Doug Ohlson photographed by Arthur Mones, 1982.
In the collection of the Brooklyn Museum.
“Because Ohlson appeared in the New York art world during the early 1960s, it is tempting to say that he crosses the deep seriousness of the Rothko generation with that era’s flashy exuberance. It was a time of hot pinks and sensuous magentas, not only in Pop Art but also in Op, Minimalism, and the hard-edged abstraction of such painters as Frank Stella and Nicholas Krushenick. Ohlson quickly made a mark by finding his own uses for the livelier options of the ’60s. Yet he had a larger ambition, and as the years went by the nature of that ambition became increasingly clear.”
— Carter Ratcliff, 2013
1936
Doug Ohlson is born November 18 in Cherokee, Iowa to Lloyd and Effie Johnson-Ohlson. He is the sixth of six children, two brothers and three sisters.
Throughout his youth, Ohlson worked on the family farm raising milk-cows, hogs, chickens, which were fed by the farm’s crops consisting of several hundred acres of hay, corn and soy-beans. During the school year, he was up before sunrise to feed the animals and milk the cows. After school he cleaned the pens and stalls, pitched hay, working until sun-down. The growing season was marked by long days of field work, planting, bailing hay, plowing and harvesting. When he finished the day’s work on the family farm, there were three adjacent Ohlson farms where he labored when needed.
Ohlson on his horse, Scout
Ohlson’s first visits to art museums were on childhood trips to Chicago, riding the cargo trains that transported the family’s hogs and cattle to the stock yards. He fondly remembers visiting The Art Institute of Chicago on those trips as well as a visit to the National Gallery on family trip to Washington, DC at 14.
In high school Ohlson was active in sports, playing on the football team and competing in track and field.
The Ohlson family farm, 1936
1952
Ohlson is seriously injured when a car driven by his high school friend goes off a bridge. Ohlson suffers head injuries and remains in a coma for a period of weeks.
1954
Ohlson enters Bethel College and Seminary, Saint Paul, MN, as an English major.
He develops a lifelong interest in poetry.
He plays tackle on the football team earning a varsity letter.
1956
Ohlson leaves Bethel to join the Marines. He completes 16 weeks of U.S Naval school and 14 weeks in San Diego for Electrical and Aviation radio tech. After Camp Pendleton, he is assigned to the 2nd Marine Air Group 14, Edenton, N.C. with a rank of Sergeant E4.
Ohlson plays on the US Navy football team during his service.
Ohlson on USMC base, 1957
1958
Ohlson is released from active duty for hardship, to return to the family farm when his brother Sherwood dies at 36. He takes care of the farm and resumes studies at nearby Buena Vista University until a solution can be worked for Sherwood’s family and the running of the farm. He begins painting during this period. Ohlson’s father, now retired, steps back to the farm and Doug leaves for Minnesota the following year.
1959
Ohlson resumes a liberal arts major at the University of Minnesota. He plays on the football team.
Ohlson studies poetry and art, is painting seriously and establishes a studio in Minneapolis. He cites his instructors Edward Corbett and Freddie Munoz as influences.
Toward the end of his last term, Peter Busa comes to the university to teach. Ohlson cites Busa as the deciding factor in his decision to move to New York.
1961
Ohlson is included in the Minnesota Biennial at the Minneapolis Institute of Art juried by Hilton Kramer.
He graduates from the University of Minnesota and moves to New York at the end of the year.
He establishes his first New York studio on 9th Street between Avenues C and D.
Ohlson is honorably discharged from the U.S Marine Corps, ending his reserve status.
Jane Kaufman
1962
Ohlson enters the graduate program at Hunter College. He studies design with Tony Smith.
He meets his future wife, the artist Jane Kaufman, who is a graduate student at Hunter.
Ohlson visits Lee Krasner at her 180 East 79th Street apartment with Tony Smith.
He works construction in Hartford during the summer, joining the teamsters.
“By the end of the summer, painting had completely engaged my interest. I didn’t return to school. I painted steadily for the next two years, during which time I maintained my friendship with my former teacher Smith.”
— Ohlson, 1962
Ohlson begins working for Tony Smith in Orange NJ.
Mural painted by Ohlson on the side of
his family’s barn, 1963
1963
Ohlson returns to Iowa to work the farm when his father has a heart attack. He paints a 30 by 40-foot mural on the side of the barn.
1964
Ohlson returns to New York and establishes a studio at 101 Prince Street.
Ohlson teaches on a part-time basis at Hunter College, the art program faculty includes Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Roy de Carava, Rosalind Krauss, Tony Smith, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Ray Parker and Robert Morris.
