Henry Taylor
& James Jarvaise
Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked
12 June – 5 September
Opening Reception
Friday 12 June, 6 – 8 pm
Dates
12 June – 5 September 2026
Opening during Zurich Art Weekend 2026, ‘Sometimes a straight line has to be crooked’ is the first European exhibition bringing together the work of Henry Taylor, one of today’s most celebrated artists, in dialogue with that of his teacher, California modernist James Jarvaise (1924 – 2015). It is significant that Taylor’s debut at Hauser & Wirth in Zurich takes place in dialogue with Jarvaise—the artist who saw something special in Taylor when he was a student in the 1980s.
Concurrently on view, the Musée National Picasso-Paris is presenting the solo exhibition, ‘Henry Taylor. Where thoughts provoke,’ from 8 April – 6 September.
About James Jarvaise
A California regionalist who taught generations of students at schools in and around Los Angeles, James Jarvaise gained national acclaim when his work was included in the historic 1959 exhibition ‘Sixteen Americans’ at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Writing for The New Yorker, critic Robert Coates commended ‘the coolly green, strongly linear group of abstract oils called ‘Hudson River Series,’ all with landscape motifs, by James Jarvaise.’ Over subsequent years, Jarvaise exhibited regularly at the Felix Landau gallery in Los Angeles and elsewhere before turning his focus to home: after moving his family to Santa Barbara in 1969, Jarvaise dedicated his time to crafting an artist’s paradise where he continued to work in peaceful privacy. In 2012, a survey of his work at Louis Stern gallery in Los Angeles was accompanied by a monograph.
Over the course of his teaching career, Jarvaise was affiliated with USC, California Institute of the Arts (formerly Chouinard Arts Institute), Occidental College, Santa Barbara Art Institute and Oxnard College, where he retired in 2004. Prominent among generations of his students are Charles Arnoldi, David Novros, Peter Plagens, Henry Taylor and Robert Therrien. His work was collected by museums including the Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
About the Artist
Henry Taylor
Henry Taylor vit et travaille à Los Angeles (Californie). Son oeuvre a récemment été présentée aux États-Unis dans le cadre des expositions collectives ‘I’m yours: Encounters with Art in Our Times’ à l’Institut d’art contemporain (ICA) de Boston et ‘Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America’ au New Museum de New York. En 2022, une rétrospective intitulée ‘Henry Taylor: B Side’, sa plus importante exposition à ce jour, a été présentée au Musée d’art contemporain de Los Angeles et ira au Whitney Museum of American Art de New York du 4 octobre 2023 au 28 janvier 2024. Outre les Etats-Unis, ses oeuvres ont fait l’objet de nombreuses expositions internationales.
Elles ont rejoint d’importantes collections comme celles de la Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, à Paris (France), The Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York), le Carnegie Museum of Art de Pittsburgh, la Fondation Louis Vuitton à Paris (France), le Hammer Museum de Los Angeles (Californie), l’Institut d’art contemporain de Boston (Massachussetts), le Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Le Metropolitan Museum of Art de New York, le Musée d’art contemporain de Los Angeles, le Musée des beaux-arts de Houston (Texas), le Musée d’art moderne de New York, le Nasher Museum of Art de la Duke University de Durham (Caroline du Nord), le Pérez Art Museum de Miami (Floride), le Musée d’art moderne de San Francisco (Californie), le Studio Museum de Harlem (New York), et le Whitney Museum of American Art de New York. En 2018, Henry Taylor a reçu le prix Robert De Niro, Sr. pour ses réalisations picturales. Le travail d’Henry Taylor a été présenté à la Whitney Biennial 2017 (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York) et à la 58ème Biennale de Venise en 2019.
Current Exhibitions
Glenn Ligon
Late at night, early in the morning, at noon
15 January – 11 April 2026
New York, 18th Street
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