On the 30th anniversary of her passing in 1993, Dusti Bongé, Mississippi’s most acclaimed modern artist, is finally receiving the attention she deserves.
Largely self-taught, Bongé responded to the leading art movements of her time. She started out as a modernist, experimenting with elements of Cubism and Fauvism; then explored the instinctual, dreamlike forms of Surrealism; and eventually found inspiration from Abstract Expressionism. All the while, she imbued her work with references to her Southern roots.
Bongé’s innovative style and embrace of experimentation led to decades of success as a post-war artist—a remarkable achievement given her decision to live outside of New York. Despite her distance from the center of the industry, Bongé became one of the pioneering artists to be represented by the groundbreaking art dealer Betty Parsons, and was consistently exhibited alongside leading artists of the time.
Untitled (White, Tan, Red and Black Abstract), 1954
Dusti Bongé
Artsy Impact Auctions
While highly skilled and successful, Bongé has been overlooked in the discourse of art history. She was overshadowed by her male contemporaries and is often viewed through the lens of a Southern artist, yet her rich practice pulled from both the Gulf Coast and the New York art scenes. As interest in her work and life grows, Bongé is finally receiving the acclaim her practice deserves. This month, an auction dedicated to two of the artist’s works will take place on Artsy, in collaboration with Hollis Taggart Gallery, which represents her estate. A portion of proceeds from the sale will support the East Hampton art institution LongHouse Reserve.
Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, Bongé began her career as an actress in Chicago and New York. After showing skill as an artist, her husband, Archie Bongé, encouraged her to learn; an artist himself, he gave her informal lessons. Apart from this instruction, she was primarily self-taught.
During the Great Depression, the couple moved from New York to Biloxi to raise their child, Lyle. When Archie died unexpectedly at a young age in 1936, Bongé began working as an artist and single mother, turning to her hometown and the artist community in Biloxi for inspiration. Working through this difficult time, she looked to the local landscape and architecture that was personal and sentimental to her, depicting her subjects in a semi-abstract style that blended Cubist forms with bold Fauvist colors.
Mother and Child I, 1944
Dusti Bongé
Artsy Impact Auctions
“Bongé was introspective with her work,” said Hollis Taggart. “A big part of her life was figuring out how to paint what was happening inside her—emotions, spirituality, dreams—to be seen by the outside world.”
In the 1940s, Bongé began to draw inspiration from her dreams, in particular the colors, shapes, and imagery that appeared. For much of the next decade, she translated these dreams and internal feelings through Surrealism, incorporating elongated figures, floating masks, and indistinct objects melting into the background and one another.
An exemplary piece from this period is Mother and Child I (1944), which will be featured in Artsy’s upcoming Impact Auction. Part of a series inspired by the circus, the work depicts a mother playing a wavy piano as ribbons on her wrists flow with the movement of her hands. A small child sits atop the piano and plays an instrument of their own. Bongé left the figures faceless, apart from the child’s mouth, which is wide open, forever singing a note. While their identities are unknown, the work bears personal significance for Bongé, as the single mother often referenced maternity.
While creating these Surrealist paintings, in 1945, Bongé met Betty Parsons and quickly befriended the dealer, before joining her gallery in the mid-1950s. “Bongé’s relationship with Betty Parsons was very significant for her career,” said Taggart. “Through Parsons and during her visits to New York, she met people like Richard Pousette-Dart, Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and the whole Abstract Expressionist group. Naturally some of those contacts influenced Bongé.”
By the 1950s, Bongé shifted from Surrealism into a unique form of Abstract Expressionism that eventually formed the body of work she is primarily known for. Working with Parsons in New York and the robust artistic community in the South, Bongé drew inspiration from both, blending the gestural style from New York with hints of flora and fauna of the South. “She saw and observed, but she never copied,” said Taggart. “She was always her own person.”
As seen in Untitled (White, Tan, Red, and Black Abstract) (1954), which joins Mother and Child I in illustrating Bongé’s robust practice in Artsy’s auction, the new style often featured distinct vertical elements that evoke a strong sense of movement. The new paintings also brought a shift in brushwork. Whereas the surfaces of her Surrealist pieces were relatively smooth, Bongé began using thickly applied paint and Masonite in the Abstract Expressionist works, which resulted in vigorous brushstrokes and rich, even rugged textures.
Through the Wall Seeing, 1954
Dusti Bongé
Hollis Taggart
Magic Promised (No. 9-12), 1955
Dusti Bongé
Hollis Taggart
Bongé continued to be an active member of the New York and Gulf Coast art scenes, acting as a link between the two. During this time, her work was featured in exhibitions across the U.S., including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
As her career developed, Bongé became more experimental. In the 1960s, she began creating mixed-media sculptures, clay pots, watercolors, and collages, many of which were inspired by her months-long travels across cities in Africa, Asia, and South and Central America. Bongé painted watercolors on Joss paper until just before her death at age 90 in 1993. Since then, her work has been featured in exhibitions in the South, including at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, the Mobile Museum of Art, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, but she is only now getting the attention she deserves more broadly.
“People love to discover something new, and we’ve seen a rise in interest in her work both nationally and abroad,” said Taggart. The gallery will feature Bongé in a group presentation of historic works at The Armory Show this September.
Bird and Flower, circa 1938
Dusti Bongé
Hollis Taggart
“She deserves to be brought back into attention,” Taggart added. “Bongé was in the mainstream art world with a strong sense of the popular movements at the time, and her work reflects the shifts and techniques that artists were experimenting with.
“From today’s standpoint, she is an artist who is incredibly exciting,” he continued. “Bongé has been overlooked in the canon of art and it’s rare to have the chance to fill in the missing gaps, not just in relation to her own life, but also within the broader story of art history.”
Browse Artsy Impact Auction: Dusti Bongé, in Support of LongHouse Reserve.
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