BORN
1954 Jacksonville, North Carolina.
EDUCATION
1981-85 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2003 Alexandre Gallery, New York, New York.
2001 Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine.
1999 Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio.
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York.
New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut.
1996 Terry Dintenfass in association with Salander-O’Reilly Galleries,
New York, New York.
1994 Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.
1993 Fischbach Galleries, New York, New York.
1992 Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine.
1990 Fischbach Galleries, New York, New York.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2005 “Contemporary Realism: Selections from the Arnot Art Museum,” (Anticipated), Chauncy Stillman Gallery, presented by Lyme Academy College.
2004 “Naked,” June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, Maine.
2003 “2003 Portland Museum of Art Biennial,” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.
“Transforming the Commonplace: Masters of Contemporary Realism,” Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
2001 “2001 DeCordova Annual Exhibition,” DeCordova Museum,
Lincoln, Massachusetts.
“Portland Museum Biennial Exhibition,” Portland Museum of Art,
Portland, Maine.
“Re-Presenting Representation,” organized by The Arnot Art Museum,
The Corning Gallery, New York, New York.
2000 “The Figure: Another Side of Modernism,” Snug Harbor Cultural Center,
Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, New York.
“Eloquent Objects,” Museum of Art, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.
1999 “The Nude in Contemporary Art,” Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut.
“Arthur Goldberg Collection,” Danforth Art Museum, Framingham,
Massachusetts.
1998 “Portland Museum Biennial Exhibition,” Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.
“The Seventh National Drawing Invitational,” Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.
“Selected Artists,” O’Farrell Gallery, Brunswick, Maine.
1997 “The Unbroken Line: 100 Years of Fellowship,” Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Realism in Twentieth Century American Art,” Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine.
“The Figure,” Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, New York.
1996 “Self-Portraits,” Edith Caldwell Gallery, San Francisco, California.
“Narcissism: Artists Reflect Themselves,” California Center for the Arts
Museum, Escondida, California.
1994 “Paintings from the Commerce Bancshares Collection,” Lakeview Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, Illinois.
“Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of “Honors and Awards,” American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, New York.
1992-93 “On the Edge--Forty Years of Maine Painting, 1952-1992,” Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, Maine; exhibition traveled to the University of Maine, Presque Isle, Maine and the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.
“Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Exhibition,” American
Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, New York.
“Eight Maine Painters,” Tom Veilleux Gallery, Farmington, Maine.
“Re-Presenting Representation,” Arnot Museum of Art, Elmira, New York.
1991 “Works on Paper,” Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina.
“To Support, To Acknowledge, To Promote,” Baxter Gallery, Portland, Maine; exhibition traveled to University of Maine at Farmington Art Gallery, Farmington, Maine.
“Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Exhibition,” American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, New York.
1990 “The Figure,” Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.
1989 “The Maine Coast Artist Invitational,” Maine Coast Artists Gallery, Rockport, Maine.
“The Monocular Vision,” Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg,
Massachusetts.
1988 “Candidates for Art Awards,” American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, New York.
“40th Anniversary Juried Exhibition,” Farnsworth Museum, Rockland, Maine.
1985 “Painters’ Choice,” Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“New Talent Show,” Marion Locks Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“The Figure,” Southern Alleghenies Art Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Arnot Museum of Art, Elmira, New York.
The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine.
Commerce Bancshares Collection, Kansas City, Missouri.
Farnsworth Museum and Library, Rockland, Maine.
Fruit of the Loom, Inc., Chicago, Illinois.
Museum of Art, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.
Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine.
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine.
AWARDS
1998 The Pollock – Krasner Foundation Award.
1997 Catherine Gibbons Granger Award in Painting,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
1994 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award,
American Academy of Arts and Letters.
1991 Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Purchase Award,
American Academy of Arts and Letters.
1990 Maine Arts Commission Individual Fellowship.
1989 The Elizabeth Greenshields Grant.
1988 Farnsworth Museum Juried Exhibition, First Prize.
1985 Fulbright Grant to Italy.
1985 The Elizabeth Greenshields Grant.
1985 The Pennsylvania Governor’s Award.
1984 The William Emlen Cresson Traveling Scholarship.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Patricia McGraw, “Brett Bigbee: Paintings and Drawings,” Art New England, April/May 1994, page 61.
Beem, Edgar Allen, “Nothing is Revealed,” Maine Times, August 7, 1992, page 23.
Beem, Edgar Allen, “Portland Museum of Art, Part II,” Maine Times, December 24, 1993.
Culver, Michael, “The Paintings and Drawings of Brett Bigbee,” The Ogunquit Museum
of Art, catalogue essay, Summer 1992.
The Gettysburg Review, illustrations, Summer 1996, Volume 9, cover and pages 441-448.
Goodyear, Sarah, “Local Color,” Down East Magazine, January 1994, page 47.
Greenleaf, Ken, “Bigbee Paintings Open Doors to What the Man Is All About,” Maine Sunday Telegram, January 9, 1994.
Jacks, Shirley, “On the Edge: Forty Years of Maine Painting 1952-1992,” Art New England, December 1992/January 1993.
Issacson, Philip, “Brett Bigbee’s Paintings, and the Chance to See Them, Are Precious,” Maine Sunday Telegram, July 12, 1992, page 9E.
Killinger, Amy, “Preview,” Maine Sunday Telegram, December 5, 1994.
Little, Carl, “Brett Bigbee at the Portland Museum of Art,” Art in America, July 1994, pages 99-100.
McKelvey, Terry, “An Interview with Brett Bigbee,” Q--A Journal of Art, Spring 1993, pages 18-19.
McWilliams, Margot Brown, “Brett Bigbee, Renaissance Man,” Casco Bay Weekly, July 9,1992, page 21.
Moorman, Margaret “Brett Bigbee,” Artnews, April 1996, pages 131-21.
Nicoll, Jessica, “Brett Bigbee Paintings and Drawings 1989-1993,” catalogue essay, Portland Museum of Art, December 11, 1993-February 13, 1994.
On Paper, “Working Proof: Brett Bigbee, Ann with Child, November-December 1997, Volume 2, Number 2, page 38.
Skrapits, Joseph C., “Realists & Romantics,” American Artist, May 2000.
Southworth, Linda, “Well Worth the Trip,” Upper West Side Resident, March 16-29, 1994, page 19.
The William and Mary Review, illustrations, Volume 32, 1994, pages 2, 58.
Wolfe, Townsend, “Seventh National Drawing Invitational,” Arkansas Arts Center,
May 8-June 17, 1998, p. 8.