Willie Birch

BIOGRAPHY

Willie Birch was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1942. He has received a BA from Southern University and an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. His work has been exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA; Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC; Speed Museum, Lexington, KY; Hilliard Art Museum, Lafayette, LA; Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, OH; Museum of African American Art, Tampa, FL; and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ among others. Birch’s work is included in the public collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR; Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA; and the Speed Museum, Louisville, KY among others. 

EDUCATION

1973
M.F.A., Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore

1969
B.A., Southern University, New Orleans, LA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022               
Chronicling Our Lives: 1987–2021, Fort Gansevoort, New York, NY

2021               
Willie Birch, Kayne Griffin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Willie Birch: Paintings from 1998–2019 In conversation with Leslie King Hammond, Fort Gansevoort (online exhibition)

2015               
Seen and Unseen: Coupling, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Spirit House: Willie Birch, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

2013               
Southern Gothic: An Insider’s View, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2010               
Looking Back: 1978-2003, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
In Search of Sacred Place, Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, Miami, FL

2008               
Celebrating Freedom: The Art of Willie Birch, Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA

2007               
Home Sweet Home, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Celebrating Freedom: The Art of Willie Birch, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ; 40 Acres Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA (traveling exhibition)

2006               
Celebrating Freedom: The Art of Willie Birch, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, LA; Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD (traveling exhibition)

2005               
Everywhere I Look I Hear Music, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2003               
Earlier Works, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2002               
Somebody’s Child: Paintings by Willie Birch, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, Adams, MA 
Transforming Identities, University Art Museum, Joel L. Fletcher Hall, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA

2001-02          
Willie Birch: 1994-1997, Zora Neal Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts, Eatonville, FL

2001               
Black-Male Portraits, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2000               
Free to Be in Black and White and Color, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY

1999               
Portraits: Witnessing New Orleans, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

1998-99          
Transforming Identities, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary Museum, Dallas, TX

1998               
Spirit House and Recent Work by Willie Birch, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

1997               
Dialogues and Heroes, Museum of African American Art, Tampa, FL
In Search of Heroes? Part II?, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

1996               
Willie Birch: From Bertrandville to Brooklyn, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC; 1996 Spoleto Festival, Charleston, SC; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC (traveling exhibition)
Willie Birch, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA
Not Just a Pretty Picture: Urban American Portraits, Satori Fine Art, Chicago, IL
In Search of Heroes? Part I, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY
My Holocaust, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA

1995               
Willie Birch, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA 

1994               
An Urban Perspective, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA 
Dialogues, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, NY

1993-94          
Willie Birch: Spirit House, Sculpture Center, New York, NY; Contemporary Culture and Documentary Art, Dallas, TX; Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, NY (traveling exhibition)

1993               
Willie Birch, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA 
Sculpture, Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Willie Birch, Paa Ya Paa Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
Nairobi Series, York College Art Gallery, New York, NY

1992               
A Personal View of Urban America, Exit Art, New York, NY; Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum, Philadelphia, PA (traveling exhibition)

1991               
Affirmations, Sculpture Center, New York, NY

1990               
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA

1989               
Tompkins Square Gallery, New York Public Library, New York, NY

1988               
Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY College, Old Westbury, NY

1984               
Miami-Dade Library, Miami, FL

1979               
Tim Blackburn Gallery, New York, NY

1978               
NYS Office Building in Harlem Gallery (sponsored by Studio Museum), New York, NY

1977               
New Muse Community Museum of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
Kornblatt Gallery, Baltimore, MD

1975               
Art Works Gallery, Baltimore, MD

1971               
Equitable Trust Bank, Baltimore, MD
Institute of Black Ministry, Philadelphia, PA

1968               
Southern University, New Orleans, LA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024-25

Long Walk from the F train, Abrons Arts Center, Manhattan, NYC

2024-25
A Nation Takes Place, Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona, MN

2024               
Listen!, RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Unprecedented: Art in Times of Crisis, Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE

2023               
Together in Time: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA

2022               
American Stories: Gifts from the Jersey City Museum Collection, Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick, NJ

