Donald Sultan is a leading contemporary artist who rose to prominence in the late 1970s as part of the “New Image” movement. He is known for his monumental paintings that characteristically use industrial materials such as tar, putty, and enamel to depict basic geometric and organic elements with a formal minimalism that is both weighty and textured. Sultan is known for his still lifes as well as his “disaster” paintings that focus on themes of industry, war, and man-made disasters. Throughout his career, he has revisited and reinvented still life with images of lemons, poppies, playing cards, fruits and flowers, and other objects. He is interested in contrasts and explores dichotomies such as beauty and roughness, nature and artificiality, realism and abstraction.
Drawing and printmaking have been an important part of Sultan’s practice since the 1970s. Among his most important print projects is his aquatint portfolio “Black Lemons,” printed in 1987 and exhibited at MoMA a year later. In 1999, he collaborated with David Mamet on his book Bar Mitzvah, for which he did the drawings. In 2002, Sultan was invited to establish the Visiting Artist Program at the Tyler Print Institute in Singapore, where he created ambitious woodcut and intaglio prints. Other important prints include the screenprints Fruits and Flowers I, II, III; Green Apples with master printer Ken Tyler; Red Roses and Egg; the Smoke Rings series; the Brutal, Unsentimental Landscape series; and the Portfolio of 12 Colors, which is informed by the complex nature of the projects.
A native of Asheville, NC, Sultan studied at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and later received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has since received honorary doctorates from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., the New York Academy of Art, and the University of North Carolina. In 2010, Sultan was awarded the North Carolina Award, the highest honor a state can bestow on a civilian. Sultan moved to New York City in 1975.
Sultan’s works are in numerous prominent museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Cincinnati Art Museum, OH; Cleveland Art Museum, OH; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, TX; Detroit Institute of Arts, MI; Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; Ludwig Museum, Budapest; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Museum of Modern Art, NY; Neuberger Museum at SUNY-Purchase, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Singapore Museum of Art; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY; Tate Gallery, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.
Born in 1951 in Asheville, North Carolina/ USA.
Donald Sultan lives and works today in New York.
1973 BFA, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
1975 MFA, School of the Art Institute, Chicago.
1978-79 Creative Artists Public Service Grant, New York.
1980-81 State National Endowment for the Arts.
2000 Awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the Corcoran School of Art, Washington D.C.
2002 Awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the New York Academy of Art, NY.
2007 Awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the University of North Carolina, Asheville
2010 Awarded the North Carolina Award, the highest award a state can bestow upon a civilian
2011 Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award, The Houston Fine Art Fair
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2023
Donald Sultan: Wallflowers, Leslie Sacks Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Recent Work – Mimosas, Galerie Andres Thalmann, Paris, France
2022
Donald Sultan: THE NATURE OF THINGS, RYAN LEE, New York, NY
2019
Donald Sultan: Mimosa, PAINTINGS & DRAWINGS, RYAN LEE, New York, NY
Donald Sultan: Dark Objects, Huxley-Parlour, London, UK
2018
Donald Sultan: Lantern Flowers and Poppies, Sellars Gallery, Simmons Visual Arts Center, Gainesville, GA
2017
Galerie Andres Thalmann, Zurich, Switzerland. “Button Down Modernism” January 18 – April 1, 2017. Catalogue.
2016
Traveling Exhibition: “Donald Sultan: The Disaster Paintings;”
- Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. September 29 – December 23, 2016;
- Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX. February 19 – April 23, 2017. Catalogue;
- The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. May 26 – September 4, 2017;
- North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC. September 23 – December 31, 2017;
- Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE. January 17 – April 6, 2018
Ryan Lee Gallery, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: New Paintings,” November 10 – December 23, 2016.
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO: “Donald Sultan” March 18 – April 16, 2016.
2015
Galeria Freites, Caracas, Venezuela: “Donald Sultan” October 22 – November. Catalogue.
Galerie Forsblom, Helinski, Finland: “Donald Sultan” January 15 – February 8.
Meyerovich Gallery, San Fransisco, CA: “New Works: Poppies, Mimosas and Buttons,” October 1 – December 31, 2015.
2014
Vertu Fine Art, Boca Raton, FL: “Floral Constructions,” March 8 – April 30, 2014
Ryan Lee Gallery, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: Artiface”, April 24 – June 27.
Serge Sorokko Gallery, San Francisco, CA:“Donald Sultan : A Decade of Paintings and Drawings”, May 22 – July 1.
Galerie Andres Thalmann, Zurich, Switzerland:“Donald Sultan: Recent Work”, January 17 – March 15.
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX: “Donald Sultan”, February 27 – March 27.
2013
Galerie Piece Unique, Paris, France : “Echos”, October 10 – December 12.
2012
The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY: “Donald Sultan”, June 28 – July 30.
2011
Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY: “Soot and Shine: New Works”, February 17 – April 9.
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX: “Donald Sultan: New Works”, March 24 – May 4.
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO: “Donald Sultan: New Works”, July 5 – August 5.
2009
Mary Ryan Gallery: “Donald Sultan: Prints”, January 22 – March 7.
Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio: “Donald Sultan: The First Decade”, February 7 – May 11.
Greenfield-Sacks Gallery, Santa Monica, California: “Donald Sultan”, March 13 – May.
Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, England: “Donald Sultan”, June 24 – September 19.
