Artist: Allan Kaprow (1927 - )
Nationality: American
Movement:
Media: Performance Art
Influences:

Biography:
Allan Kaprow is mostly known as the inventor of “happenings,” a concept of performance art. He studied under a variety of teachers including musician John Cage, who gave him the idea of chance in aesthetic organization. Initially a painter, Kaprow abandoned the medium for assemblage and environmental art in the 1950’s. In a 1958 article in Art News, he introduced his idea of happenings, stating that craftsmanship and permanence should be forgotten and perishable materials should be used in art. His first happenings exhibition occurred at Reuben Gallery, New York a year later.

Artworks in Museum Collections: (60)
Click the artwork titles below to see actual examples of artwork or works of art relevant to works by Allan Kaprow.

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Allan Kaprow untitled, plate on p. 101 in the book, 1¢ Life ([Bern: E. W. Kornfeld, 1964]) color lithograph 1964
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Allan Kaprow untitled, plate on p. 100 in the book, 1¢ Life ([Bern: E. W. Kornfeld, 1964]) color lithograph 1964
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James Peale - The Ambush of Captain Allan McLane 1803 oil on canvas Utah Museum of Fine Arts American
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Aladdin Lamp, Allan Adler (United States, 1916 - 2002) , circa 1940, Sterling silver
Museum of Fine Arts -
David Allan, Scottish, 1744-1796 Frontispiece designed by Allan Ramsay, Scottish, 1713-1784 Poet Ramsay [Book] Allan
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Madame Allan (19e siècle) by MARIE (imprimeur) ; HEUGEL & Cie (éditeur)
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William Allan William Allan/ Recent Watercolors and Paintings/ the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco/ California Palace of the Legion of Honor/ 20 July through 8 September 1974 color offset lithograph poster 1974
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David Allan Preaching in the Collosseum at Rome etching 18th century
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Bates Van Allan, Douglas Busch (United States, born 1951) , 1973, Gelatin-silver print
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Coffee Pot, Allan Adler (United States, 1916 - 2002) , circa 1960, Sterling silver, wood
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William Allan Trout lithograph 1973
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Elizabeth Allan, Clarence Sinclair Bull (United States, 1895 - 1979) , circa 1936, Gelatin-silver print
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William Allan Tomales Color aquatint 1975
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Prisonniers amenés aux pieds d'un Oriental (4e quart 18e siècle ; 1ère moitié 19e siècle) by NORMAND Charles Pierre Joseph (attribué à) ; ALLAN Sir William (inspiré par)
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Water Pitcher, Allan Adler (United States, 1916 - 2002) , Designed 1948; fabricated circa 1951, Sterling silver
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Plaster Surrogates, Allan McCollum (United States, California, Los Angeles, born 1944) , 1984, Enamel on cast hydrostone plaster
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Attaque d'un carosse dans la montagne (4e quart 18e siècle ; 1ère moitié 19e siècle) by NORMAND Charles Pierre Joseph (attribué à) ; ALLAN Sir William (inspiré par)
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Ward, Leslie Matthew (Spy) "The Gateshead Giant" (Mr. William Allan, M.P.), Statesman No. 623, from Vanity Fair, October 26, 1893 Lithograph 1893
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Woman’s Dress and Collar, Lucinda Allan , circa 1820-1830, Wood block printed cotton chintz
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Plaster Surrogates (No. 11), Allan McCollum (United States, California, Los Angeles, born 1944) , 1982-1990, Enamel on Hydrocal plaster
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La mauvaise nouvelle (1989) by PAUQUET ; NORMAND Charles Pierre Joseph (attribué à) ; ALLAN Sir William (inspiré par)
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Charles Allan (C.A.) Gilbert Scribner's May (Life at Wellesley) by Miss Goadlau color lithograph 19th - 20th century
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Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland and Allan Pakula from ’Klute’, Bob Willoughby (United States, born 1927) , 1970, printed 1986, Gelatin-silver print
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Divine Inspiration of Music, Nicolas Regnier (Flanders, 1591 - 1667)  (Artist), circa 1640, Oil on canvas
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Untitled, Allan McCollum (United States, California, Los Angeles, born 1944) , 1974, Silkscreen on Arches paper, backed by Roll Rives paper
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Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley San Francisco Rock Poster; Family Dog Productions, "Edgar Allan Poe," Daily Flash; Country Joe amd the Fish; Avalon Ballroom, 10/21-22/66 lithograph 1966
