Agnes Martin: Grid-Like Abstractions

Agnes Martin - Untitled - 1952 - Watercolor and ink on paper - 11 3/4 x 17 3/4" (29.9 x 45.3 cm) - Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (click photo for larger image)Canadian born American painter Agnes Martin (1912-2004) was one of the leading practitioners of Abstract Expressionism in the 20th century. She was a prominent exponent of geometric abstraction. To her eye, a gray grid of intersecting penciled lines became the ultimate geometric composition. Her grid-like works were also noted for their light-soaked appearance and quiet effect. In the 1970s, she produced printed equivalents of her paintings.

Agnes Martin - Little Sister - 1962 - Oil, ink, and brass nails on canvas and wood - 9 7/8 x 9 11/16 inches (25.1 x 24.6 cm) - Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (click photo for larger image)Born on a farm in rural, Canada, Agnes Martin immigrated to the United States in 1932. After earning a degree in art education, she moved to the desert plains of Taos, New Mexico. At the urging of New York gallery owner, Betty Parson, Martin moved to lower Manhattan in 1957—living among a community of artists benefiting from the then cheap, expansive loft spaces of Lower Manhattan, located in close proximity to the East River. It was there—and during the next decade—that she would experiment with abstraction, and arrive at her signature style. Martin is often referred to as a Minimalist, however she always referred to herself as an Abstract Expressionist.

Artists are rarely “born” with the style for which they become known. The creative process is evolutionary. While some artists do remain faithful to a particular passion or idea throughout their lives—such as Camille Pissarro (ca. 1830-1903) or Henri Matisse (1869-1954) — others, like Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)  continually change their styles and approaches. As noted from the Untitled work featured here (from 1952)—it took time for Agnes Marin to fully embrace non-representation and the grid! 

The Guggenheim Museum in New York will be hosting an exhibit of Martin’s works, from October 2016 through January 2017. I lead a Museum Preview series for the Center for Continuing Education, and Agnes Martin will be the focus of our October 6, 2016 program. Please check out the website to see the schedule and to register. These programs fully prepare attendees to go to exhibits and visit museum and gallery collections well-informed about the featured artists.

“Stuart Davis: In Full Swing”

Stuart Davis - Egg Beater No. 4 - 1928 - Oil on canvas - 27 1/8 x 38 1/4 in. - The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (click photo for larger image)Stuart Davis (1894-1964) was an American abstract artist—heavily influenced by Cubism. His unique paintings presaged the use of commercial art and advertising by Pop artists of the 1960s. By 1913, a very young Davis was competent enough to show five watercolors in the Armory Show. This was the first large exhibit in the United States of avant-garde European art, and the event marked a turning point in his career. Davis developed a new style based on the rhythmic contrast between geometric areas of flat color and objects clearly defined in linear perspective. His meticulously planned and executed paintings possess wit and gaiety. Davis was inspired by taxis, storefronts, and neon signs. The dissonant colors and lively, repetitive rhythms in his work can be seen as visual analogs to jazz music, which he loved. The Whitney Museum in New York is currently presenting “Stuart Davis: In Full Swing” and it will be up until September 25, 2016. Don’t miss this fantastic exhibit!

Frank Stella: Pure Minimalism

Frank Stella - Hyena Stomp - 1962 - Alkyd paint on canvas - 77 x 77 in. - Tate Modern, London (click photo for larger image)American Minimalist painter Frank Stella was born in Malden, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, in 1936. He began to paint abstract pictures while at Phillips Academy, Andover. Stella studied history at Princeton University from 1954-58, and also took painting courses at the same time. Stella was influenced earlier on by such artists as Pollock, Kline and Johns. Moving to New York in 1958, he began creating works that reacted against Abstract Expressionism. He became a leading figure in the Minimalist movement, and later became known for his irregularly shaped works and large-scale multimedia reliefs.

Romare Bearden: A Communicator of Culture

Romare Bearden - Untitled (from "Prevalence of Ritual" portfolio), 1974 - Color lithograph on paper- 36 x 29 1/4 in. (91.5 x 74.3 cm) - The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Bequest, Hirshhorn Museum - Washington, D.C. (click photo for larger image)Romare Bearden (1911-1988) was an American artists, whose collages of photographs and painted paper on canvas depict aspects of American black culture in a style derived from Cubism. He is considered one of the most important African American artists of the 20th century.  In "Pepper Jelly Lady" a figure in a dashingly patterned dress is framed by a wide border filled with drawings of Southern life: a plain wooden church, a porticoed mansion, a room with a potbellied stove.

Helen Frankenthaler: Abstract Lyricism

Frankenthaler - Coral Wedge (1972) - acrylic on canvas, 81 1/2 x 46 1/2 inches, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO. (click photo for larger image)American painter Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) created brilliantly colored, abstract paintings, widely known for their lyricism. Within those parameters her style was continually evolving, and she’s considered a major contributor to postwar painting.