Barnett Newman visits Ohlson’s Prince Street studio with Carroll Janis, establishing a critical role in Ohlson’s early career and friendship that lasts until Newman’s death in 1970.
Ohlson has his first solo exhibition in New York at the Fischbach Gallery. Artists represented include: John Altoon, Eva Hesse, Anne Arnold, Allen D’Arcangello, Gene Davis, Lois Dodd, Anne Dunne, Alex Katz, Dan Flavin, Ron Gorchov, Adolf Gottlieb, Yvonne Jacquette, Bill Jensen, Donald Judd, Robert Mangold, Nancy McCuauley, Sylvia Mangold, Martin Knox, Robert Morris, Ray Parker, Betty Parsons, Robert Rauschenberg,, Anne Ryan, Robert Ryman, Leon Polk Smith, Tony Smith, Frank Stella, Robert Swain, Cy Twombly, and Sandy Wurmbeld.
Ohlson participates in the “Season Opening” exhibit at Fischbach including artists Alex Katz, Robert Mangold, Anne Arnold, Allen D’Arcangelo and Knox Martin.
Ohlson’s work is included in a number of group exhibitions at the Vassar College Art Gallery including artists Robert Rauschenberg, Jules Olitski, Tom Wessellman, George Segal, Robert Indiana and Wayne Thiebaud. His work is also featured at the Hard/Op Gallery NY, The American Federation of Arts and the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, NY, “8 Young Artists.”
Ohlson’s studio at 101 Prince Street
1965
Ohlson and Jane Kaufman move to 35 West 26th Street together.
Ohlson establishes an interest in contemporary dance when Twyla Tharp performs her first piece of choreography, “Tank Dive,” at Hunter College. He regularly attends modern dance performances throughout his lifetime.
One of many friendly postcards from Twyla Tharp to Ohlson
1966
After traveling to Turkey in January, Ohlson and Kaufman return to New York and are married on February 11th at City Hall in Manhattan.
Ohlson and Jane Kaufman buy a farmhouse and 50 acres in Valley Falls, New York where they spend summers painting for the next few years.
Ohlson becomes a professor at Hunter College.
Ohlson has his second solo show at Fischbach Gallery, NYC.
His work is included in a contemporary painting exhibition at the Andrew Dickson White Museum at Cornell University.
Ohlson begins seeing Jungian analyst Nathan Schwartz-Salant, continuing for more than 20 years.
Apalon, 1969, featured in the Whitney Biennial
1967
Ohlson has his third solo exhibition at Fischbach Gallery, NYC.
Ohlson is presented by Galerie Müller at the Arts Festival Stuttgart in Cologne.
Ohlson participates in group shows at The Detroit Institute of Arts featuring Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Francis, Gene Davis, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis, Agnes Martin, Robert Morris, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenberg, and Tony Smith.
His work is also featured in a traveling exhibition curated by Lucy Lippard and installed at the University of Omaha.
Ohlson’s work installed at his Valley Falls home, 1968
1968 - 69
Ohlson’s fourth solo show at Fischbach Gallery NYC opens in May ’68, and the fifth exhibition opens in March ‘69.
Ohlson participates in the inaugural exhibition at the Paula Cooper Gallery in October, featuring Joe Baer, Carl Andre, Bill Bollinger, Dan Flavin, Robert Huot, Will Insley, Donald Judd, David Lee, Sol Lewitt, Robert Mangold, Robert Murray, and Robert Ryman.
Ohlson participates in “Art of the Real,” an important traveling exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Kunsthaus in Zürich, The Tate Museum in London and the Grand Palais in Paris. Other artists featured are Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Ralph Humphrey, Kelly, Sol Lewitt, Morris Louis, Agnes Martin, Robert Morris, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Nolan, Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock, Larry Poons, Frank Stella, Robert Smithson, Clifford Still, Robert Swain, Sanford Wurmfeld, Mark Rothko, and Ad Reinhardt.
Ohlson participates in the “Whitney Biennial of American Painting.”
Other museum exhibitions this year include, The Brooklyn Museum, The Philadelphia Museum (with Josef Albers, Gene Davis, Al Held, Ralph Humphrey, Agnes Martin, Robert Morris, Louise Nevelson, Kenneth Noland, and Anne Truitt), The Weatherspoon, The St. Louis City Museum, Vassar College Art Gallery, The Aldrich Museum (with Robert Mangold, Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, and Robert Smithson), The Georgia Museum of Art, The Stadtische Kunsthalle in Dusseldorf and The Dallas Museum of Art.
