Artist Trivia: Grace Hartigan

Who is this artist: 

This artist, born 100 years ago in Newark, New Jersey, married at 17 and parented a son the next year. While working as a mechanical draftsperson in an airplane factory during the Second World War the artist saw the work of Henri Mattisse, and was ‘hooked’. Later introduced to Abstract Expressionist artists Jackson Pollack, Lee Krasner and the de Koonings, the artist gained recognition for large-scale, sensuous paintings that moved between figuration and abstraction. This artist used the pseudonym, George, when exhibiting their art until 1954 in homage to the 19^th-century writer, George Eliot. The impulse to question and change became a recurrent theme in the artist’s life and work. For the last five decades of life, this painter taught in Baltimore and followed ‘no rules,’ stating, ‘I must be free to paint anything I feel.’ The artist would have turned 100 on March 28.

This artist is: 

Grace Hartigan

The oldest of four children, Grace Hartigan was born 100 years ago in Newark, New Jersey. After graduating from Millburn High School, in New Jersey, she married at 17 and parented a son the next year. While working as a mechanical draftsperson in an airplane factory during the Second World War Hartigan saw the work of Henri Mattisse, and was ‘hooked’. Later introduced to Abstract Expressionist artists Jackson Pollack, Lee Krasner and the de Koonings, she gained recognition for large-scale, sensuous paintings that moved between figuration and abstraction. In 1956, Hartigan’s paintings were included in the 12 Americans at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as in The New American Painting, which traveled throughout Europe from 1958 to 1959. Subsequently, she was featured in Life magazine in 1957 and Newsweek in 1959. Hartigan used the pseudonym, George, when exhibiting her art until 1954 in homage to the 19^th-century writer, George Eliot. The impulse to question and change became a recurrent theme in her life and work. For the last five decades of life, Hartigan taught in Baltimore and followed ‘no rules,’ stating, ‘I must be free to paint anything I feel.’ She would have turned 100 on March 28.