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