Grace Hartigan USA, 1922-2008
Hartigan emerged at a time when Abstract Expressionism was deeply male-dominated, yet earned her place as the only woman featured in MoMA’s landmark 1956 Twelve Americans exhibition.
Grace Hartigan (b.1922-2008, USA) was a post-war American artist and one of the leading voices of the New York School. She emerged at a time when Abstract Expressionism was deeply male-dominated, yet earned her place as the only woman featured in MoMA’s 1956 Twelve Americans exhibition. Early in her career, Hartigan even signed many of her works under the pseudonym “George” - an homage to prominent female writers George Eliot and George Sand- both to challenge gendered expectations and assert her artistic independence. Her paintings, alive with gestural energy, dynamically blend figuration and abstraction, echoing her predecessors De Kooning and Pollock while often conveying social commentary. Her 1957 series Grand Street Brides, for instance, reinterpreted bridal-shop mannequins into fragmented, expressive forms that quietly critique domestic ideals and the institution of marriage.
Hartigan’s connection to Mexico began in 1949 when she spent a year in San Miguel de Allende. That period deeply shaped her aesthetic direction, introducing motifs of folklore and surreal imagery drawn from Mexican culture. One early work from this time, Secuda Esa Bruja (The Witch Is Flying), blends elements reminiscent of Surrealism and myth-inspired painting. It was after returning from Mexico that she fully immersed herself in New York’s avant-garde circle and developed the bold visual language that would define her career.
Hartigan studied mechanical drafting at the Newark College of Engineering before pursuing art, studying with Isaac Lane Muse in New Jersey in the late 1940s. Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Montclair Art Museum. She participated in landmark exhibitions such as Twelve Americans (MoMA, 1956) and New American Painting (1958–59, a European tour organised by MoMA). Her paintings are held in major collections including MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