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Woman’s Dress with Cape Collar, Lucinda Allan , circa 1825, Copper-plate printed cotton chintz
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Untitled, Allan Ludwig (United States, born 1937) , 1987, Platinum-palladium print
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Untitled, Allan Ludwig (United States, born 1937) , 1987, Platinum-palladium print
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Allan D'Arcangelo - Landscape 1964 oil on canvas Hirshhorn Museum American
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DAVID WEMYSS, LORD ELCHO (2e quart 18e siècle) by RAMSAY Allan
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Allan D'Arcangelo - Landscape c. 1967 acrylic on canvas Hirshhorn Museum American
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Inco Smelter, Worker’s Lounge Overlooking Parliament Hill, Bank of Canada, Allan Sekula (United States, born 1951) , 1987, Diptych; silver dye-bleach (Cibachrome) prints, framed separately
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Inco Smelter, Worker’s Lounge Overlooking Parliament Hill, Bank of Canada, Allan Sekula (United States, born 1951) , 1987, Diptych; silver dye-bleach (Cibachrome) prints, framed separately
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Twentieth Century Fox Set for Titanic, Mussel Gatherers, Popotla, Baja California, Allan Sekula (United States, born 1951) , 1997, Diptych; silver-dye bleach (Cibachrome) prints, on one sheet, framed
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Verso of Sliced Face #1, Allan Ludwig (United States, born 1937) , 1985, Platinum-palladium print
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Verso of Sliced Face #1, Allan Ludwig (United States, born 1937) , 1985, Platinum-palladium print
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LA REINE CHARLOTTE (1762 après) by RAMSAY Allan (atelier)
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 By the Sea 1865 Oil on canvas 20.32 x 35.88
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 Farmhouse 1868 Oil on canvas 40.32 x 65.09 cm (15
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Allan Rohan Crite - Marble Players 1938 oil on canvas Boston Athenaeum American
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Allan Rohan Crite - Harriet and Leon 1941 oil on canvas Boston Athenaeum American
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 At the Shore 1860 Oil on canvas 50.8 x 104.14
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Allan Ramsay - King George III 1713-84 oil on canvas The Mint Museums English
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Allan Ramsay - Queen Charlotte 1713-84 oil on canvas The Mint Museums English
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Inco Smelter, Worker’s Lounge Overlooking Parliament Hill, Bank of Canada, Allan Sekula (United States, born 1951) , 1987, Diptych; silver dye-bleach (Cibachrome) prints, framed separately
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 The Alps about 1847 Oil on panel 27.3 x 35.24
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 The Wagoner 1850 Oil on panel 17.14 x 19.68 cm
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 Farmhouse at Rye Beach, New Hampshire 1870 Oil on board
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 Rocks at Cohasset 1869 Oil on board 30.16 x 48.26
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Carle (Antoine-Charles -Horace) Vernet Allan Mack-Aulay,....fourteenth plate in the book... Galerie lithographiÈe de son Altesse royale Monseigneur le Duc d* OrlÈans (Paris: Bureau de la Galerie ä [1830?]), vol. 1 Lithograph 18th - 19th ce
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Allan Gwynne-Jones - Spring Evening, Froxfield 1922 oil on canvas Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery British
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Allan D'Arcangelo - Number One Of Road Series 2 1965 acrylic on canvas Hirshhorn Museum American
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Allan Ramsay - Portrait of Mrs. Mary Martin 1761 oil on canvas Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery British
Museum of Fine Arts -
Winckworth Allan Gay, American, 1821-1910 Presidential Range in Early Autumn about 1855 Oil on paperboard
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VUE DE LA GRANDE GALERIE DU LOUVRE (1841) by ALLAN FRASER Patrick
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Allan D'Arcangelo Landscape III, plate 2 from the portfolio Eleven Pop Artists, Vol. III Color screenprint 1965
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Allan D'Arcangelo Landscape I, pl. 4 from Eleven Pop Artists, Vol. I screen print on wove paper 1965
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Antonio Frasconi Untitled (Poe in chair with cat ), second plate in the book The Face of Edgar Allan Poe. With a Note on Poe by Charles Baudelaire, translated by Lois and Francis E. Hyslop Jr. ([New York: n. p., 1959]) woodcut on handmade Goyu paper
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Antonio Frasconi Untitled (Poe with patterned waistcoat),third plate in the book The Face of Edgar Allan Poe. With a Note on Poe by Charles Baudelaire, translated by Lois and Francis E. Hyslop Jr. ([New York: n. p., 1959]) woodcut on handmade Goyu pa

