News

2/3/24 Review:

1/30/24 Mary Ellen Bartley: Morandi’s Books, opens at Museo Morandi, Bologna, Italy. The exhibition
features 22 photographs by Bartley and 3 paintings by Morandi, it spans two rooms in the museum and includes a video of the project, a catalogue and an artist book. It runs through July 7, 2024.

1/30/24 Rai, Italian National Television, features Morandi’s Books on the evening news click here to view

1/18/24 Mary Ellen Bartley: Chromatic Fiction opens at Jackson Fine Art in Atlanta. This is my first exhibition with the gallery and will run through March 22.

10/27/23 I’ve been invited to create a project in response to Karl Lagerfeld’s library housed at his former studio at 7 rue de Lille in Paris.

1/3/23 Photograph Magazine, Jan/Feb Issue,The Photograph Five, Mary Ellen Bartley

12/13/22 ZOOM talk, In conjunction with the exhibitions, Morandi’s Books and Albeit, Yancey Richardson hosts a conversation with Mary Ellen Bartley, Laura Letinsky, and Kevin Moore discussing innovative approaches to photographic still life. Tuesday 12/13 at 1pm. to view click here.

11/28/22 Musée Magazine, review of Morandi’s Books, by Nina Rivera

10/27/22 MORANDI’S BOOKS, opens at Yancey Richardson Gallery with a reception at 6-8pm and a walkthrough with the artist at 5:30. The exhibition will run through 12/23/22

5/20/22 Mary Ellen Bartley: New Photographs, opens at The Drawing Room in East Hampton, and presents a sampling of new work from four distinct series; Blue Books, Split Stacks, Reading November and Morandi’s Books, united by the common subject of the printed book. The show will remain on view until June 20, 2022.

5/16/22 Scene in a Library acquired by MOMA library Special Collections.

3/7/22 - 4/20/22 Artist Residency, The Church Sag Harbor. I was invited by curator Sara Cochran along with co-founders April Gornik and Eric Fischl for a six week “stay” at the fabulous new art space created in a deconsecrated 19th century Sag Harbor village church. I had unlimited access to the huge ground floor studio where I could pin up my work, shoot, print and have studio visits.

7/27/21 Jackson Pollock’s Books, Zoom presentation by Mary Ellen Bartley presented by Pollock Krasner House & Study Center, 4:00pm.

5/6/21 Scene in a Library Penumbra Foundation, 36 East 30th Street, NY, opening reception Thursday May 6th, 6-8.
Penumbra Foundation is pleased to present Scene in a Library, a solo exhibition and publication by artist Mary Ellen Bartley.
In 2019, Bartley spent six weeks at Penumbra making hundreds of prints, using a toner-based copier machine. All images were forged using the Taubman collection of 19th and early 20th-century photographic manuals, treatises, and monographs, housed at the Foundation’s location in New York City. The result, Scene in a Library, is a limited edition artist book containing 28 images in six leporello signatures, a fold out and a photogravure,

2/13/21 Photographs, Mary Ellen Bartley, Adam Bartos, Laurie Lambrecht, Photographs from three photographers working on the East End of Long Island, this selection offers an interesting overlap of themes including the objects and spaces of local artist studios and nature. On view from February 13- April 11, 2021 at The Drawing Room, East Hampton, NY

12/2/20 Musée Magazine Still Life: The Still World of Mary Ellen Bartley by Summer Myatt on the series 7 Things Again and Again.

10/1/20 Volumes opens at Galerie Pugliese Levi in Berlin as part of European Month of Photography Berlin

6/17/20 Photograph Magazine Focus On: Mary Ellen Bartley by Jean Dykstra on the quarantine project inspired by my time working in the studio of Giorgio Morandi.

5/21/20 Yancey Richardson presents 7 Things Again and Again, an online exhibition of new still life photographs by Mary Ellen Bartley made each day during the month of April. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of 7 Things Again and Again will go to benefit the God’s Love We Deliver Covid-19 Emergency Fund.

3/5/20 The Armory Show, Yancey Richardson presents: Olivio Barbieri, Mary Ellen Bartley, Sharon Core, Mitch Epstein, Mickalene Thomas and Guanyu Xu.

