Grace Hartigan

Happy Birthday Grace Hartigan!! Born in New Jersey, in 1922, Hartigan planned on becoming an actress. This idea fell through when she married right out of high school, began a trek to Alaska, which ended in LA with them out of money and her pregnant. Her husband was was drafted into WWII and she was introduced to Abstract Expressionism, which became her vehicle into the art world. She eventually wound up in New York, friends with Pollock, de Kooning, and Franz Kline and became one of the only women accepted by the male art community. When Jackson Pollock was finally "discovered" he brought her into the limelight as well. Hartigan will be remembered as one of the only successful  women artists to actually be known and sell her art with the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. In reference to art, she said something dear to my heart,  "Art is still the only place in the world where you can do exactly what you want if you pay the price, which is having no one else want it." She was to be married 4 times and with her last husband moved to Baltimore in 1960 where she eventually became an instructor at the Maryland Institute College of Art for over 40 years. She gradually introduced realistic elements into her work, evidenced in the painting below, from the series Oranges.