Hartigan, Grace

Hartigan, Grace,

1922–2008, American painter, b. Newark, N.J. Hartigan moved to Manhattan in 1945 and began painting semiabstract canvases after her introduction to the works of the abstract expressionists (see abstract expressionismabstract expressionism,
movement of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the mid-1940s and attained singular prominence in American art in the following decade; also called action painting and the New York school.
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) in 1949. She integrated recognizably representational images including those from the history of art and from pop culture into her abstract compositions. Hartigan's works are characterized by intense colors, broad shapes executed with loose brushwork, and a strong, heavy line. She moved to Baltimore in the 1960s and taught painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art until 2007.

Bibliography

See W. T. La Moy and J. P. MacCaffrey, ed., The Journals of Grace Hartigan, 1951–1955 (2009); biography by C. Curtis (2015); study by R. S. Mattison (1990); M. Gabriel, Ninth Street Women (2018).

Hartigan, Grace

(1922– ) painter; born in Newark, N.J. Based in New York City until 1960, she then settled in Baltimore, Maryland. She was an abstract painter who focused on the human figure, as in River Bathers (1953). She also depicted urban landscapes, as seen in City Life (1956).