Restless Ambition: Grace Hartigan, Painter
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.81 (948 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B00RMPEMQ4 |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 433 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-03-27 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Featured in Time, Newsweek, Life, and Look, she was the only woman in MoMA's groundbreaking 12 Americans exhibition in 1956, and the youngest artist-and again, only woman-in The New American Painting, which toured Europe in 1958-1959. Although praised for the coloristic brio of her abstract paintings, she began working figuratively, a move that was much criticized but ultimately vindicated when the Museum of Modern Art purchased her painting The Persian Jacket in 1953. Grace continued to paint throughout her life, seeking-for better or worse-something truer and fiercer than beauty.. By the mid-fifties, she freely combined abstract and representational elements. She moved to New York in her early twenties and befriended Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and other artists who were pioneering Abstract Expressionism. Along the way, there were multiple affairs, four troubled marriages, a long battle with alcoholism, and a chilly relationship with her only child.Attempting to channel her vague ambitions after an early marriage, Grace struggled to mas
With perceptiveness and vibrancy, Curtis powerfully conveys the passion, anguish, and intensity of Hartigan's life and work. --Booklist Reviews, February 2015. *Starred Review* With impressive knowledge, empathy, and zesty language, Curtis has written her first book, the first biography of Grace Hartigan (1922-2008), a volatile and determined painter
For art-bio readers Karla Grace Hartigan was never one of my preferred painters, Abstract Expressionist or otherwise. So I am probably disinclined to be excited by a book about her. But I did read it and it both lowered and increased my opinion of her. She was off-putting and rather mean. She made the most of her ability when she was young and painted some very lovely abstract paintings. Her later figurative paintings are of slight interest (to me and to art history.) She was a far better painter when she was young. Given what Curtis had to work with, she did a good job of illuminating Hartigan's work and social environme. An artist who deserved this book W. Patrick Sullivan I'm not an artist or an art history major - but I like art and I like reading bios of artists. I was really excited to see this as I have always wanted to know more about Grace Hartigan - beyond her work there were a couple of pictures of her I had seen from the 1950's - always laughing and seemingly reallly enjoying life. In some ways I wish what my fantasies were more in line with reality - but the credit here goes to Curtis who does not sugarcoat a thing ---I read one review that suggested the narrative bogged down in parts - perhaps. I too was more interested in the 1950's than her later work. excellent bio artone excellent bookit captures Grace's personality, paintings. friends, thoughts .all of it. the profane and the transcendentCurtis has documented the time period as wellI know this because I was there. carefully researched and descriptive down to the essence of conversations.