Baltimore Grace
Grace Hartigan was a pioneering ab ex painter who made a huge splash in NY in the 50′s and then moved to Baltimore, where she sort of disappeared from the Art map. I made a trip to the Baltimore Museum of Art the other day and rediscovered some of her painting. She had an interesting life. Hartigan was born in Newark, New Jersey. In 1942 she began her artistic career as a draftsperson in Newark. After moving to New York in 1946, she became friendly with Avery, de Kooning, Kline, Pollock, Gottlieb, Motherwell, Baziotes, Rivers, Harold Rosenberg and the “New York School” poet Frank O’Hara. In 1950 her career was launched with her inclusion in the famous New Talent exhibition organized by Clement Greenberg and Meyer Schapiro at the Samuel Kootz Gallery.
Throughout the fifties Hartigan was featured in seven solo exhibitions at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery. She was also included in MoMA’s pivotal exhibition “Twelve Americans” of 1956 and in the influential international show “The New American Paintings” in 1958-59. During the mid-fifties she also appeared regularly in reviews and articles by art magazines and newspapers including Life and Newsweek. Some of her big paintings from this period include Persian Jacket, which was acquired by MoMA. Her Grand Street Brides is now in the collection of the Whitney Museum.
In 1960 Hartigan moved to Baltimore and became Director of the Hoffberger Graduate School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art in 1967. Her later works have continued to plumb art history, visual culture, biography, and, in her Great Queens and Empresses series, history. She revealed boldness with stylistic experimentation, at times employing dripped and splattered paint along with powerful, gestural lines.
She died in November at the age of 86.
Grace Hartigan is dead
bmore art blog
Baltimore Examiner
Maryland Art Source
January 17, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I’m glad that you posted this, Tom. Seeing the post about Andrew Wyeth reminded me about Grace, and I meant to put together something to honor her passing. I’m glad that you did. What a terrific light she was.
January 17, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Great post, Tom, and a worthy subject who will be greatly missed
January 18, 2009 at 1:13 am
[...] Baltimore Grace « d’Arte Board [...]
January 21, 2009 at 11:12 am
A local artist around town Albert Schweitzer tells me he studied with her. http://www.albertschweitzerart.com/
And you can kind of see some similarities there.
I saw those at the BMA and well…she ain’t bad.
BUT kudos to your Dad for “subconsciously” tampering with the Rauschenburg by making it look like it was an accident that he fell onto it. I never really liked Rauschenberg much.
January 21, 2009 at 6:02 pm
My dad was influenced by Rauschenberg 45 years ago when my father was doing paperback book covers. he started experimenting with collaged newspaper images, type and transferring printed newsprintimages with acetone. Rauschenberg told me before he passed away he actually liked you once.