2021-22          
Two Versions of the Same Story: The Art of Willie Birch & Tina Freeman, New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, New Orleans, LA
Yesterday We Said Tomorrow, Prospect 5, New Orleans, LA

2018               
Changing Course: Reflecting on New Orleans Histories, New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), New Orleans, LA

2017-18          
Dress Matters: Clothing as Metaphor, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

2017               
Pride of Place: The Making of Contemporary Art in New Orleans, New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), New Orleans, LA
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst IL

2016-17          
Southern Accent: Seeking the American South in Contemporary Art, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC and Speed Museum, Lexington, KY
Face to Face: A Survey of Contemporary Portraiture by Louisiana Artists, Hilliard Art Museum, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA

2016               
According to What, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
A New World in My View: Gifts from Gordon W. Bailey, The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

2015-16          
Common Ground: African American Art from the Flint Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI and the Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon MI.
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN.

2015               
Ashé to Amen: African Americans and Biblical Imagery, Ashé Cultural Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Ten Years Gone, New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), New Orleans, LA

2014               
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR
Viewpoints: 20 years of Adderley, MassArt, Boston, MA

2013-14          
Ashé to Amen: African Americans and Biblical Imagery, Museum of Biblical Art, New York, NY; Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, Baltimore, MD; Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN (traveling exhibition)

2013               
Breaking Ground: Gifts form Katie and Drew Gibson, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Cross//Roads, The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ

2012               
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, RedLine Gallery, Denver, CO; Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (traveling exhibition)
Thenceforward, and Forever Free, Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

2011               
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, FL
Printed Histories: 16 Years of Print Portfolios at Exit Art, Exit Art, New York, NY

2010               
The Global Africa Project, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY
The Human Touch: Contemporary Art from the RBC Wealth Management Collection, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV

2009               
High Water Marks, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT
There Goes the Neighborhood, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
The American Scene, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE

2008               
Prospect.1 New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
In Katrina’s Wake, Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX

2007               
Katrina: Catastrophe and Catharsis, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO

2006-07          
Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery, New York Historical Society, New York, NY

2005               
The Chemistry of Color, African American Artists in Philadelphia 1970-1990, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
The Other Mainstream: Selections from the Mikki and Stanley Weithorn Collection, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ

2004               
Rap: Reflections of Our Time, Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA 
Southern Journeys, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA

2002-04          
In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.; Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit, MI; Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, FL; Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; International Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL (traveling exhibition)

2003               
Modern Story Tellers: Bearden, Birch, Lovell, Ringgold, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

2000               
Go Figure, Lew Allen Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
The Rutgers SummerFest 2000 Exhibition, New Brunswick, NJ 
Culture of Class: Issues of Class in North American Culture, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD

1999-00          
Outward Bound: American Art at the Brink of the Twenty-First Century, Meridian International Center, Washington, D.C.; The Museum of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam; The Painting Institute, Shanghai, China; The Working People’s Cultural Palace, Beijing, China; The CIPTA Gallery, Jakarta Arts Center, Jakarta, Indonesia; Meridian International Center, The Metropolitan Museum, Manila, Philippines and The Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (traveling exhibition)
Passages: Contemporary Art in Transition, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL; Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL (traveling exhibition)

1998               
New Orleans Triennial, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
The Colors of Rhythm, The Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA

1996-98          
Rediscovering the Landscape of the Americas, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM and Western Gallery, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

1995               
48th Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY

1992               
Altars, Divinations and Icons, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA

1989               
The Blues Aesthetic: Black Culture and Modernism, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, D.C

1989-90          
If You Lived Here…, Dia Art Foundation, New York, NY

1987-88          
USA Paintworks: Prints from the Brandywine Workshop Collection, United States Information Agency/Arts America

1986-87          
Por Encima Del Bloqueo: Donación De Artistas Plásticos Norteamericanos Al Pueblo De Cuba, Centro Wilfredo Lam, Havana, Cuba; Museum Universitario do Chopo, Mexico City, Mexico (traveling exhibition) 

1986               
Contemporary Print Images: Works by Afro-American Artists from the Brandywine Workshop, presented by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITE)

1984               
Call and Response: Art on Central America, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME

1980               
Outlaw Aesthetics, Just Above Midtown/Downtown, New York, NY