I am loving the holidays and time spent with my family. My daughter Audrey (20 yr) is home from college. My son Alex (17 yr)has planned many of our family activities including a wonderful visit to the St. Louis Art Museum to see the special exhibit Action Abstraction. If you live in St. Louis you have until January 11 to see it. It's traveling around the country, so look for it in a city near you.I love studies in color...and especially abstract art. I can't put in words what it means to me, but it elicits reactions in my soul like when I listen to inspiring music.
I was most moved by Grace Hartigan's work, her story and her art.
Like most women and blacks in the 50s, she had to fight hard for recognition of her work. Hartigan ran in circles of those better known Abstract Expressionists like Pollock and de Kooning. She broke through a glass ceiling in the art world as the only woman represented among 17 artists in the prestigious exhibit "New American Painting" sent by MOMA to Europe to communicate that New York had trumped Paris as the capital of modern art.
I am drawn to Hartigan's use of bold brush strokes and saturated splashes of color.
Bold, abstract, vivid and color infused...I can't get enough of it!
My favorite Hartigan painting is Summer Street (above). Can you make out the woman from the 50s shopping in the street? It took me a bit, but I found her. And do you see the watermelon? What else do you see in the busy summer street? What color and light of summer do you recognize? What time of day does it look like? Are there buildings around and if so, how are they recognized in the painting? Do you see yourself in a street like this?
I wish I could pluck Summer Street off the exhibit wall and place it in Heather's home! Perfect for her piano room (you'll see the reveal of Heather's piano room later on my blog). It would also look great in the 10th Street Lobby (also stay tuned for that reveal.)
I also loved New England in October (below).
Grace Hartigan quietly passed away in November this year. Though she faded from prominence years ago, I am grateful her work lives on in this exhibit.
5 comments:
The painting you have on your blog is fantastic and one l hadn't seen. I can only work in bright colour and live as well in colour so its a delight to see paintngs like this and l am glad Grace lives on in the paintings she has left for us to see and enjoy.
Your description of how abstract art makes you fell is very interesting. Adding abstract art to your home is a great way to add color and interest, and creates a conversation piece.
There are many talented artists selling original abstract art on the internet at very fair prices, and at prices that are negotiable. You can also have the artist make a painting to your order at a very reasonable price.
Abstract painting also goes well with older structures and even with antiques. So, people looking to jazz up a room, or even the whole house, would benefit from buying a few abstract pictures. And there is nothing like having an original painting in your house.
Good stuff! Thanks for sharing a great experience! Art makes me feel that way too, but I will admit that there is some stuff out there that makes me feel the opposite and I just get ticked off! Grace's work just makes me happy!
I love her colors...
You have a great way of describing Dana.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
Cozy
i agree your idea ! very nice blog
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