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EDUCATION

New York University, NY (Studied with William Baziotes and Hale Woodruff)

Cooper Union Art School, NY (Studied with Bob Gwathmey)

Charleston, SC (Studied with William Halsey)

MILITARY SERVICE

Official Air Force Artist, 1951-1954

Commissioned to paint General Dwight D. Eisenhower

SELECTED AWARDS & HONORS

Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, College of Charleston, SC, 2010

Studio Museum in Harlem Award, NY, 2002

South Carolinian Library Research Archives, SC, 1984

Palmetto Gentleman Award, bestowed by Governor Richard W. Riley, SC, 1980

Hall of Fame Alumni, Burke High School, Charleston, SC, 1979

Afro-American Artist Award, 1973

Contemporary Artists of South Carolina Award, 1970

American Negro Art Prize 1960

Gibbes Art Gallery, SC, 1956

Young American Painters Award in 1954

Atlanta University, GA, 1950, 1951, 1956

Red Cross Exchange Exhibit: Paris and Tokyo, 1953

Metropolitan Museum of Art: Watercolor Exhibition, (Honorable Mention) New York, 1952

Oakland Art Museum, CA, 1952

Charleston Intercultural Club, SC, 1951

South Carolina Cultural Fund, SC, 1951 (first African-American recipient)

Intercultural Club, Harlem YWCA (Second Prize), 1950

Hughes Foundation Fellowship Award, 1950 (first African-American recipient)

COMMISSIONS

Charleston County Council, Commission for portrait of Lonnie Hamilton, III, 1995

City of Charleston: Black Portrait Study commissioned to paint Reverend Daniel J. Jenkins, 1984

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Encore!, Merton D. Simpson Gallery, New York, NY. 2011

Retrospective, Hampton III Gallery, Taylors, SC. November –18-December 31, 2010

Confrontations, Greenville Museum, Greenville, SC. November 24-March 13, 2010

Merton D. Simpson: Paintings from a Life in Art, Bill Hodges Gallery, New York, NY. May 12-June 25, 2005

Spirit of An Artist: Merton D. Simpson - A Retrospective, Merton D. Simpson Gallery, October 28-February 28, 2003

The Journey of an Artist, Gibbes Museum of Art, 1995; NationsBank Plaza: Columbia, SC. 1995

Rudolph E. Lee Gallery at Clemson University: Clemson, South Carolina (In conjunction with the Fala Festival of African American Literature and Arts). 1995

Hale House Benefit Exhibition, Tambaran Gallery, New York, NY. 1993

Ancestral Improvisation, Noir d’Ivoire Gallery, Paris, France. 1992

Portraits: A Benefit for the Northside Center for Child Development, Twinning Gallery, New York, NY. 1990

Improvisations, William Halsey Gallery, Charleston, SC. 1984

Works by Merton D. Simpson, Allan Stone Gallery, NewYork, NY. 1983

Charleston County Library, Charleston, SC. 1983

Figurescapes, Edward Merrin Gallery, New York, NY. 1978

Recent Paintings and Collages, Krasner Gallery, New York, NY. 1960

Aden Gallery, Washington, D.C. 1951

Paintings by Merton Simpson, Parnassus at Home Bookshop and Art Gallery, Charleston, SC. 1949

Kuhar Gallery, Charleston, SC. 1949

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

The State Art Collection: Contemporary Conversations, Touring exhibition of works from the collection of the South Carolina Arts Commission, 2010-2011

Divine Influence, WJ Gallery, New York, NY. November 2010-January 2011

African American Abstract Masters, Opalka Gallery, Albany, NY. November 2010; Wilmer Jennings Gallery, New York, NY. March 2010; Anita Shapolosky Gallery, New York, NY. 2010

Beyond Representation: Abstract Art in the South, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC. May 6 – August 14, 2005

No Greater Love: Abstraction, Tilton/Krustera Gallery, New York, NY. September 12-October. 11, 2002

Transatlantic Jazz: Herbert Gentry and Merton D. Simpson, Steve Turner Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA. May 24-August 14, 2002

Not Just February: Works by African American Artists 1817 –2002, Steve Turner Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA. April 5-May 11, 2002

Jazz and Visual Improvisations, Katonah Museum, Katonah, NY. 2001

Blackness in Color: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. 2000

100 Years/100 Artists: Views of the 20th Century in South Carolina Art, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC. November 1999– March 19, 2000

Conflict and Transcendence: African American Art in South Carolina, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Florence Museum of Art and Science; Winthrop College Gallery; I.P. Stanbeck Museum & Planetarium. 1992-1993

Revealing a Hidden Heritage: African American Artists in South Carolina, Columbia Museum, Columbia, SC. 1986.

Since the Harlem Renaissance, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. 1986

South Carolina: The State of the Arts, An Invitational/Juried Exhibition, SC. April 13-June, 1986 Exhibition, SC April 13-June, 1986

Being Black: Afro-American Artists Since the Twenties, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA. 1984; The Simmons Center for the Arts, Charleston, SC. 1984

Paintings by Alvin C. Hollingsworth and Merton D. Simpson, Langstons, New York, NY. December 1- 23, 1982

The Inspirational Century, Bruce Museum, CT. 1980

Reflections of a Southern Heritage: 20th Century Black Artists of the Southeast; Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC. January-February 1980

South Carolina State Museum Traveling Exhibition, Orangeburg, SC. 1980

Black Artists/South, Huntsville Museum, Huntsville, AL. 1979

Reflections of a Southern Heritage: 20th Century Black Artists of the Southeast, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greensville, NC. November-December 1979

Reflections of a Southern Heritage: 20th Century Black Artists of the Southeast, Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, SC. September-October 1979

5 + 10: Audubon Gallery, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. 1978

Black Art Expressions: An Exhibition of African- American Artists, Chicago, IL. 1973

The Spiral Black and White Exhibit, Spiral Group, New York, NY. 1965

Acquisitions, Paintings, Drawings, Prints, and Sculptures, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. 1963

Some Negro Artists, Fairleigh Dickinson University, NJ. 1960

Eight New York Painters, Museum of Art, University of Michigan, MI. 1956

Younger American Painters, Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY. 1954

Watercolor Exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY. 1954

Bertha Schaefer Gallery, New York, NY. 1954

PERMANENT COLLECTIONS

James J. Sweeney Collection at the Guggenheim Museum

Howard University, Washington, D. C.

Scott Field Museum, Chicago, IL

Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

Gibbes Art Gallery, Charleston, SC

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

South Carolina Arts Commission, Columbia, SC

South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC

Fisk University, Nashville, TN

Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY

Rogers Engraving Company, New York, NY

St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY

Detroit Art Institute, Detroit, MI

Romare Bearden Foundation, New York, NY

Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

The National Gallery, Paris, France

Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA

Contemporary Art Gallery, New York, NY

Intercultural Club, New York, NY

Oakland Art Museum, Oakland, CA

City University, New York, NY

Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC

Illinois State University, Normal, IL