2008
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO: “Donald Sultan: Works on Paper”, February 15 – March 10.
Aidan Gallery, Moscow, Russia: “Donald Sultan: Artificial Images”, March 13 – May 27.
Forsblom Gallery, Helsinki, Finland: “Donald Sultan: Drawings”, June 11 – August 24.
2007
Guy Pieters Gallery, Knokke-Heist, Belgium: “Donald Sultan”, April 1 – May 6.
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX: “Donald Sultan: New Work”, September 27 – November 18.
2006
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland: “Donald Sultan: New Paintings”, May 24 – June 30.
Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: Colors, Smoke and War”, February 16 – March 31.
2005
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO: “New Paintings”, March 18 – April 21.
Cliff Lede Vineyards, Yountville, CA: “Donald Sultan: 1991 – 2005”, June 12 – August 28.
Centre Cultural Contemporani Pelaires, Mallorca, Spain: “Donald Sultan: Paintings and Works on Paper”, December 1 – February 15. Catalogue.
2004
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX: “Donald Sultan”, February 5 – March 31.
Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore: “Donald Sultan: Prints & Drawings”, March 4 – April 25.
Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: New Poppy Paintings”, October 14 – November 13.
2003
Knoedler & Company, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: Poppy Paintings” January 23 – March 8.
Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: Poppies, Oranges & Mimosas: New Prints and Drawings”, October 23 – December 6.
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland: “Donald Sultan”, October 9 – November 2.
2002
Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA: “Donald Sultan”, February 23 – March 24.
Louise Cameron Wells Art Museum, Wilmington, NC: “Donald Sultan: Painting Life’s Paradoxes”, April 21 – July 14.
Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA: “Donald Sultan: Paintings and Works on Paper”, October 22 – November 27.
2001
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado: “Donald Sultan, 10 Paintings”, December 27 – February 12.
Dorothy Blau Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, Florida: “Donald Sultan, Smoke Rings”, February 16- March 7.
Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, Texas: “Donald Sultan Recent Works”, April 2 – May 28.
Raab Galerie, Berlin Germany: “Visuelle Paradoxe”, May 21 – June 30.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan: “Smoke Rings”, August 25 – December 3.
Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan: “Donald Sultan Recent Works”, October 20 – December 1.
Galerie Lutz and Thalmann, Zurich, Switzerland: “Donald Sultan: Recent Works”, November 2 – December 8.
Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia: “Donald Sultan; Paintings and Drawings”, November 30 – December 28.
2000
Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan: “Donald Sultan – Selected Drawings 1976 – 1998” November 12 – January 31.
Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, Tennessee: “Temporary Contemporary – Selected Works by Donald Sultan” December 4 – January 30.
Traveling exhibition: “Donald Sultan: In the Still-Life Tradition”;
- Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, Tennessee. January 23 – April 9;
- Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. May 6 – July 17;
- Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Sept. 16 – Dec. 3;
- Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, Florida. March 31 – June 3;
- Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, Arizona. June 29 – Sept 9.
Winston Wachter Fine Art, Seattle, Washington: “New Works”, February 17 – April 1.
Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, Louisiana: “Donald Sultan: Paintings & Drawings” February 19 – March 28.
Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, Texas: “Donald Sultan” May 4 – May 25.
Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, New York: “Donald Sultan: Recent Prints and Drawings” May 24 – July 14.
1999
The Jewish Museum – New York, NY: “Bar Mitzvah” February 15 – May 1999 Book collaboration with playwright David Mamet.
Meredith Long & Co., Houston, Texas: “Donald Sultan Recent Works” February. 18 – March 10.
Knoedler – New York, New York: “Donald Sultan: recent painting” March 4 – 27.
Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan: “Donald Sultan Selected Drawings 1976-1998” November 12 – December 31.
1998
Galerie Lutz Thalmann. – Zurich, Switzerland: “Donald Sultan” January. 6 – February 25.
Baldwin Gallery – Aspen, Colorado: “Donald Sultan” February 13 – March 10.
Turner & Runyon Gallery, Dallas Texas: “Donald Sultan, New Paintings and Drawings” May 28 – July 2.
Galleria Lawrence Rubin, Milano, Italy: “Donald Sultan, Recent Work” September 24 – October. 18.
1997
Knoedler & Co, New York, New York: “Donald Sultan: Paintings and Drawings”, April 9 – May 3.
Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri: “Donald Sultan: Flowers”, May 2 – June 30.
Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Missouri: “Donald Sultan: painting, Drawing, Photography”, September 6 – October 11.
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France: “Donald Sultan”, September 6 – October 15.
Janet Borden, Inc, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: Smoke Rings”, September 11 – October 4.
1996
Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado: “Donald Sultan: Paintings & Works on Paper,” February 16 – March 13.
Meredith Long & Company, Houston, TX: “Donald Sultan,” March 7 – 26.
Fotouhi Cramer Gallery, East Hampton, NY: “Donald Sultan: Recent Works on Paper”, August 10- September 7.
Galerie Lawrence Rubin, Zurich, Switzerland “Donald Sultan: Neue Arbeiten”, September 6 – October 5.
Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan: Recent Prints”, October 2 – November 16.
Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY: “Donald Sultan”, October 30 – December 7.
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY: Exhibition in conjunction with the Hampton’s International Film Festival, October 16 – 21.
Art In Progress DONALD SULTAN.
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