MARY CORSE

Early Years

Mary Corse was born in Berkeley, California, in 1945. She began her studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1963, and later earned her BFA from the Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) in Los Angeles in 1968. For most of her career, Corse has lived and worked in Los Angeles and Topanga Canyon, drawing inspiration from the region’s light and atmosphere; however, she maintains that her works are rooted in abstraction and perception, not landscape.

Mary Corse Artworks

Mary Corse’s art practice is defined by her investigation into the subjective experience of light, color, and space through minimalist painting and innovative materials. She is best known for her White Light paintings, which use glass microspheres—tiny reflective beads used in highway markings—to create surfaces that appear to emit light and change with the viewer’s position.

Early Experimentation and Lightboxes (1960s)

In the mid-1960s, Corse began experimenting with shaped canvases, plexiglass, and illuminated boxes, seeking ways to make light both the subject and material of her art. Her early Lightboxes (1966–68) used fluorescent and argon-filled tubes encased in plexiglass, and she studied quantum physics to develop wireless lighting systems for her works.

White Light Paintings (1968–present)

Corse’s breakthrough came in 1968 when she began mixing acrylic paint with glass microspheres, inspired by the reflective road markings she observed while driving at night. These White Light paintings are composed of vertical bands or geometric forms, with surfaces that shimmer and shift as viewers move, activating a direct, embodied experience of light. ‘Nothing’s static in the universe. So why make a static painting?’ Corse has said

Black Earth and Black Light Series (1970s–1980s)

After moving to Topanga Canyon in 1970, Corse expanded her practice to include the Black Earth series—large ceramic slabs glazed black and fired in a custom-built kiln. She also developed the Black Light series, using black acrylic and microspheres to explore the perceptual boundaries of darkness and light.

Later Developments and Installations

From the 2000s onward, Corse reintroduced primary colors into her paintings, further exploring color as a constituent of white light. Her installations—such as the Halo Room—and recent exhibitions continue to expand her investigations into the phenomenology of perception and the possibilities of painting

Select Public Commissions, Awards and Accolades

• Permanent installation for the U.S. General Services Administration at the Los Angeles federal courthouse (2016)
• Cartier Foundation Award (1993)
• National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1975)
• Theodoran Award, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1971)
• New Talent Award, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1967)

Exhibitions

Mary Corse has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at important galleries and institutions. Below is a selection of important exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions

• Mary Corse: Presence in Light, Pace Gallery, New York (2024)
• Mary Corse: Painting with Light, Long Museum, Shanghai (2021); traveled to Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul (2022)
• Mary Corse: A Survey in Light, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2018); traveled to Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2019)
• Mary Corse: Variations, Lisson Gallery, London (2020)
• Mary Corse: Recent Paintings, Pace Gallery, New York (2019)
• Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950–1970, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2011)
• Phenomenal: California Light and Space, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2011)
• Venice in Venice, 54th Venice Biennale, collateral exhibition curated by Nyehaus (2011)
• Reductive Minimalism: Women Artists in Dialogue, 1960–2012, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor (2014)

Collections

Corse’s works are held in major public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Dia Art Foundation, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Menil Collection, Houston; Long Museum, Shanghai; and Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul.

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Ocula | 2025