Artnews Articles and Exhibition Information: (9)
Click on any of the links below to read about artnews or exhibitions related to Kaprow

Haus der Kunst: Allan Kaprow. Art as Life
Allan Kaprow became well known in 1959 with his "18 Happenings in 6 Parts." With this event, he opened the Reuben Gallery in New York, which he helped to establish. "18 Happenings in 6 Parts" was performed on the 4th and 6th - 10th of October, on ...
Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery: Nono Reinhold: The Stairs
In 1957 the artist rented a fifth-floor room in the rue Hautefeuille in Paris where she has lived and worked for part of each year. The series of prints exhibited here reflects many years of thinking about the form (and symbolism) of the...
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art: do it
Those charged with the execution of the artworks must exercise their interpretative skills, for, like a musical composition, each version of a work in do it is meant to be a uniqu...
Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum: POP CARS. America – Europe
The Lehmbruck Museum project will be the result of in-depth research, and will present groups of work on the topic from the Gottfried Schultz VW collection, the BMW Car Collection (Warhol), the DaimlerChrysler Collection (Cars by Warhol), the ADAC (G...
Southeast Museum of Photography: Photojournalism from James Nachtwey, Robert Lerner and John Cohen
A Lens To The World - Photographs by Robert Lerner This retrospective exhibition surveys Bob Lerner's work for Look magazine during its heyday in the fifties and sixties. During his career Lerner photographed throughout the world and in all ...
Los Angeles County Museum of Art: MAKING: Unique Installations Created by 5 Art Schools
MAKING is intended to bring the interests, perspectives, and insights of L.A.’s next generation of artists to museum audiences, as the artists examine the dynamics of art making through collaborative projects. The four large-scale installations el...
Dia Center for the Arts: Playback: A Retrospective of Work by Robert Whitman
Pioneering in its use of media as art material, Whitman's performance work is among the most influential of its period. His involvement with multi-media performance-based works began in 1960 when, together with fellow artists Allan Kaprow, Jim ...
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: Roy Lichtenstein: All About Art
This major exhibition features approximately eighty paintings and drawings by Lichtenstein (1923–1997) and traces the artist’s fascination with the painted image and the act of art-making over his nearly forty-year career. Best known as a pop arti...
Cincinnati Art Museum: Jim Dine: Walking Memory, 1959–1969

During the first ten years of his professional career, Jim Dine began his lifelong pursuit of the themes of the self, the body, and memory through a variety of mediums--painting, performance, mixed-media assemblage,...

Further Artwork and Information:

Allan Kaprow
Multimedia From Wagner to Virtual Reality
Allan Kaprow artist portrait, brief biography and art
Allan Kaprow (1866 - 1944) Biography, Artwork Images, Exhibitions, Reviews
ABR 10-11/94
allan kaprow
HighBeam Research: Library Search: Results
UCSD Visual Arts | Faculty
Allan KAPROW - Artpool Fluxus Library
Blurring Art and Life: Allan Kaprows Happenings Online Course

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