Mary Abbott (artist)

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Mary Abbott
Mary Abbott in her studio (circa 1950).
Born(1921-07-27)July 27, 1921
New York City, U.S.
DiedAugust 23, 2019(2019-08-23) (aged 98)
Westhampton Beach, New York, U.S.
Known forPainting
MovementAbstract Expressionism

Mary Lee Abbott (July 27, 1921 – August 23, 2019)[1] was an American artist, known as a member of the New York School of abstract expressionists in the late 1940s and 1950s.[2] Her abstract and figurative work were also influenced by her time spent in Saint Croix and Haiti, where she lived off and on throughout the 1950s.

Early life and education[edit]

Abbott was born in New York City, where she attended the Chapin School.[3] Her family lineage traces back to John Adams, the second president of the United States.[3] Her mother, Elizabeth Grinnell, was a poet and syndicated columnist with Hearst newspapers.[4] Her family would spend time in the summer in Southampton, New York in Long Island.[5]

She was a student of artist George Grosz, while attending the Art Students League of New York.[6] At the experimental school, Subjects of the Artist, Abbott worked with Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and David Hare.[6] Abbott then studied in the late 1930s at the Corcoran Museum School (now known as Corcoran School of the Arts and Design) in Washington, D.C.[5][6]

She was briefly married to painter Lewis Teague from 1943 until 1946.[6] Soon after her separation from Teague, she married businessman Tom Clyde.[6] Clyde and Abbott spent many winters in Haiti and St.Croix. Here, she found many inspirations, such as the people and landscapes, that often inspired her paintings.[7]

Career and later life[edit]

After World War II, Abbott began seriously pursuing a career the art world and she joined the "Downtown Group", which represented a group of artists who lived in lower Manhattan. In 1946, she set up an art studio on Tenth Street in Manhattan.[5] Her location in Manhattan granted her access to a sort of inner circle of artists. Philip Pavia invited her to be one of the only three women included in "The Artist's Club" alongside Elaine de Kooning and Perle Fine.[8] "Generally speaking the women at the Club weren't treated differently than anyone else -- an artist was an artist. Sometimes you might get treated like a girl because you were pretty. I was chosen to collect the dues and go buy the booze because I was pretty and the guys would pay up if I asked them to. Other times you had to be tough to be taken seriously," Abbott said.[8]

Lucy (1956-58) by Mary Abbott. Oil on canvas. 71 × 75in.

In 1948–49, she took artistic development influence from Willem de Kooning. Her use of large-scale gesture is significantly different after his lecture at the Subjects of the Artist.[9] Abbott and de Kooning, alongside others including Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell, frequently visited the Cedar Tavern. This tavern is hailed as a famous meeting place for the Abstract Expressionist thinkers. Abbott has said that while there, they discussed ideas, art, and philosophy.[7]

In the 1950s, Abbott began a collaborative project between herself and Barbara Guest, a first-generation poet at the New York School. Abbott made paintings she called "poetry paintings" that were directly inspired by the words and images associated with Guest's poetry.[9]

Her paintings feature bright colors and were inspired by nature and her time spent traveling in the Caribbean islands.[6][10]

In 2016 her work was included in the exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism organized by the Denver Art Museum.[11]

She died at age 98 on August 23, 2019, of heart failure.[1][6]

In 2023 her work was included in the exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.[12]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Artist Mary Lee Abbott Of Southampton Dies August 23 - Southampton". www.27east.com. 2019-08-26. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  2. ^ "Mary Abbott". Ideelart. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  3. ^ a b Saxton, Diane (2012-09-11). "Mary Abbott: Quintessential American". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  4. ^ "Mary Abbott - Artist, Fine Art Prices, Auction Records for Mary Abbott". www.askart.com.
  5. ^ a b c "East End Stories, Mary Abbott (American 1921–)". The Parrish Art Museum. Archived from the original on 2011-10-09. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Selvin, Claire (2019-09-10). "Mary Abbott, Postwar Painter of Beguiling Abstractions, Dead at 98". ARTnews. Retrieved 2019-09-12. She married painter Lewis Teague in 1943, though the couple separated in 1946.
  7. ^ a b Genzlinger, Neil (2019-10-01). "Mary Abbott, Abstract Expressionist, Is Dead at 98". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  8. ^ a b Krysa, Danielle (2018-10-02). A big important art book (now with women) : profiles of unstoppable female artists--and projects to help you become one (First ed.). Philadelphia. ISBN 978-0-7624-6379-4. OCLC 1023484688.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ^ a b Women of abstract expressionism. Marter, Joan M.,, Chanzit, Gwen Finkel, 1948-, Denver Art Museum,, Mint Museum (Charlotte, N.C.),, Palm Springs Art Museum,, Whitechapel Art Gallery. Denver, Colorado. 2016. ISBN 978-0-300-20842-9. OCLC 926820720.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. ^ "Mary Abbott (1921–2019)". Artforum.com. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
  11. ^ Marter, Joan M. (2016). Women of abstract expressionism. Denver New Haven: Denver Art Museum Yale University Press. p. 162. ISBN 9780300208429.

External links[edit]

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