23 Facts About Robert Ryman

Robert Ryman was an American painter identified with the movements of monochrome painting, minimalism, and conceptual art.

Robert Ryman moved to New York City in 1953, intending to become a professional jazz saxophonist.

Robert Ryman had lessons with pianist Lennie Tristano, which later informed his painting.

Robert Ryman soon took a day job at the Museum of Modern Art as a security guard to make ends meet, and met the artists Sol LeWitt and Dan Flavin, who were co-workers with him at MoMA.

Robert Ryman purchased some art supplies at a local store and began experimenting in his apartment in 1953.

Robert Ryman had a close relationship with the conservator Orrin Riley, who would frequently give him advice on archival materials, many times testing the acidity of media the artist was interested in using.

Robert Ryman was interviewed by the television writer and producer Barbaralee Diamonstein twice, once for the book and video production Inside New York's Art World in 1979 and again for Inside the Art World in 1994.

Robert Ryman was often classified as a minimalist, but he preferred to be known as a "realist", explaining he was not interested in creating illusions, but only in presenting the materials he used in compositions at their face value.

In 1955 Robert Ryman began what he considered to be his earliest professional work, a largely monochrome painting titled Orange Painting.

For each work in the series, Robert Ryman attached a configuration of heavy, creamy white sheets of the paper to a wall with masking tape, painted the sheets with a shiny white acrylic paint, removed the tape when the sheets were dry, mounted them on foamcore, and reattached them to the wall.

From around 1975 until 2003, Robert Ryman often affixed his paintings to the wall with metal brackets.

Robert Ryman stated that his titles were meaningless, and that they only existed as a form of identification.

Robert Ryman actually preferred the term of "name" for an artwork instead of a title because he was not creating a picture or making reference to anything except the media and the materials.

Robert Ryman had his first solo show at the Paul Bianchini Gallery in New York City in 1967 at the age of 36.

Robert Ryman's first show in Europe came the following year at the Galerie Heiner Friedrich, Munich.

One year later, Robert Ryman was included in When Attitudes Become Form, a seminal exhibition of works by Minimalist and Conceptual artists organized by the Kunsthalle Bern.

Robert Ryman's works were represented in documentas 5,6, and 7, in Kassel, in the Venice Biennale, and in the Whitney Biennial.

In 2008 Robert Ryman undertook a major reinstallation of his galleries at Hallen fur Neue Kunst.

In 2017, Robert Ryman donated 21 painting to the Dia Art Foundation's permanent collection, making it the only site with an extensive permanent grouping, featuring works made as early as the late 1950s and continuing up to 2003.

Robert Ryman was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters after 1994, and assumed the role of the organization's Vice President in 2003.

Robert Ryman's painting Bridge sold for $20.6 million at a Christie's auction in 2015.

In 2024, Ryman had a retrosepective called Robert Ryman: The Act of Looking at the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris.

Robert Ryman's estate is represented by David Zwirner and Xavier Hufkens.