1/10/20 Vision 2020, opens at Richard Levy Gallery in Albuquerque, NM. Several pieces from my Reading in Color series are included in a group exhibition of contemporary artists working with photography. The exhibition showcases an array of subject matter and diverse ways of working with the light based medium.

10/24/19 Mary Ellen Bartley: Reading in Color, opens at Yancey Richardson Gallery, New York, October 24 - December 7, 2019

5/24/19 What is an edition anyway? opens at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco.
Artists include Mamma Andersson, Diane Arbus, Mary Ellen Bartley, Carol Bove, Brassaï, Richard Diebenkorn, Lee Friedlander, David Hockney, Alex Katz, Goshka Macuga, Christian Marclay, Robert Motherwell, Nathan Oliveira, Dario Robleto, Larry Sultan, Mark di Suvero, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol, James Welling, Edward Weston, Garry Winogrand, Libby Black, and Lisa Yuskavage, among others. A shared theme of books, newspapers, and other media reflects the family’s long career in publishing.

4/16/19 Penumbra Foundation Artist Talk, I’ll be sharing my adventures in the stacks, the challenges of depicting unique libraries and the experience of spending time in them.

3/24/19 Parrish Perspectives, Recent Acquisitions in Context, Parrish Art Museum, Watermill, NY
offers the Museum an opportunity to respond spontaneously and directly to art, artists, and the creative process. This year’s installation thematically pairs significant recent acquisitions with works drawn from the permanent collection, providing insight into how a museum builds and reimagines its holdings. Two photographs of mine, All the More Real and Hiroshi Sugimoto, which where first exhibited with Ross Bleckner’s work in the Parrish’s 2011 Artist Choose Artists exhibition, will be on view.

10/6/18 Spirit of Place, opens at The Drawing Room Gallery in East Hampton and features new work by
Mary Ellen Bartley, Laurie Lambrecht, Sheridan Lord, Kathryn Lynch, John Torreano October 6 - November 25, 2018

11/8/18 Paris Photo, Yancey Richardson Gallery will have a set of Reading Grey Gardens prints at her booth in the Grand Palais, November 8 through the 11th.

7/11/18  Interventions opens at Yancey Richardson Gallery, a group show exploring physically altered photographs. Some of my new collages of Jackson Pollock's books will be featured in the exhibition.
Artists include: John Baldessari, Mary Ellen Bartley, Marco Breuer, Moyra Davey,
Jay Defeo, Sandi Haber Fifield, Bryan Graf, Pello Irazu, Matthew Jensen,
Kenneth Josephson, Elad Lassry, Mary Lum, Joseph Maida, Gordon Matta-Clark, Vik Muniz, Rachel Perry, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Erin Shirreff, Alyson Shotz, Doug & Mike Starn, Mickalene Thomas, Masao Yamamoto

5/19/18 Picture: Books, an exhibition of three photographers, Mary Ellen Bartley, Regina DeLuise and Curt Richter, whose work intersects with literary subjects opens tonight at Greensboro Project Space in North Carolina.The program runs in conjunction with Greensboro Bound book festival.

4/5/18  The Photography Show presented by AIPAD opens at Pier 94 in New York. Pieces from my Reading Grey Gardens series will be exhibited by Yancey Richardson Gallery.

12/1/18 I'm starting to explore the book shelves at The Pollock Krasner House as a visiting artist this winter, and I'm excited to work with the collection of Pollock's damaged jazz records which have been housed in the attic since 1956.

11/9/17 To celebrate the centenary of Little Edie's birth I'm doing a special presentation about my series Reading Grey Gardens at Almond's Artist and Writers Series in Bridgehampton. Writer Adam Green will read his New Yorker Magazine piece "The Marble Faun" and there will be a surprise musical guest.

10/28/18 The inaugural exhibition, La Mère, La Mer, opens tonight at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts in San Francisco. Four photographs from my Sea Change series are included. La mère la mer (the mother the sea) highlights the breadth of the McEvoy Family Collection, from Nion McEvoy and his mother Nan Tucker McEvoy (1919-2015). It features a variety of artists including Richard Diebenkorn, Roe Ethridge, Carsten Höller, Ragnar Kjartansson, Ed Ruscha, and Wayne Thiebaud.

10/1/17 I'll be giving a gallery talk Sunday October 1, at 11:00 am at The Drawing Room in East Hampton, discussing my experience working on site with the Beale's books at Grey Gardens and where the series Reading Grey Gardens might go next.

