Corita Kent

Born in 1918–1986

USA

https://www.corita.org/

date of insertion in W.A.D. 06/2024

Biography

Corina Kent was born in Iowa, after graduating in 1936 at the age of 18, Frances Elizabeth Kent entered the order of the Missionaries of the Heart of Mary with the name of Sister Mary Corita. The Kents, who had been living in Los Angeles for several years, were a typical Catholic family. She continued her art studies at the Otis College of Art and Design and the Chouinard Art Institute, and graduated in 1941 from Immaculate Heart College. Later in 1951 she obtained a master’s degree in art history from the University of Southern California.
From 1938 to 1968 she was a professor at Immaculate Heart College and head of the art studies department in 1964. Her courses attracted highly successful artists, including Alfred Hitchcock, John Cage, Saul Bass, Buckminster Fuller and Charles & Ray Eames.

She would say that she had always wanted to be a nun, she believed in the change advocated by the Second Vatican Council, but 32 years later, disappointed and due to the continuous pressure of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1968, Corita abandoned the monastic life and settled in Boston.

Corita sees Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. It is the first Pop Art exhibition on the West Coast and she says: «When I returned home I saw everything like Andy Warhol». So she organizes a sort of Factory inside the convent and involves her students and her sisters in a fight against social inequalities and racial discrimination, world hunger, the war in Vietnam, she takes inspiration by quoting Kierkegaard, Gertrude Stein, the Beatles and the Bible.

Her art mutated into a form of activism, this artist opened the doors to pop art as a tool for messages (also) of faith, her work aroused controversy, especially from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which found her art blasphemous and her college activities too liberal and which also hindered the reception of her work in the artistic circuits. significant is that after having forced her to leave the order, one of her works was inserted in the Vatican Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2024, the only non-living artist chosen by the curators.

Curriculum

1986
The Soviet- American Message Exchange, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Retrospective Art Exhibit, Reynolds Art Gallery at Westmont Art Center, Santa Barbara, California

1985
Corita Kent, Acevedo Gallery, University of San Diego, San Diego, California
Corita Kent,Kerrwood Gallery, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California
Corita,Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
Corita Kent, Valley Art Gallery, Portola Valley, California
Corita- Exhibit of Prints and Watercolors, The Eden Express, Hayward, California
Holiday Beginning, Saint Philip’s Pastoral Center, Pasadena, California
Holiday’s End, Foyer Gallery, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California
Corita: Recent Watercolors, Images Gallery, Toleda, Ohio
Corita Kent and Lyn Maddox, Valley Art Gallery, Portola Valley, California
Corita Kent, Gormley Gallery, College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland

1984
Very Mine is My Valentine. Corita – Her New Work, Valley Art Gallery, Portola Valley, California
Corita Kent, The Well Being, Scripps Memorial Hospital Foundation, La Jolla, California

1983
Corita Kent, University Art Center, Palo Alto, California
Corita Kent, Mason McDuffie Real Estate, El Cerrito, California
Celebrations, Simmons College Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
Corita Kent, University Art Center San Fransisco, San Francisco, California

1982
Corita Kent, Mayfair Art Gallery, New York, New York
Corita Kent, Danville Territory Gallery, Danville, California
Corita Kent, Sun Gallery, Hayward, California

1981
Corita Kent, Kauffman Galleries, Houston, Texas
New Serigraphs of Love,Valley Art Gallery, Portola Valley, California
Woman and Art: An Exibition of Twenty-Two Contemporary American Artist, Suzanne Brown Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona

1980
A Retrospective Exhibition, Wm. Underwood Co.Gallery, Westwood, Massachusetts
Corita: A Retrospective, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusettes

1979
Artist of the Month Series, Mayer Gallery, Marylhurst, Oregon

1978
Art and the Alphabet, The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas

1977
Corita Exhibit, Talisman Prints, Laguna Beach, California

1976
Corita Serigraphs, North Street North Gallery, Boston, Massachusettes

1975
Corita: A Retrospective,Syntex Art Gallery, Stanford Industrial Park, Palo Alto, California

1974

Corita at the Bare Cove Gallery,The Bare Cove Gallery Hingham, Massachusettes
High Cards, Lois Burnett Gallery, Los Angeles, California

1973
Serigraph by Corita Kent and Linocuts by Walter Balas, Malone Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California

1972
Corita: A Retrospective Exhibit, Marjorie Kauffman Graphics, Houston, Texas
National Invitational Prints, Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, Anchorage, Alaska

1970
Corita Kent Serigraphs, Mayer Gallery, Marylhurst College, Marylhurst, Oregon
A Joyous Protest: the Art of Sister Mary Corita, Marxhausen Gallery of Art, Seward, Nebraska

1969
New Prints by Sister Mary Corita, IHM, Botolph Gallery, Boston, Massachusettes
Corita, Morris Gallery, New York, New York

1968
Exhibition, Georgetown Graphics Gallery, Washington, DC
Exhibition, Episcopalian Liturgical Conference, Statler Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles, California
Exhibition, Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Uppsala, Sweden
Exhibition, Process ’67, Cleveland, Ohio
The Unfinished Red, White and Blue Revolution, Pavilion Building, Century City Shopping Center, Century City, California

1967
Sister Mary Corita, Serigraphs, Longwood College, Farmville, Virgina
Sister Mary Corita, The New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut
Life- New Life, First Lutheran Church, East Orange, New Jersey
Sister Corita: The Human in Art, College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minnesota
Exhibition, Conference on Church and Society, Detroit, Michigan
Graphics, Bosshart Art Gallery, Glassboro State College, Glassboro, New Jersey
Survival with Style, Conference on Art, Architecture and Religion, New York Hilton, New York

