Forrest Bess. Forrest Clemenger Bess was an American painter and fisherman.
He was discovered and promoted by the art dealer Betty Parsons. He is known for his abstract, symbol-laden paintings based on what he called visions.
Bess was born on October 5, 1911, in Bay City, Texas to Arnold Butch Bess, an oil field worker, and Minta Lee Bess. Bess first experienced the visions he would use later in his art as a young child.
His first introduction to oil painting were works done by a neighbor, and at thirteen years old he began lessons in painting from another neighbor. A semi-itinerant childhood was followed by some years at college, where he began by studying architecture, but found himself diverted into religion, psychology, and anthropology, readings that would later inform his own radical theories.
Dropping out of university in 1932, Bess worked for several years roughnecking in the Beaumont oil fields, and also made several trips to Mexico, where he saw the work of muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. He returned to Bay City in 1934 to establish a painting studio. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army Corps of Engineers and was given the task of designing camouflage. However, he was later moved to MacDill Air Force Base at Tampa, Florida, to teach bricklaying. He suffered a psychological breakdown, took a leave of absence, and then transferred to teaching painting at a
He was discovered and promoted by the art dealer Betty Parsons. He is known for his abstract, symbol-laden paintings based on what he called visions.
Bess was born on October 5, 1911, in Bay City, Texas to Arnold Butch Bess, an oil field worker, and Minta Lee Bess. Bess first experienced the visions he would use later in his art as a young child.
His first introduction to oil painting were works done by a neighbor, and at thirteen years old he began lessons in painting from another neighbor. A semi-itinerant childhood was followed by some years at college, where he began by studying architecture, but found himself diverted into religion, psychology, and anthropology, readings that would later inform his own radical theories.
Dropping out of university in 1932, Bess worked for several years roughnecking in the Beaumont oil fields, and also made several trips to Mexico, where he saw the work of muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. He returned to Bay City in 1934 to establish a painting studio. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army Corps of Engineers and was given the task of designing camouflage. However, he was later moved to MacDill Air Force Base at Tampa, Florida, to teach bricklaying. He suffered a psychological breakdown, took a leave of absence, and then transferred to teaching painting at a
Wikipedia ...