Ohlson travels extensively in Europe to London, Dusseldorf, Cologne, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Paris.
Ohlson receives a Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship and a Summer Research Grant from City University.
Ohlson’s father, Lloyd E. Ohlson, passes away.
Install at Fischbach Gallery in 1969
1970
Ohlson has a solo show at The Florence Wilcox Gallery, Swarthmore College, PA.
Ohlson’s sixth solo show at Fischbach Gallery NYC opens in November.
Ohlson participates in a group show at the Indianapolis Museum featuring John Cage, Karel Appel, John Chamberlain, Gene Davis, Sam Francis, Donald Judd, Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Beverly Pepper, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.
He participates in a group show at The Albright Knox (Buffalo AKG Art Museum) featuring Robert Ryman, David Novros, Paul Mogenson, Brice Marden, Robert Mangold, and Robert Huot.
He participates in a group show at The Art Museum at Princeton University featuring Eva Hesse, Jim Dine, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, Malcolm Morely, Carl Andre, Bruce Nauman, Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenberg, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Robert Ryman, and Frank Stella.
Ohlson establishes a summer studio in an abandoned church near the Valley Falls farm house, where he makes the large spray gun paintings for the next two years.
1971
Ohlson Participates in “The Structure of Color” at The Whitney Museum, curated by Marcia Tucker and featuring artists Josef Albers, Judy Chicago, Gene Davis, Helen Frankenthaler, Hans Hoffman, Jane Kaufman, Ellsworth Kelly, Morris Louis, Brice Marden, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, Clyfford Still, Frank Stella, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, and Robert Swain. He is featured in the “Highlights of 1970-71 Art Season” at the Aldrich Museum, CT.
1972
Ohlson’s seventh solo show at Fischbach opens in March.
Ohlson participates in the “Inside Philadelphia” exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania.
Ohlson and Jane Kaufman are legally separated and sell the Valley Falls property.
35 Bond Street, Studio
1973
Ohlson establishes his studio and residence at 35 Bond Street, NYC.
Ohlson is included in the “Thirty-Third Biennial of Contemporary Art” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., curated by Gene Baro and featuring artists Richard Diebenkorn and Jane Kaufman.
Ohlson participates in “Abstract Painters” at Fischbach Gallery.
Doug Ohlson, Ray Parker and Ulfert Wilke, are featured in an exhibition at Susan Caldwell Gallery in NYC.
Ohlson at the Corcoran Gallery, 1970s
1974
Ohlson’s divorce from Jane Kaufman is finalized.
Ohlson participates in the inaugural exhibition for the Susan Caldwell Gallery’s Soho space.
Ohlson has his first solo show with Susan Caldwell Gallery in NYC.
Ohlson participates in the “Seven New York Artists” exhibition at Nielson Gallery, Boston.
Ohlson is included in the University of Iowa Museum of Art exhibition “3 Painters from Iowa Living in New York.”
Big Slate, 1974
1975
Ohlson is included in “Fourteen Abstract Painters” at the Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery, UCLA, featuring artists Ralph Humphry, Brice Marden, Robert Ryman, Harvy Quaytman, Robert Swain, and Joan Snyder. He’s also featured in exhibitions at Van Straaten Gallery, Chicago, The Lowe Art Gallery at Syracuse University, and The University of Iowa Museum of Art.
Minneapolis Institute of Art acquires “Big Slate,” 1974, 90x116 inches, oil canvas.
Australia, 1971
in the Rooms P.S.1 exhibition
1976
Ohlson is awarded a National Endowment of the Arts grant.
Ohlson has a second solo exhibit at Susan Caldwell NYC.
Ohlson is included in an important exhibition at PS1 Long Island City, NY, “Rooms P.S.1” featuring artists Robert Ryman, Richard Serra, Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Susan Weil, Judy Rifka, Scott Burton, Nam Jun Paik, Vito Acconci, Jennifer Bartlett, Lawrence Weiner, Marjorie Strider, Carl Andre, and Max Neuhaus.
Other exhibitions include the Sarah Lawrence College and the Grey Art Gallery and Study Center at NYU’s exhibit to aid earthquake damaged Udine.
During the summer, Ohlson travels extensively through Europe, from Zurich and Basel to Sweden and the Netherlands, Venice, Paris, and Turkey.
Ohlson accepts a visiting artist, painting-workshop invitation at The University of Iowa.
Alex Katz, “Place,” 1977
Ohlson is pictured here with poets Michael Brownstein and Garret Henry alongside Paula Cooper and Jennifer Bartlett. Collection of the Whitney Museum, NYC.
