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Grace Hartigan

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Grace Hartigan
Hartigan inLIFEmagazine, May 13, 1957
Born(1922-03-28)March 28, 1922
Newark, New Jersey, US
DiedNovember 15, 2008(2008-11-15)(aged 86)
Baltimore, Maryland, US
Known forPainting
MovementAbstract Expressionism
SpouseWinston H. Price

Grace Hartigan(March 28, 1922 – November 15, 2008) was an AmericanAbstract Expressionistpainter and a significant member of the vibrantNew York Schoolof the 1950s and 1960s.[1]Her circle of friends, who frequently inspired one another in their artistic endeavors, includedJackson Pollock,Larry Rivers,Helen Frankenthaler,WillemandElaine de KooningandFrank O'Hara.Her paintings are held by numerous major institutions, including theMuseum of Modern Artin New York City. As director of theMaryland Institute College of Art'sHoffberger School of Painting,she influenced numerous young artists.

Early life[edit]

Born inNewark, New Jersey,ofIrish-Englishdescent, Hartigan was the oldest of four children. Encouraging her romantic fantasies, her father and grandmother often sang songs and told her stories. Her mother, however, disapproved. A resident ofMillburn, New Jersey,she graduated fromMillburn High Schoolin 1940.[2]At nineteen she was married to Robert Jachens.[3][4]A planned move toAlaska,where the young couple planned to live as pioneers, ended inCalifornia,where Hartigan began painting with her husband's encouragement. After her husband was drafted in 1942, Hartigan returned to New Jersey to study mechanical drafting at theNewark College of Engineering.[5]She also worked as a draftsman in an airplane factory to support herself and her son. During this time, she studied painting withIsaac Lane Muse.Through him, she was introduced to the work ofHenri MatisseandKimon Nicolaïdes’sThe Natural Way to Draw,which influenced her later work as a painter.[6]

Hartigan said of her foray into painting, “I didn’t choose painting. It chose me. I didn’t have any talent. I just had genius.”[7]

Career[edit]

Early years[edit]

In 1945, Hartigan moved toNew York City,and became a member of the downtown artistic community. Her friends includedJackson Pollock,Larry Rivers,Helen Frankenthaler,Willem de KooningandElaine de Kooning,Frank O'HaraandKnox Martin.[8][9]Hartigan gained her reputation as part of the New York School of artists and painters that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. She was selected byClement GreenbergandMeyer Schapirofor theNew Talentexhibition at Koontz Gallery in New York in 1950.[10][4]The following year she had her first solo exhibition.

Hartigan was often thought of as a “second generationAbstract Expressionist”,being heavily influenced by her colleagues of the time.[citation needed]Her early career was characterized by experiments with total abstraction, as seen in the workSix by Six(1951) currently in the collection of theFrances Lehman Loeb Art Centerin Poughkeepsie, NY.[10]Beginning in the early fifties, Hartigan began to incorporate more recognizable motifs and characters into her paintings. Also during this time, she exhibited under the name George Hartigan in an attempt to achieve greater recognition for her work.[11]She started to use Grace as her first name in 1953.[3]

1950s and 1960s[edit]

In 1952–1953, Hartigan collaborated with her close friend and poetFrank O'Haraon a series of 12 paintings called "Oranges", based on O’Hara's series of poems by the same name. The paintings integrated some of the text of the poems and were exhibited during her third solo show on March 31, 1953, at theTibor de Nagy Gallery.[3]

On April 18, 1953,Alfred BarrandDorothy MillerselectedThe Persian Jacket(1952) for the collection of theMuseum of Modern Art.[12]Two months later, Barr secured a patron to buy the painting for $400 and donate it to the museum. Hartigan became the first of the second generation abstract expressionists to have a piece in the museum.[3]In February 1954, she had a sold out exhibition atTibor de Nagy Gallery.River Bathers(1953) was purchased by a collector (Alexander Bing) for $1,000 and gifted to theMuseum of Modern Art.The Whitney MuseumacquiredGreek Girl.[13]

In the summer of 1954, Hartigan started to use her first name instead of George.[13]In October 1954, her work was included in the exhibitionPaintings from the Museum Collectionat theMuseum of Modern Art.In 1954, she sold $5,500 worth of work, (compared to Bill de Kooning's $7,000 during that same period).[14]

In 1956, Hartigan's paintings were included in the12 Americansat theMuseum of Modern Artin New York, as well as inThe New American Painting,which traveled throughout Europe from 1958 to 1959. She received significant press coverage as she was one of few women at this time to receive this level of exposure. Subsequently, she was featured inLife magazinein 1957 andNewsweekin 1959.[15]Lifereferred to Hartigan as “the most celebrated of the young American women painters.”[7]

