Mission

The mission of the Dusti Bongé Art Foundation (DBAF) is to promote the artistic legacy of Modernist artist Dusti Bongé, and her significant contribution to 20th century Art.

Dusti Bongé (1903-1993), née Eunice Swetman, was a member of the first generation of abstract expressionist painters, the singularly American art movement of the 20th century. A native of Biloxi, Mississippi, Bongé nevertheless showed with the groundbreaking Betty Parsons Gallery in New York from the 1940s through the 1970s, in the company of Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and other major players of that time. Although long credited as the first truly modernist painter from Mississippi, Bongé’s part in this revolutionary chapter of American art history was not recognized until over 25 years after her passing.

Globally, Abstract Expressionism has become widely admired as the most significant art movement in American art history.  Started in New York in the 1940s and 1950s by painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, the movement has earned its place in the canons of major worldwide art movements.  It was also the art form that Dusti Bongé found to be her best artistic outlet as her work evolved in the 1950s. She became a part of this group of prominent artists, exhibiting alongside them and counting many of them as her friends. 

The DBAF believes that given Dusti Bongé's exemplary contributions to the most important 20th Century American Art movement, she should be included in the canons of major Abstract Expressionist painters.

We invite you to join the ever-growing group of Dusti Bongé admirers.