“Doug was really involved with poetry, and he paid attention to new poetry in New York. There was something at the time known as the NY School of Poets, and Doug knew them all: the younger ones and the older ones. He was always very supportive of my poetry, very responsive.”
—Carter Ratcliffe
1977 - 78
Ohlson has a solo exhibition, “Doug Ohlson, Recent Paintings” at the Portland Center for the Visual Arts, Portland, OR.
Ohlson’s solo exhibition of paintings from 1966 through 1977 at Nell Gifford Stern Gallery NYC is destroyed by fire between the installation and the opening.
Ohlson opens a third solo show at Susan Caldwell Gallery NYC.
Other group exhibitions include “Alternative significant Painting and Sculpture of the 60’s” at Susan Caldwell, “Collection in Progress” at Moore College of Art Gallery in Philadelphia and “The Geometry of Color” at Andre Zarre Gallery in New York.
Ohlson accepts an invitation to join the Board of Governors at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME.
Ohlson accepts a visiting artist invitation at Bennington College, VT.
Ohlson purchases a farmhouse and 22 acres in Bucks county, PA in 1977, where he establishes a summer studio for the next 5 years.
A note from Helen Frankenthaler, 1977
1979
Ohlson has a fourth solo show at Susan Caldwell Gallery, NYC.
Other exhibitions include:
”Generation: Twenty Abstract Painters Born in the U.S. Between 1929 and 1946” at Susan Caldwell Gallery, NYC
”The Implicit Image” at Nielson Galley, Boston
”24 x 24” at Max Hutchinson Gallery, NYC
”Transitions” at the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, State University, NY
Ohlson’s home in Bucks County, PA
1980 - 81
Ohlson becomes a full-time professor at Hunter College, NY.
Ohlson is included in “Arte Americana Contemporanea,” Cicici Musei e Gallerie di Storia e Arte, Udine Italy in the fall of 1980, including artists Rosemarie Castoro, Christo, Gene Daviss, Ellsworth Kelly, Joyce Kozloff, Lee Krasner, Sol Lewitt, Robert Mangold, Brice Marden, Alice Neel, Frank Stella, William and Elaine DeKooning, Mark DeSuvero, Leon Golub, Nancy Graves, Philip Guston, Grace Hartington, Donald Judd, and Alex Katz.
Ohlson participates in “Dark Thoughts: Black Paintings” at Pratt Manhattan Center Gallery, NYC.
Ohlson opens a fifth solo show at Susan Caldwell Gallery, NYC in January 1981.
The Metropolitan Museum acquires “Quartet,” 1980, 72 x 156 in (182.9 x 396.2 cm), oil on canvas.
Double Future, installed at Susan Caldwell Gallery
1982
“Doug Ohlson at Bennington: Two Decades, 1962-1982,” Suzanne Lemberg Usdan Gallery, Bennington, VT, opens in May.
Museums Für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt acquires “Double Future,” 1982, 68 x 105 in (173 x 266 cm), acrylic and oil canvas.
Ohlson has his sixth solo show at Susan Caldwell Gallery, NYC.
Ohlson meets future wife Michele Toohey.
1983
Ohlson is included in “Abstract Painting 1960-69” at PS1 in Long Island City, NY, featuring artists Joe Baer, James Bishop, Sally Hazelet, Marcia Hafif, Al Held, Ralph Humphry, Robert Mangold, Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, David Novros, Robert Ryman, and Tony Smith.
Ohlson has a sixth solo show at Susan Caldwell Gallery, NYC.
“Doug Ohlson, Works on Paper,” opens at Andre Zarre Gallery, NYC.
1984 - 85
Ohlson has a first solo show at Ruth Seigel, NYC.
Ohlson is included in “Bilder fur Frankfurt,” Museum fur Modern Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany, featuring artists Carl Andre, Francis Bacon, Richard Chamberlain, Jim Dine, Dan Flavin, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Yves Klein, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Lewis, Robert Mangold, Robert Morris, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenberg, Blinky Palermo, Antoni Tapies, Cy Twombly, Gerhard Richter, James Rosenquist, Robert Ryman, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.
Ohlson participates in the “24X24X24 Invitational Exhibition” at Ruth Seigel Gallery, NYC.
Ohlson’s mother, Effie Ohlson, passes away.
1986
Ohlson has solo exhibitions open at Nina Freudenheim, Buffalo, NY and Galerie 99 Bay Harbor, Florida.
Ohlson participates in “The Homecoming: An Exhibition of Work by Iowa Born Artists,” Gallery of Art, University of Northern Iowa.