Hartigan's work around this time shifted, and she began creating more transparent paintings and watercolor collages. In an explanation of this change she said, "I have left the groan and the anguish behind. The cry has become a song."[16]Examples of these paintings includePhoenix,William of Orange,andLily Pond(all completed in 1962). Also in 1962, Hartigan paintedMonroe,marking another shift in her work toward more anxiety-laden imagery.The Hunted(1963),Human Fragment(1963), andMistral(1964) are representations of this mindset and approach to painting.JFK's assassination and the rise ofPop art(a movement Hartigan vehemently opposed) occurred around this time. She said, “The world was ill at ease. Socially and morally as well as culturally, America suddenly seemed a frightening and foreign place." (Mattison 68). In 1965, Hartigan was named director of the Hoffberger School of Painting, a graduate painting program atMaryland Institute College of Art,where she began teaching part-time in 1964 and continued until her death.[15]

Modern Cycle(1967) at theSmithsonian American Art Museumin 2023

More jovial paintings of the ‘60s includedReisterstown Mall(1965) andModern Cycle(1967), in which she continued to draw from popular culture, but retained her expressive hand.[citation needed]

When the Raven was White(1969), Hartigan’s first memorial painting sinceFrank O’Hara(1966), foreshadowed future paintings of the 1970s. A memorial to her friend Martha Jackson, the work was also autobiographical. The painting represented hope amidst dark times, that there was a time before "the raven turned black". Concurrently, Hartigan was experiencing trauma in her own life - alcoholism, attempted suicide and the mental and physical decline of her husband.[citation needed]

1970s[edit]

The 1970s marked a time of autobiographically laden imagery in Hartigan's artwork. Having been influenced by theCubistssince her early education, the paintings of the 70s heavily reflected that interest. The paintings had crowded compositions, with shallow space, and collections of recognizable subjects. During this decade,Philip Gustonbecame Hartigan's closest artist friend. Their imagery had in common that icons in the work were representations of their respective thoughts and feelings.[citation needed]

Harold Rosenberg,an art critic with whom Hartigan had corresponded with since her split withGreenbergin the 1950s, continued to be a part of Hartigan's life in the 1970s. He argued that “the enemy of art is conformity, not just to the values of values of a totalitarian state or to a society of mass consumption, but to one’sownestablished style.[17]

Beware of Gifts(1971),Another Birthday(1971),Summer to Fall(1971–72),Black Velvet(1972),Autumn Shop Window(1972),Purple Passion(1973),Coloring Book of Ancient Egypt(1973),I Remember Lascaux(1978)andTwilight of the Gods(1978) were all painted during this period.

Her image is included in the iconic 1972 posterSome Living American Women ArtistsbyMary Beth Edelson.[18]

1980s and 1990s[edit]

In the 1980s Hartigan returned to some of the figurative imagery that was a part of her work early on in her career. Paper dolls, saints, martyrs, opera singers, and queens were subjects in some of these paintings of the 1980s. During this time she also experimented with various painting tools (sticks, wool mitts, rags), which she had done in the 1950s.[4]Hartigan was struggling with alcoholism,[citation needed]and each day, trying to abstain, put much vigor into her arts practice.

In 1992 she was given a solo exhibition at ACA Galleries inNew York City.[8]In 1993, Hartigan's work was included in the "Hand-Painted Pop" exhibition at theWhitney Museum.[7]

Legacy[edit]

In 2015Restless Ambition: Grace Hartigan, Painter,[19]a biography by Cathy Curtis was published by Oxford University Press and Reviewed in The Wall Street Journal.[20]

In 2016 her work was included in the exhibitionWomen of Abstract Expressionismorganized by theDenver Art Museum.[21]

In 2017 Hartigan was one of the subjects of the bookNinth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Artby Mary Gabriel.[22]

In 2023 her work was included in the exhibitionAction, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970at theWhitechapel Galleryin London.[23]

Personal life[edit]

Hartigan married Robert Jachens in 1941 and had one son, born 1942.[5]They were divorced in 1947.[5]ArtistHarry Jacksonwas Hartigan's second husband. They married in 1949, but the marriage was annulled in 1950.[5]Hartigan marriedLong Islandgallery owner Robert Keene in 1958; they were divorced in 1960.[5]

In 1959, Hartigan met Dr.Winston Price,a research scientist atJohns Hopkins University,whom she married in 1960.[5]Price died in 1981 after a decade-long mental and physical decline that was caused by injecting himself with an experimental vaccine against encephalitis that left him with spinal meningitis.[7]

Hartigan had a close friendship withFrank O'Hara.They had a falling out and did not speak for six years, but eventually reconnected, and were friends until O’Hara's death in 1966.Philip Gustonwas the artist Hartigan was closest to in the 1970s.