1966
Out Art from In Group, Palos Verdes, California
Exhibition, Mandorla Gallery,Atlanta, Georgia
Calendar of Art Exhibits, Longwood College, Farmville, Virginia
California Printmakers, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California
Retrospective show of prints by Sister Mary Corita, Los Angles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall ParkLos Angeles, California
Fine Arts Festival, Palomar College Fine Arts Center, San Marcos, California
Tomato Allegory, Botolph Gallery, Boston, Massachusettes
Printmaking USA, Fine Arts Gallery, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana
No Man is a Watermelon, Yale University,New Haven, Connecticut
Sister Mary Corita Serigraphs, Thorne Hall and Art Building, Occidental College, Los Angeles, California
Being Alive- New Serigraphs by Sister Mary Corita, Art Originals Gallery, New Canaan, Connecticut
The Fifteenth Christocentric Arts Festival, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois
Serigraphs by Sister Mary Corita, The Gallery of the Theatre Arts, Los Angeles, California
But Is It Art?, Greensburg Central Catholic High School, Greensburg, Pennsylvania
Western Books of 1966, Pasadena, California

1965
Peace on Earth, IBM Storefront, New York, New York
The Many Facets of Motherhood, Benedictine Monks of St. Andrew’s Priory, Valyermo, California
Potpourri of Good Design- Serigraphs by Sister Mary Corita, Old Tappan, New Jersey
Sister Mary Corita’s 1965 Prints, Showcase Cinema, Lawrence, Massachusettes
11th Annual Valyermo Fall Festival, The Free Library of Philadelphia, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Exhibition Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel & Student Center, Madison, Wisconsin
Exhibition, Crenshaw-Imperial Branch of Inglewood Public Library, Inglewood, California
Dialogue, Immaculate Heart College Library, Los Angeles, California
Sister Mary Corita, IHM, Serigraphs, The Liturgical and Sacred Art Institute, Wichita, Kansas

1964
Prints in the Nineteen Fifties in the Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia
Prints and Pictures Department, Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, California
Beautitudes Wall, Vatican Pavilion, New York’s World Fair, New York, New York
Sister Mary Corita, Jefferson Gallery, San Diego, California
Exhibition, Christina Association of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sister Mary Corita Serigraphs, Morris Gallery, New York, New York
Exhibit of Art: Sister Mary Corita, Botolph Group, Boston, Massachusettes

1963
Corita Kent Saginaw Museum of Art, Saginaw, Michigan
Graphics Arts- USA, Alma-Ata, Yereven, Armenia
Images of Women, Hopskins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Corita Kent, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Corita Kent, Carson Roberts, Inc., Los Angeles, California
Bird Image and Symbol, Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, California
Serigraphs by Sister Mary Corita, I.H.M., La Casita, Bullock’s Fashion Square, Sherman Oaks, California
Exhibition, Rossmore Center Show, Rossmoor, California
Exhibition, St. Benedicts College, Atchinson, Kansas
Exhibition, East Carolina College, East Carolina College, South Carolina
Exhibition, Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut, California

1962
American Printmakers 1962, Emily Lowe Art Center, Syracuse University, SYRACUSE,NEW YORK

1961
Exhibition, Comara Gallery, Los Angeles, California

1960
Recent Serigraphs by Sister Mary Corita, I.F.A. Galleries, Washington, DC, January 1, 1959

1959
Sister Mary Corita, Morris Gallery, New York, New York
Religious Subjects in Modern Graphic Arts, Smithsonian Institution, New York, New York
Annual International Exhibition, National Serigraph Society, New York, New York

1958
Annual International Exhibition, National Serigraph Society, New York, New York
One Hundred Years of Architecture (American Institute of Architects Centennial Year)
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, California
Corita Kent, Print Exhibitions, Chicago, Illinois

1957

Exhibition, Pennsylvania State University, Park, Pennsylvania
Exhibition, Maryknoll Seminary, Ossining, New York
Exhibition, The Louisiana Art Commission, Old State Capitol, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
California Artists 1957, San Jose State College, San Jose, California
American Prints, International Bordighera Biennale, Bordighera, Italy
One Hundred Years of Architecture (American Institute of Architects Centennial Year), National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Exhibition, Lamberts’, Dallas, Texas

1956
The Bay Printmakers’ Society Second National Exhibition and The Oakland Art Museum Sculpture Exhibition
Bay Printmakers Society, Oakland, California
Christ in Christmas, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio

1955
Southern California Serigraphs, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, California
16th Annual International Exhibition, National Serigraph Society, New York, New York

1954
Serigraphs by Sister Mary Corita, I.H.M., The Catholic Graphic Arts Guild at the Catholic Information Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Contemporaries Christmas Show, The Contemporaries Gallery, New York, New York
Young American Printmakers, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York
Third National Exhibition of Prints, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Contemporary American Print 1900-1953,Achenbach Foundation Graphic Arts, San Francisco, California

1953
Second National Print Exhibit,University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Quarter Century International Print Show of the Northwest Printmakers, Seattle, Washington
New Britain Print Shows, New Britain, Connecticut
International Graphic Arts Society (IGAS) Prints Exhibit, Heilborn Studio Gallery, Los Angeles, California
14th Annual Exhibition of the American Color Print Society, The Print Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
International Graphics Arts Society, New York City, New York
Corita Kent,Mason McDuffie Real Estate, El Cerrito, California

1952
Exhibition of Artist of Los Angeles and vicinity, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, California
American Water Colors, Drawings, and Prints, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York
State Art Exhibit, Sacramento State Fair, Sacramento, California
National Serigraph Society, New York City, New York