BETTY PARSONS
MAY 2026: PETER MARINO FOUNDATION, SOUTHAMPTON, NEW YORK
21 May – 3 October 2026
Betty Parsons, Oriental Soldier, 1978. Courtesy of Alison Jacques, London and Alexander Gray Associates, New York © The Betty Parsons Foundation
Betty Parsons and Carla Accardi were two influential, yet distinct, figures of 20th-century avant-garde art whose works are presented together in the double-height Cathedral Gallery.
Betty Parsons (1900–1982) was an American abstract painter and sculptor who also had an illustrious career as a New York City gallerist. Parsons championed Abstract Expressionism while maintaining a rigorous artistic practice creating vibrant works characterised by their bold, playful and expressive style inspired by nature.
Italian artist Carla Accardi (1924–2014) was a pioneering force in postwar abstract art in Italy. Accardi’s abstract paintings blend gestural strokes and hard-edge forms, and relate primarily to symbols and signs which are integrated into her works in her modular series and her innovative use of the material Sicofoil.