Ohlson participates in group exhibitions at Marilyn Pearl Gallery, NYC, the Ruth Seigel Gallery in NY, and Art from Cuny Approaches to Abstraction, Shanghai, China.
1987 - 88
Ohlson participates in the “20th Anniversary Group Exhibition” at Paula Cooper Gallery.
Ohlson has a second solo exhibition at Ruth Seigel Gallery NYC.
Ohlson participates in group exhibitions at the Andre Zarre Gallery, NYC, the Michael Walls Gallery, NYC, the Ruth Seigel Gallery, NYC, the 55 Mercer Gallery, NYC and the Porkkana Kokoelma, Vanhan Galleria, Helsinki, Finland, featuring artists Christo, Carl Andre, Ellsworth Kelly, Harvy Quaytman, Nancy Holt, and Sol Lewitt.
1989 - 90
Ohlson has solo shows at the Andre Zarre Gallery in Soho NYC and the Anne Jaffe Gallery in Boca Raton, FL in 1989 and 1990.
He participates in group shows at the Nina Freudenheim Gallery in Buffalo, NY as well as the Michael Walls Gallery and Andre Zarre Gallery, NYC.
Ohlson and Toohey, 1992
1991 - 92
Ohlson has a solo museum show at The Marsh Gallery, University of Richmond, VA.
Ohlson has his second show at Andre Zarre Gallery, NYC.
Ohlson is included in the “Amerikansk Kunst Efter 1960” exhibition in Copenhagen, Denmark, featuring artists Christo, Jim Dine, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Mapplethorpe, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Larry Rivers, and Andy Warhol.
Ohlson participates in the “Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture” at the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, NYC in 1992.
Ohlson is included in the “8 Young Artists, Then (1964) and Now (1991)” at The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, Hunter College, NY.
Ohlson marries Michele Toohey on October 19th at the home of artists Antoni “Tony” Milkowski and Susan Hartung in New Lebanon, NY.
Ohlson’s wedding to Michele Toohey, 1992
1993 - 94
Ohlson has a third solo show at Andre Zarre, NYC.
Ohlson is included in the “Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture” at the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, NYC in 1994.
Ohlson participates in group shows at Andre Zarre, NYC in ’93 and ‘94.
1995 - 97
Ohlson has a fourth solo show at Andre Zarre, NYC.
Ohlson is included in the “Invitational Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture” at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, NYC in 1997, featuring artists Bill Jensen, Harvey Quaytman, and Kiki Smith.
Ohlson’s home in Pietrasanta
1998 - 99
Ohlson and his wife travel to Italy where they take a small flat in a village on the Ligurian sea for the summer. They find a house in Pietrasanta, a small town on the Mediterranean, where Ohlson establishes a summer studio for the following 10 years.
In 1999, Ohlson goes to Smithers for treatment for alcoholism.
Ohlson in Pietrasanta
2000 - 01
Ohlson retires from Hunter College.
Ohlson is included in “Die Farb (Rot) Hat Mich,” at the Karl Ersnt Osthaus-Museum, Hagen, Germany.
Other exhibitions include:
”Transparent, Translucent, Opaque” at Galerie Frank, Paris France
”Painting Abstraction,” New York Studio School
”Hunter College Faculty Exhibition,” Times Square Gallery, NYC
”25th Anniversary Exhibition” at Andre Zarre, NYC
”Deep Field Painting” at The Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, NYC
2002
“Doug Ohlson 20 Years of Painting: 1982-2002” opens at Times Square Gallery, Hunter College, NYC.
Ohlson is included in the “International Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture” at the Academy of Arts and Letters, NYC, featuring artists Judy Pfaff, Lucas Samaras, Carolee Schneeman, Pat Steir.
Doug Ohlson “20 Years of Painting: 1982-2002”
2003 - 04
Ohlson has his fifth solo show at Andre Zarre Gallery, NYC.
Ohlson participates in group exhibitions at the Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL, the Andre Zarre Gallery, NYC featuring artists Sonia Delaunay, Dee Shapiro, Marjorie Strider, and Robert Murray, and at the Lohen-Gelud Gallery, NYC.
2005 - 09
Ohlson suffers a partial severing of the cervical spinal cord in an accident and spends the next six months in the hospital and rehabilitation. His injuries leave him with tetraplegia in all four limbs. Over the next few years, though his activity is limited by his impairment, he resumes painting and he and Michele continue to spend summers in Italy.
Ohlson participates in a group show along with Mary Obering, Melissa Kretschmer and Carl Andre at the Alfonso Artiaco Gallery, Naples, Italy.
2010
On June 29, 2010, Ohlson dies in a New York hospital from his injuries.