NEW YORK, NY.- The Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation, in collaboration with Alexander Gray Associates, announces the digital launch of the Betty Parsons Catalogue Raisonné. This web-based resource, designed by panOpticon, focuses on Parsons’s artistic legacy, making the breadth of Parsons’s oeuvre accessible to scholars, curators, collectors, and general audiences alike. Rachel Vorsanger, Collection and Research Manager for the Betty Parsons Foundation, has led this initiative.

At present, the Betty Parsons Catalogue Raisonné lists over 700 artworks made by Betty Parsons, including paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and painted wooden assemblages. Anchoring the Catalogue are works by Parsons from the Foundation’s holdings; also listed are artworks in public and private collections, including gifts to family members and close friends. In addition, journals, sketchbooks, writing, and ephemera will be added to the Catalogue to reflect Parsons’s interests in travel, artmaking, and issues contemporary to her time. Please note that the Archives of American Art holds the extensive papers of the Betty Parsons Gallery.

The Catalogue Raisonné project will be ongoing as it welcomes submissions of extant artworks from private and public collections. An object submission form can be accessed here.

The estate of Betty Parsons is represented by Alexander Gray Associates, New York and Alison Jacques, London.

Betty Parsons

Betty Parsons (b.1900, New York, NY; d.1982, Southold, NY) was an abstract painter and sculptor who is best known as a dealer of mid-Twentieth century art. Throughout her storied career as a gallerist, she maintained a rigorous artistic practice by creating works in a variety of media, including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Parsons’s eye for innovative talent stemmed from her own artistic training, and her commitment to championing new and emerging artists of her time impacted the canon of twentieth-century art in the United States.

The Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation

Through research, collections, and exhibition support, The Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation promotes the legacy of artist and gallerist Betty Parsons. Continuing Parsons’s visionary support of pioneering artists and advocating for her legacy as an artist in her own right, The Betty Parsons and William P. Rayner Foundation provides a platform for scholarship expanding understanding of Parsons’ enduring influence.