Mary Corse

Background

Mary Corse was born in Berkeley, California, United States in 1945.

Education

Mary studied art from a very early age. Inspired by the abstractions, compositions, and color theories of artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Josef Albers, she enrolled at Chouinard Art Institute in the mid-1960s to study painting.

Corse completed courses in quantum physics at the University of Southern California in order to earn certification to handle large Tesla coils.

Career

Drawing inspiration from the abstractions, color theories, and compositions of well-known artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Josef Albers, Corse bridged the media of painting and sculpture.

In the mid-1960s, she gained recognition for what would become her signature work, which included shaped canvases, fluorescent lights, glass microspheres, and Plexiglas. She pushed the material of glass microsphere further, blending it with shades of white acrylic paint. The result was a glimmering canvas responsive to changing light conditions. These particular light effects included in her works are nearly impossible to photograph, as they change with each viewing angle.

Achievements

• Corse was awarded the Cartier Foundation award (1993), the Theodoran Award by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1971), and the New Talent Award by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1967). In 1975, she received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
  
  Her works are in many permanent collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Foundation Beyeler, the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation Collection, the Orange County Museum of Art at Newport Beach, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Getty Museum.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Black Light Painting (Glitter Series)

  • Untitled

  • Untitled

  • Untitled

  • Untitled (Black Earth Series)

  • Untitled (Blue Octagon)

  • Untitled (Space + Electric Light)

  • Untitled (Triangular Columns)

  • Untitled (Triangular Columns)

  • Untitled (White Diamond)

  • Untitled (White Hexagon)

  • Untitled (White Light - Beveled Edges)

  • Untitled (White Light Series)

  • Untitled (White Light Series)

  • Untitled (White Octagon)

Connections

Mary gave the birth of her first child in 1970.

References

• Mary Corse Mary Corse (born 1945) earned acclaim in the 1960s for pieces ranging from shaped-canvas paintings to ingenious light works.
• Mary Corse: A Survey in Light