Richard Filipowski
Richard Filipowski: Art & Design Beyond the Bauhaus
Monacelli Press, 2018
Richard Filipowski (1923-2008, Poland) was a U.S.-based artist and member of the New Bauhaus. Born in Poland in 1923, Filipowski’s family emigrated to Canada in 1927. Inspired by his teenage discovery of a MoMA exhibition catalog on the Bauhaus school, FIlipowski decided to pursue a formal eduction in the arts. Upon the completion of his studies, Filipowski sought out Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, a founding member at the New Bauhaus, appealing to him for his mentorship. So impressed by the young Filipowski’s talents and tenacity, Moholy-Nagy invited him to join his program. There he was instructed in a range of media, including painting and metalwork, all under the tenants and style of the Bauhaus. A remarkable apprentice, Filipowski was eventually asked to join the faculty at the New Bauhaus where he taught alongside Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer from 1946-1950. He would subsequently go on to hold positions at the Institute of Design in Chicago as well as the Harvard School of Design and MIT.
While Filipowski was a prolific artist, creating hundreds of drawings, paintings, and sculptures, he was deeply private about his personal creative endeavors. Referring to them as an “art of the psyche,” he believed that they were purely a process of self-expression and exploration, a personal endeavor not subject to a criticism of commercialization. This impulse towards privacy, coupled with his lifelong dedication to educating others, were contributing factors to his having achieved less notoriety than some of his Bauhaus peers.
RICHARD FILIPOWSKI
1923–2008
EDUCATION
1946 Institute of Design, Chicago, IL
1942 Art Studies in Toronto, Canada
TEACHING POSITIONS
1953–1989 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1950–1952 Harvard University, Graduate School of Design
1946–1950 Institute of Design, Chicago
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Hostler Burrows, New York, NY (forthcoming)
2013 Richard FIlipowski: Beyond the Bauhaus, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY
2009 Acme Fine Art and Design, Boston, MA
2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
1989 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
1988 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
1974 Joan Peterson Gallery, Boston, MA
1969 University State College, Oneonta, NY
1968 Fitchburg Art Museum, MA
1966–1971 Art in Embassies Program, US State Department
1964 Joan Peterson Gallery, Boston, MA
1962 Joan Peterson Gallery, Boston, MA
1958 De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
1953 Boris Mirski Gallery, Boston, MA
1951 Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
1950 Linn Gallery, Winnetka, IL
1947 Institute of Design, Chicago, IL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2006 De Menil Museum, Houston, TX
2005 Noguchi Museum, New York, NY
1972 De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
1969 Marblehead Arts Festival, MA
Gallery of the State Street Bank, Boston, MA
Prudential Center Gallery, Boston, MA
De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
1968 Beverly Tercentenary Celebration Arts Festival, MA
1967 Ogunquit Art Museum, ME
Joan Peterson Gallery, Boston, MA
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Prudential Center Gallery, Boston, MA
1966 Hayden Gallery, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
1965 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
1963 Museum of Art and Science, Nashua, NH
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
1960 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
1959 Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Nexus Gallery, Boston, MA
Boston Arts Festival, Boston, MA
1958 Boston Arts Festival, Boston, MA
1949 Illinois State Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1948 The Benjamin Gallery, Chicago, IL
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1947 Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1944 Julian Levy Gallery, New York, NY
SELECTED COMMISSIONS
1965 Untitled, Revere Copper and Brass Corporation
Cross, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, PA
1964 Untitled, Sheraton Corporation, Prudential Center, Boston, MA
Fence, North End Branch, Boston Public Library
1963 Cross, Chancel Light and Candelabra, Trinity Lutheran Church,
Chelmsford, MA
1962 Ark in the Chapel, Temple B’rith Kodesh, Rochester, NY
1960 Untitled, Sheraton Corporation, Dallas, TX
1956 Candelabra, Temple Emmanuel, Dallas, TX
1955 Relief for Ark, Entranceway and Eternal Light, Temple Israel,
Swampscott, MA
AWARDS
1988 Named Professor Emeritus by M.I.T.
1967 The Aleck and Ruth McClean Award
1958 First Prize for Sculpture, Boston Arts Festival
1957 Alfred P. Sloan Award, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1945 Honorable Mention, Dormitories at Smith College, National
Design Competition
1941 Vimy Ridge Memorial Poster Competition
COLLECTIONS
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Walter Gropius House Museum, Lincoln, MA
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA
The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum, Cambridge, MA
Cary Memorial Library, Lexington, MA
David Rockefeller
State Street Bank and Trust Company
Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company
Chase Manhattan Bank
First National Bank
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Opening Note, Hattula Moholy-Nagy
Finding Form: The Art of Richard Filipowski, Exhibition Publication, M.I.T. Museum, 2005
Lessons Learned: Thoughts on Filipowski, Richard Dattner and Carol Bankerd
At the Intersections of Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, and Design, Larry List
"The Quiet Man," Larry Weinberg, Modern Magazine, Fall 2010
A Gift of Friendship, Carol Bruce, Historic New England Museum, 2002
