GRACE HARTIGAN (1922-2009)
As the only woman included in the landmark Twelve Americans exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art in 1956, Grace Hartigan continues to represent the voice of a true female Abstract Expressionist torn between abstraction and figuration, high art and pop culture, and images and words.
From her first solo exhibition in 1951 at the highly revered Tibor de Nagy gallery to the present, Hartigan continues to form her own unique artistic language based upon the dedication and aesthetic of great friends and icons Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock as well as her appreciation of the Old Masters’ clear and concise artistic approaches to still life and portraiture.
Hartigan’s work continued to evolve until her death at 87. The difference between an unsuccessful artist and a successful one lies in the willingness to continuously experiment and evolve as an artist without losing one’s personal voice; Hartigan falls into the latter.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1951 Tibor de Nagy, New York, January 16-February 2
1952 Tibor de Nagy, New York, March 25-April 13
1953 Tibor de Nagy, New York, March 31-April 18
1954 Tibor de Nagy, New York, February 2-20
1955 Tibor de Nagy, New York, March 1-April 2
1957 Tibor de Nagy, New York, March 5-23
1969 Gres Gallery, Washington, DC
1962 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (also 1964, 1967, 1970)
1963 University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
1964 Franklin Siden Gallery, Detroit, MI
1967 University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1968 Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit (also 1972, 1974, 1976)
1975 William Zierler, New York, NY
1976 Genesis Galleries, NY
1979 C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore, MD (also 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001-2007)
1980 The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, the Myers Gallery, State University of New York, Plattsburgh, NY and University of Maryland, College Park, MD
1981 Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN and the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA, the Hamilton Gallery of Contemporary Art, New York, NY and the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC
1983 Van Wickle Gallery, Lafayette, College, Easton, PA
1984 Dolly Fiterman Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, the Gruenebaum Gallery, New York, NY (also 1986, 1988)
1989 Kouros Gallery, New York, NY
1991 ACA Galleries, New York, NY (Also 1992, 1994, 1997, 2001)
1993 Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY
1996 ACA Galleries, Munich, Germany
1997 Loyola College Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD, Lawrence Gallery, Rosemont Collge, Rosemont, PA, The Robeson Art Gallery, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, The Art Gallery at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY, Allen Priebe Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, WI
2000 Susquenhanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA
2001 Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
1950 Kootz Gallery, New York, New Talent
1951 The 60 E Ninth St, New York, Ninth Street Show
1953 Stable Gallery, New York, 2nd Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Young American Printmakers
1954 Stable Gallery, New York, 3rd Annual Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture
1955 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Annual Exhibition of Paintings,
Sculptures, Watercolors, and Drawings
1956 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Twelve Americans
1957 The Jewish Museum of Modern Art, New York The New York School: Second
Generation
1959 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The New American Painting
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, Hartigan and Rivers with O’Hara
Stable Gallery, New York, School of New York: Some Younger Artists
1961 Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, American Abstract Expressionists
and Imagists
1969 The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 20th-century Art from the Nelson A.
Rockefeller Collection
1974 The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Frank O’Hara: Poet among
Painters
1975 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 34th Biennial Exhibition of
Contemporary American Painting
1976 National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., The
Art of Poetry.