 9/14/17 Reanimation Library opens at it's new home at Pioneer Works in Red Hook Brooklyn. I will participate in a conversation with Andrew Beccone about my project Library Copies and the potential of working within the library
during the opening reception from 7-9pm.

9/9/17 Reading Grey Gardens opens at The Drawing Room Gallery. 43 prints will be on display from 9/8/17- 10/15/17

8/11/17 Erica-Lynn Huberty wrote a terrific piece "Books of Grey Gardens" in Huffington Post.

4/9/17 Library Copies, an installation of images generated from working with the books and photocopy machine in the Reanimation Library currently housed in the Queens Museum, NY, will be open as part of a huge Spring opening of exhibitions throughout the musem on April 9th from 3-6pm. 

8/5/16 New York Foundation for the Arts, Private East End Studio Tour,  Christina Mossiades Strassfield, Museum Director/ Chief Curator at Guild Hall leads the tour that visits artists: Mary Ellen Bartley, Mia Fonssagrives-Solow, Toni Ross and Claire Watson.

7/14/16 Lux: The Radiant Sea opens at Yancey Richardson Gallery. Olivo Barbieri, Mary Ellen Bartley, Christopher Bucklow, Linda Connor, Tim Davis, Mitch Epstein, Roe Ethridge, Lee Friedlander, Bryan Graf, Jitka Hanzlová, CJ Heyliger, Matthew Jensen, Kenneth Josephson, Laura Letinsky, Ray Metzker, Orit Raff, Rinko Kawauchi, Tokihiro Sato, Lynn Saville, Mark Steinmetz, Yosuke Takeda, Wolfgang Tillmans, James Welling

7/2/16 The opening reception for Water/ Bodies at the Southampton Arts Center. The exhibition curated by Eric Fischl and David Kratz includes work by several artists including: Ross Bleckner, Mary Ellen Bartley, April Gornik, Sally Gall, Enoc Perez, Ralph Gibson, Bryan Hunt and more.

 6/9/16 Mary Ellen Bartley: Still Books opens at Anzenberger Gallery situated in Vienna in the Anker Brot Fabrik, (bread factory) complex where the Vienna Photo Book festival will also open on the weekend. The show will be up through August, 20, 2016

5/6/16 The Tactile Eye opens in the Project Space at the Visual Studies Workshop, a display of the "frottage" rubbings of books and photographs of the drawings made during my artist residency there.

4/8/16 I'm starting my month long Project Space residency at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY. I'll be working in the research library exploring the collection of photography books with my camera. The project will culminate with an exhibition/open studio on May 6th.

3/12/16  DISCOVERIES of the Meeting Place opens at Houston's Winter Street Studios. Each of the ten exhibiting artists has been chosen as a significant "discovery" by one of ten international reviewers chosen by Fotofest from the 160 curators, publishers, gallery owners, and collectors who reviewed artist's work at the 2014 Biennial Meeting Place. David Drake from FFotogallery in Cardiff, Wales selected ten photographs from Bartley's Standing Open series for the exhibition as well as providing an essay for the catalog.
 

2/26/16 ORDINARY PICTURES opens at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis tonight. Ordinary Pictures surveys a range of conceptual picture-based practices since the 1960s through the lens of the stock photograph and other forms of industrial image production. The exhibition includes works by Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Steven Baldi, Mary Ellen Bartley, Lucas Blalock, Tom Burr, Sarah Charlesworth, Anne Collier, Phil Collins, Michael de Courcy, Liz Deschenes, John Divola, Aleksandra Domanović, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Morgan Fisher, Hollis Frampton, Jack Goldstein, Rachel Harrison, Robert Heinecken, Leslie Hewitt, William E. Jones, Owen Land, Elad Lassry, Louise Lawler, Sherrie Levine, Guthrie Lonergan, Elizabeth McAlpine, Steve McQueen, Scott Nedrelow, Albert Oehlen, Jack Pierson, Peter Piller, Seth Price, Richard Prince, Amanda Ross-Ho, Edward Ruscha, Stephen Shore, Sturtevant, Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel, Jiro Takamatsu, Mungo Thomson, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tseng Kwong Chi, Julia Wachtel, Andy Warhol, and Christopher Williams.

1/22/16 View Find, opens at Page Bond Gallery in Richmond Virginia and includes photographs by Mary Ellen Bartley, Emmet Gowin, Elijah Gowin, Amanda Means,and others.

11/12/15 CIELO PERRO LOBO, opens at the National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in Guatemala.
The show explores ideas of a post-photography era. Work from my series Push 2 Stops is included in the exhibition.

10/28/15 BURNING WITH PLEASURE, an artists' books exhibition curated by Magali Avezou of Archipelago, opens at Curious Duke Gallery, London. Reading Robert Wilson is featured in the show.

5/27/15 The 7th Fotobook Festival Kassel announced the shortlisted books today, my book Reading Robert Wilson is among the finalists for the 2015 Book Dummy Award. The shortlisted books will be exhibited at international photo events in Kassel, Gotenburg, Dublin, Madrid, Oslo, Paris and Rome.

3/30/15  Launch of The Southampton Review, Volume IX, Still Books, features a selection from my Paperbacks series.

2/28/15  Open Studio, Mary Ellen Bartley 2015 Artist Residency at The Watermill Center, Watermill, NY. I will be giving a talk and tour of my installation Reading Robert Wilson followed by a reception. Saturday February 28, 3-5pm

1/16/15  WATERMILL CENTER 2015 ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE ANNOUNCED.  The Watermill Center Residency program gives artists the opportunity to utilize The Watermill Center as a home and a workshop to create and develop their own work. I'll be working with the Watermill Study Library to create a set of photographs and a book of books during the month of February.

11/13/14 Well Read: Visual Explorations of the Book opening reception, includes photographs by Thomas Allen, Cara Barer, Mary Ellen Bartley, Terri Garland, Kerri Mansfield, Doug Keyes, Heidi Kirkpatrick, Abe Morell,Kent Rogowski, Mickey Smith, Victor Schrager & Paul Sundberg, remains on view through December 20th, Photo Center NW, Seattle, WA

10/25/14 Mary Ellen Bartley: Leaning Above the Page opens at Guild Hall Museum in East Hampton. The exhibition will be on view through January 4, 2015.
A gallery talk with the artist is scheduled for November 1st, at 2pm.

10/18/14 A group show, John Alexander, Antonio Asis, Jennifer Bartlett, Mary Ellen Bartley, Chuck Holtzman, Mel Kendrick, Dan Rizzie, Alan Shields, opens at The Drawing Room in East Hampton with a reception from 5-7. The show will remain on view through December 7, 2014.

10/2/14 Jennifer Landes reviews Paperbacks in The East Hampton Star, " Bartley's Books in NYC"

9/4/14 Mary Ellen Bartley: Paperbacks opens at Yancey Richardson, 525 West 22nd Street, with a reception from 6-8pm. The exhibition runs through October 18, 2014.

7/10/14 The Thing Itself  a summer group show examining the use of the medium of photography as subject matter in the photo-based practice of a number of contemporary artists opens at Yancey Richardson Gallery and runs through 8/22/14.Work by: Mary Ellen Bartley, Anne Collier, Sara Cwynar, Roe Ethridge, Bryan Graf, Bill Jacobson, Kenneth Josephson, Laura Letinsky, Matt Lipps, Vik Muniz, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Alyson Shotz, Laurie Simmons, Wolfgang Tillmans, Bertien van Manen and Christopher Williams.

6/28/14 BOOK ENDS opens at Center for Photographic Art, Carmel CA. I will be presenting a lecture at 3pm, the opening reception will follow from 4:00-6:00

5/3/14  White Columns Benefit Exhibition + Auction 2014 , Untitled 3 from my Paperbacks series is in this exhibition curated by Matthew Higgs with work by contemporary artists including, Wade Guyton, Anne Collier and Ricky Swallow. The exhibition concludes with a live auction on May 17th.

4/10/14 The AIPAD Photography Show, Yancey Richardson Gallery will include my work in their exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.

3/6/14 The Armory Show 2014, Yancey Richardson Gallery is exhibiting my work at Pier 94 - Contemporary, Booth 621.

11/14/13 Yancey Richardson Gallery is exhibiting my work at Paris Photo 2013

10/31/13 Sea Change series chosen in Photolucida's Critical Mass 2013 Top 50

7/3/13 The Optical opens at Blue Sky gallery in Portland, OR. A piece from my Standing Open series was chosen by Allan Chasanoff for this exhibit that explores optical confusion in photographs.

5/29/13 Geografica opens in Gautemala City at Fototeca Gallery a cool group show of international artists.

3/15/13 A group show, New Work opens at The Drawing Room Gallery in East Hampton featuring work by Jennifer Bartlett, Mary Ellen Bartley, Carol Gove, Robert Harms, Sharon Horvath, Laurie Lambrecht, Mel Kendrick, Donald Sultan, Timothy Woodman and Jack Yongerman. The exhibit runs through April 28th.

2/21/13 Joyce Elaine Grant Exhibition 2013, jurored and curated by Sarah Kennel, Associate Curator of Photography at The National Gallery of Art in DC opens at Texas Womens University. I have work from the Artists and Models series in the show.

2/21/13 Canteen Magazine Naked Judging: The Canteen Awards in Photography, a live finale with Arnold Lehman, Director of the Brooklyn Museum, photographer Amy Stein and author and curator Susan Bright on the judging panel. Bartley's Sea Change series voted 2nd runner-up.

11/1/12 Mary Ellen Bartley chosen as one of Photolucida Critical Mass 2012 top 50 photographers

10/5/12 Anthology opens at Southeast Museum of Photography in Florida, Kevin Miller selected six pieces from Standing Open for the show that runs through February 3, 2013

9/13/12 Out of Print/ Altered Books opens at The Bakersfield Museum of Art, six pieces from Blue Books series are in the show which runs through November 25th.

9/7/12 Artists and Models series wins a 1st place in the International Photo Awards, Fine Art Nudes category.

9/7/12 Mary Ellen Bartley Standing Open exhibit opens at Davis Orton Gallery in Hudson, NY and runs through October 6th.

8/2/12 Mary Ellen Bartley photographs opens at The Drawing Room along with Conatantino Nivola/ sculpture.

7/26/12 The East Hampton Star published a feature article by Jennifer Landes about my work.

5/5/12  Curator, critic and Art in America contributing editor Lilly Wei chooses A Road Divided from the Standing Open series for Top Honors in the 74th Guild Hall Museum Members Exhibition, awarding Mary Ellen Bartley a solo exhibit at the museum.

4/16/12 Selections from Standing Open series chosen for Exposure 12 exhibit at The Photographic Resource Center in Boston. The juror was Alison Nordstrom, Curator of Photographs and Director of Exhibitions at George Eastman House.

4/21/12 Group Therapy opens at Harper's Books in East Hampton

3/23/12 Selections from Artists and Models included in LUST exhibit opening at Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Atlanta

3/13/12  20 NOW, CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHERS, book released, Features the work of twenty photographers including: Adam Fuss, Philip Lorca diCorcia, Roger Ballen, and Mary Ellen Bartley.

3/1/12  Artists and Models series featured in Fraction Magazine issue 36

2/18/12  Contents: Love, Anxiety, Happiness and Everything Else, Critical Mass winners touring exhibition curated by Darius Himes opens in Seattle at PCNW

11/15/11 Chosen by Nazraeli Press founder Chris Pichler. Portfolio Showcase 5, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO. Book to be published 2012.

11/1/11 Chosen Photolucida's CRITICAL MASS TOP 50 PHOTOGRAPHERS 2011

10/3/11 BOOKS exhibit featured on La Lettre de la Photographie

9/8/11-10/29/11 BOOKS, solo show, Corden Potts Gallery, 49 Geary St. San Francisco

9/1/11 Ross Bleckner talks to The Huffington Post about Artists Choose Artists

8/26/11 THE FAITH MIDDLETON SHOW airs interview with Mary Ellen Bartley

8/20/11- 10/6/11 Artists Choose Artists, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, chosen by Ross Bleckner

8/19/11 PLUM TV interviews alice Aycock and Mary Ellen Bartley

8/8/11 UNLESS YOU WILL Magazine, issue 17, features Standing Open

7/21/11 Chosen for FRESH showcase, Klomp Ching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY jurors: W.M. Hunt and Darren Ching

7/11/11 Standing Open series featured on HEY, HOT SHOT! blog

7/8/11  Annual Juried  Exhibit, HOUSTON CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY,
chosen for juror commendation by Ariel Shanberg