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 expressionism) 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.
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).
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