Constance Lewallen

Constance Lewallen (July 25, 1939 – April 24, 2022) was an American curator.^[1][2] She was curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.^[2] She was known for her support of Conceptual art and West Coast artists.^[2][3] Lewallen died on April 24, 2022, at the age of 82.^[4]

Life and career

Lewallen (née Ehrlich) was born in New York.^[2] She attended Fieldston School followed by an undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College.^[5] She received a master's from San Diego State University in 1970.^[2]

Lewallen's first worked at Bykert Gallery in New York, where she met Michael Snow and Vito Acconci.^[3] After moving to Los Angeles, Lewallen worked for Cirrus Editions and Broxton Gallery (with Larry Gagosian).^[6] Lewallen then founded ThomasLewallen Gallery with Morgan Thomas and Foundation for Art Research, a non-profit.^[5] Lewallen moved to the Bay Area in 1980.^[2] She worked for the Berkeley Art Museum from 1980 until 2007; first as Matrix curator (1980–88), then as Senior Curator (1998–2007).^[7][3] Lewallen also worked as associate director of Crown Point Press, a fine-art printer and publisher, in the 1980s and 90s.^[5] She was a contributing editor to the Brooklyn Rail.^[5]

Lewallen was married to poet Bill Berkson.^[8]

Curatorial work

Lewallen was known for her work around the California Conceptual art movement of the 1970s.^[2] Her exhibitions helped to assert that Conceptual art had roots beyond New York City.^[3] "State of Mind New California Art circa 1970", curated with Karen Moss in 2011, was a seminal contribution to the history of West Coast conceptualism.^[3][9] In 1980, Lewallen wrote a chronology for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art about the development of conceptual art in the 1970s.^[3]

In addition to her work on conceptualism, Lewallen was known for her solo shows of single artists, including Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Bruce Nauman, Joe Brainard, Jay DeFeo, and Paul Kos.^[2][3]