Billy Al Bengston papers, circa 1940s-1989, bulk 1960-1988

The bulk of this series consists of calendars dating from 1971 to 1984, in which Bengston recorded detailed daily activities, such as visiting galleries, social activities, travel, etc. Ephemera include receipts, exhibition announcements, and mailings that have been attached to calendar pages. A notebook contains information about Bengston's paints, works sold and exhibited at Ferus Gallery, lists of addresses, and scattered sketches. Health records detail the damage done to Bengston's back in a 1964 motorcycle accident. Also found here are passports from European and Central American trips, a Mexican travel visa, membership and business cards, certificates, telephone messages, and Bengston's will.

Due to the presence of mold on calendar pages from 1971, these materials have been boxed separately.

The bulk of this series consists of Bengston's business correspondence, mostly to and from galleries and museums discussing exhibitions, sales, consignments, projects, and agreements. Bengston's relationship with the James Corcoran Gallery, Janie C. Lee Gallery, John Berggruen Gallery, Martha Jackson Gallery, and Texas Gallery are well-documented. Many business letters are written by Penny Little and Gretchen Corners in Bengston's name.

The series also includes a limited amount of personal correspondence including letters with collectors, researchers, and friends. In addition, personal correspondence is often interfiled with the professional correspondence, particularly with gallery owners James Corcoran, Janie C. Lee, and Fredericka Hunter of the Texas Gallery. Also found are a few letters from other artists, including Peter Plagens and a letter from Richard Diebenkorn.

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by surname or business name. Correspondence related to Bengston's commissions can be found in Series 6, Project Files, and correspondence related to loans of artwork can be found in Series 5, Personal Business Records.

This series consists of a wide variety of materials documenting Bengston's business with galleries, museums, and universities, such as sales, exhibitions, and loans. Files may include consignment lists, price lists, invoices, pages from ledgers, shipping receipts, legal agreements, exhibition checklists, lists of catalog reproductions, floor plans, and mailing lists. Galleries represented in the files include the Ferus Gallery, James Corcoran Gallery, Janie C. Lee Gallery, John Berggruen Gallery, Martha Jackson Gallery, Texas Gallery, and Thomas Babeor Gallery. Extensive documentation exists for Bengston's 1968 retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, his 1981 exhibition of watercolors at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and his 1988 retrospective organized by the Contemporary Arts Museum.

Note that the bulk of the correspondence with museums and galleries is found in Series 2 above. Folders relating to university galleries have been titled by the name of the university rather than the name of the gallery.

Found here are scattered documents relating to Bengston's brief teaching career and lecture series at the University of California, Irvine, University of Colorado, and the Art Center of the College of Design. There is also one folder concerning the California Arts Council Master/Apprentice program and three folders of papers written by his students at University of California, Irvine.

This series houses Bengton's personal business records documenting sales, loans, shipping, and the restoration of his artwork through correspondence, inventories, invoices, price lists, and receipts. Also found are records of sales and loans of artwork by others in his possession, and his representation of Paula Barton.

Records of personal finances include purchase orders, insurance estimates, tax forms, utility bills, investment records, and grant applications to the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

This series includes scattered correspondence, agreements, floor plans, notes, and printed materials related to several of Bengston's commissions and projects. Projects include the book Business Cards with Ed Ruscha, work with Mexican weavers and ceramicists, and the construction of a studio in Hawaii. Commission files are found for artwork Bengston executed for various public buildings in California, including the California State Office Building and the Prestonwood Towne Center. Also found are files concerning Bengston's Zodiac series, work on posters for the 1984 Olympic Games and the Broadway, watercolors to raise money for Jerry Brown's 1982 gubenatorial campaign, and designs for the house of Roy and Carol Doumani. Also found are a few scattered miscellaneous files concerning an exhibition held at Bengston's studio and one at the Security Pacific Bank.

Photographs related to projects and commissions are found in Series 10, Photographs.

This series consists of writings by Bengston and others. Writings and notes by Bengston concern exhibitions of West Coast art, thoughts on being an artist and the artistic community in general, motorcycles, autobiographical essays, and a recollection of John Altoon. Also included are art survey questionnaires sent out by Bengston; respondents include Peter Alexander, Carl Andre, John Chamberlain, Dan Flavin, Joe Goode, Robert Graham, Roy Lichtenstein, John McCracken, Robert Motherwell, Ed Ruscha, Frank Stella, Peter Voulkos, and H.C. Westermann. Clippings of published articles by Bengston have been filed in this series.

The bulk of the writings by others are essays written for exhibition catalogs. Also found are transcripts of interviews with Bengston, exhibition reviews, an article about the Doumani House project, essays about Bengston and his work, including one by Christopher Isherwood, and a proposed exhibition program by Walter Hopps, Robert Irwin, and Joshua Young.

This series consists mainly of artwork created by Bengston for projects and commissions, including sketches for the Building Arts Company, Prestonwood Towne Center, and Sidecar lamp projects, and drawings for the Zodiac project. Also included are drawings of frames and paintings, two watercolors, and doodles.

This series includes clippings, exhibition announcements, exhibition catalogs, posters, press releases, and reproductions of artwork. Clippings are about Bengston, reviews of group and solo exhibitions, articles about southern California art and culture, and coverage of art and social events. The majority of exhibition catalogs are for group exhibitions, while exhibition announcements include both solo and group shows. Also included are advertisements, product catalogs, bus schedules, and athletic and outdoor club brochures collected for Bengston's personal use. Of interest is a poster for Bengston's first exhibition in 1956, the exhibition catalog for Bengston's first solo exhibition in 1958, a poster for a 1962 exhibition autographed by Buster Keaton, and the exhibition catalog designed by Ed Ruscha for Bengston's 1968 retrospective at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Photographs are of Bengston, his friends, galleries, exhibitions, sites of Bengston's commissions, and one family photograph dating from the 1940s. Photographs of other artists include Carlos Almaraz, Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney, Garry Winogrand. Also included are photographs of artwork, including the Plato de Moreno series of watercolors commissioned in 1982 by Jerry Brown's gubernatorial campaign. Photocopies of photographs not found elsewhere have been kept. Of interest are photographs of Bengston during his 1975 residency at the Everson Museum of Art, helping to construct the house of Roy and Carol Doumani, and Bengston conversing with Buck Henry.

Also found are slides of Bengston's artwork for the installation of his 1988 retrospective.