Hartigan died in November 2008 at age 86 of liver failure.[7]

Public collections[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^New York school: abstract expressionists: artists choice by artists: a complete documentation of the New York painting and sculpture annuals, 1951-1957, p.16; p.37
  2. ^Clifford, Edith."Society Notes and News of the Week",The Item of Millburn and Short Hills,September 26, 1941. Accessed February 23, 2022, viaNewspapers."Mr. and Mrs. Matthew A. Hartigan of 527 Wyoming avenue, will give a dinner party on Saturday, in honor of their son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Jachens, who will leave October 1, to make their home in Los Angeles, Cal.... Mrs. Jachens, the former, Miss Grace G. Hartigan, was graduated from Millburn High School, class of 1940."
  3. ^abcdGabriel, Mary (2017).Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art.Little, Brown. p. 243.ISBN978-0316226189.
  4. ^abcRomano, Kira."Grace Hartigan".Caldwell Gallery Hudson.
  5. ^abcdefGaze, Delia (1997).Dictionary of Women Artists.Chicago, IL: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. pp.644.ISBN1-884964-21-4.
  6. ^Mattison, Robert Saltonstall (1990).Grace Hartigan: a painter's world(1st ed.). New York: Hudson Hills Press.ISBN1555950418.
  7. ^abcdeGrimes, William(2008-11-18)."Grace Hartigan, 86, Abstract Painter, Dies".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2018-02-17.
  8. ^ab"WCA Women in the News". Vol. 4, no. 1. National Update. Women's Caucus for the Arts. Spring 1993. p. 13.
  9. ^Great women artists.Phaidon Press. 2019. p. 174.ISBN978-0714878775.
  10. ^ab"Grace Hartigan".The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.
  11. ^"Grace Hartigan. Shinnecock Canal. 1957 | MoMA".The Museum of Modern Art.Retrieved2018-02-17.
  12. ^"Grace Hartigan. The Persian Jacket. 1952 | MoMA".The Museum of Modern Art.Retrieved2020-02-23.
  13. ^abGabriel, Mary.Ninth Street Women.
  14. ^Gabriel, Mary (2018-09-25)."Grace and Will: An Excerpt from Mary Gabriel's New Book 'Ninth Street Women' on Painter Grace Hartigan and Art Market Changes in the 1950s".ARTnews.Retrieved2020-02-24.
  15. ^ab"Grace Hartigan".guggenheim.org.Retrieved2018-02-17.
  16. ^Goldberg, Vicki (15 August 1993)."ART; Grace Hartigan Still Hates Pop".The New York Times.Retrieved19 April2023.
  17. ^Mattison, 88
  18. ^"Some Living American Women Artists/Last Supper".Smithsonian American Art Museum.Retrieved21 January2022.
  19. ^Curtis, Cathy (2015-03-17).Restless Ambition: Grace Hartigan, Painter(Illustrated ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-939450-0.
  20. ^Boxer, Sarah (2015-05-22)."A Studio of Her Own".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Retrieved2023-09-22.
  21. ^Marter, Joan M. (2016).Women of abstract expressionism.Denver New Haven: Denver Art Museum Yale University Press. p. 180.ISBN9780300208429.
  22. ^Gabriel, Mary (2018).Ninth Street women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: five painters and the movement that changed modern art(First ed.). New York: Little, Brown and Company.ISBN978-0316226189.
  23. ^"Grace Hartigan".The Art Institute of Chicago.Retrieved2019-10-10.
  24. ^"Grace Hartigan".Baltimore Museum of Art.Retrieved19 April2023.
  25. ^"Grace Hartigan".Buffalo AKG Art Museum.Retrieved19 April2023.
  26. ^"Orange Field".CMOA Collection.Retrieved19 April2023.
  27. ^"Sunflowers".Detroit Institute of Arts Museum.Retrieved19 April2023.
  28. ^Gaul, Alma (26 December 2017)."182 new works came to Figge in 2017, many by women artists".The Quad-City Times.Retrieved2019-10-10.
  29. ^"Grace Hartigan | Untitled".The Metropolitan Museum of Art.Retrieved19 April2023.
  30. ^"Grace Hartigan".Minneapolis Institute of Art.Retrieved19 April2023.
  31. ^"Grace Hartigan | MoMA".The Museum of Modern Art.Retrieved2019-10-10.
  32. ^"Grace Hartigan".The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.Retrieved19 April2023.
  33. ^"Essex and Hester" Spanish "".Philadelphia Museum of Art.Retrieved19 April2023.
  34. ^"Homage to Matisse".RISD Museum.Retrieved19 April2023.
  35. ^"Stone and Star".Saint Louis Art Museum.Retrieved19 April2023.
  36. ^"Grace Hartigan".Smithsonian American Art Museum.Retrieved2019-10-10.
  37. ^"Ireland".Guggenheim.1958-01-01.Retrieved2019-10-10.
  38. ^"Grace Hartigan".Whitney Museum of American Art.Retrieved19 April2023.
  39. ^"King of the Hill".Worcester Art Museum.Retrieved19 April2023.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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