Isidore Newman School, New Orleans, LA

  • 2006, Fritz Bultman - Small Paintings 1957 - 1961, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2005, Fritz Bultman - The Rhythm of the Line, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2004, Fritz Bultman: Irascible, II, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman - Rare Paintings from the Early 1960’s, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman: Irascible, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman: The Ogden Museum of Southern Art - University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA

  • 2001, Fritz Bultman - Paintings, Collages, Drawings and Sculpture: 1953 - 1985, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 1998, Fritz Bultman: No/Show... An Evolving Exhibition, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 1998, Fritz Bultman: Drawing from Life, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 1997, Fritz Bultman: Collages, Georgia Museum of Art - University of Georgia, Athens, GA

  • 1993, Fritz Bultman: A Retrospective, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; travelling exhibition

  • 1992, Fritz Bultman, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1991, Fritz Bultman, Kouros Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1989, Fritz Bultman: Retrospective, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (solo)

  • 1988, Fritz Bultman, Tilden-Foley Gallery, New Orleans, LA (solo)

  • 1987, Fritz Bultman, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME (solo)

  • 1987, Fritz Bultman, Hunter College, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1987, Fritz Bultman, Galerie Schlesinger-Boisanté, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1986, Fritz Bultman, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA (solo)

  • 1986, Fritz Bultman, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA (solo)

  • 1984, Fritz Bultman, Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, MA (solo)

  • 1982, Fritz Bultman, Landmark Gallery, Inc., New York, NY (solo)

  • 1979, Fritz Bultman, Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, MA (solo)

  • 1979, Fritz Bultman, Landmark Gallery, Inc., New York, NY (solo)

  • 1978, Fritz Bultman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (solo)

  • 1977, Fritz Bultman, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1974, Fritz Bultman, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (solo)

  • 1974, Fritz Bultman, Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK (solo)

  • 1974, Fritz Bultman, Newport Art Association, Newport, RI (solo)

  • 1973, Fritz Bultman, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1965, Fritz Bultman, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL (solo)

  • 1964, Fritz Bultman, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1963, Fritz Bultman, Weatherspoon Gallery - University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (solo)

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Galerie Stadler, Paris, France (solo)

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Gallery Mayer, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Michel Warren Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1959, Fritz Bultman, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1958, Fritz Bultman, Stable Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1952, Fritz Bultman, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1950, Fritz Bultman, Hugo Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1947, Fritz Bultman, Hugo Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

Select Group Exhibitions

  • 2015, Robert Motherwell and the New York School at Hunter, Hunter College, New York, NY

  • 2014, Cutout/Decoupage, Nancy Hoffman Gallery 

  • 2013, Ab-Ex Re-Con: Abstract Expressionism Reconsidered, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY 

  • 2012, Abstraction: What Is Real, Edelman Arts, New York, NY 

  • Fine Arts Work Center Benefit, Cheim & Reid, New York, NY 

  • 2012, Constructing/Deconstructing: ABEX Collage, Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, NY 

  • 2012, 50 Years of Collecting, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA 

  • 2011, Abstraction, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2011, The Tides of Provincetown New Britain Museum, New Britain, CT; travelling exhibition

  • 2008, Abstraction: Summer 2008, Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL

  • 2007, Stone Cold Classics, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC

  • 2005, It's About Art: an evolving exhibition, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 2004, Drawing, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 1994, New York-Provincetown: A 50's Connection, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, 

  • 1985, Retrospective exhibition, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

  • 1985, Figural Art, City University of New York, New York, NY

  • 1981, Tracking the Marvelous, New York University, New York, NY

  • 1977, Provincetown Painters: 1890s to 1970s, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

  • 1975, 20 American Fulbright Artists, International Institute of Education, New York, NY

  • 1964, 67th Annual American Exhibition - Directions in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, 

  • 1963 - 1964, Hans Hofmann and His Students, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

  • 1956, New York Painting and Sculpture Annual Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1955, Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY                  

  • 1954, New York Painting and Sculpture Annual Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1953, New York Painting and Sculpture Annual Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1952,  Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

  • 1950, Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

  • 1950, Black or White, Samuel Kootz Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1949, Organized and exhibited in "Forum 49" group exhibition, Provincetown, MA

  • 1949, The Arts Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL