Forrest BessForrest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible

The Menil Collection, Houston

Forrest Bess, View of Maya, 1951, Oil on canvas, 8-1/8 x 8. The Menil Collection, Houston, bequest of Jermayne MacAgy. Photo: Paul Hester

Forrest Bess, Untitled (The Crowded Mind/The Void), 1947, Oil on canvas, 10 x 11-3/4 inches. Constance R. Caplan, Baltimore © Christie's Images Limited 2012.

Forrest Bess, Untitled, 1947, Oil on canvas, 5-3/8 x 3-3/4 inches. The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the artist. Photo: Paul Hester.

Forrest Bess, Thunderbird, 1965, Oil on canvas, 26 x 36. The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Paul Hester.

Forrest Bess, Sticks, 1950 ca. Oil on canvas, 6-1/2 x 7-5/8. The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Paul Hester.

Forrest Bess, Homage to Ryder, 195,1 Oil on canvas, 8-1/8 x 12-1/8 inches. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gift of Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection. Photo: Nathan Keay. Photo © 2013 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Forrest Bess, The Hermaphrodite, 1957, Oil on canvas, 8 x 11-1/4 inches. The Menil Collection, Houston, gift of John Wilcox, in memory of Frank Owen Wilson. Photo: Hickey-Robertson, Houston.

Forrest Bess, Drawings, 1957, Oil on canvas, 8 x 28 inches. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Gift of Betty Parsons. Photo: Sheldan C. Collins, courtesy of the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Forrest Bess, Dedication to van Gogh, 1946, Oil on canvas. 15-5/8 x 17-5/8 x 1-3/8 inches Collection Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Gift of Mary and Earle Ludgin Collection Photo: Nathan Keay. Photo © 2013 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Forrest Bess, Bodies of Little Dead Children,1949, Oil on canvas, 5-3/4 x 7-1/2. The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Paul Hester.