Agnes Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004) was a Canadian-
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
, often referred to as a minimalist; Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist.
She was born in
Macklin, SaskatchewanMacklin is a town in Eye Hill Rural Municipality No. 382, Saskatchewan, Canada. The population was 1453 at the 2006 Census. The town is located on Highway 31 about 5 km east of the provincial border with Alberta, and is situated near of one of the most productive oil and natural gas producing...
, grew up in
VancouverVancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The city is bounded by English Bay, Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, the city of Burnaby, and the University Endowment Lands. Vancouver is named after Captain George Vancouver, a...
, and moved to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1931, becoming a citizen in 1950. She studied art at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
and then later at the
University of New MexicoThe University of New Mexico is a public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Founded in 1889, it offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degree programs in the arts, sciences, and engineering...
. Her work is most closely associated with
Taos, New MexicoTaos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico. In New Mexico, a municipality may call itself a village, town, or city . Taos calls itself the "Town of Taos" and was incorporated as such in 1934...
, although she moved to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
after being discovered by the artist/gallery owner
Betty ParsonsBetty Parsons, born Betty Bierne Pierson, was an American artist and art dealer known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She was known as "the den mother of Abstract Expressionism"...
in 1957.
Agnes Martin (March 22, 1912 – December 16, 2004) was a Canadian-
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
painterPainting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting. Paintings may have for their support such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, clay or concrete...
, often referred to as a minimalist; Martin considered herself an abstract expressionist.
Childhood and background
She was born in
Macklin, SaskatchewanMacklin is a town in Eye Hill Rural Municipality No. 382, Saskatchewan, Canada. The population was 1453 at the 2006 Census. The town is located on Highway 31 about 5 km east of the provincial border with Alberta, and is situated near of one of the most productive oil and natural gas producing...
, grew up in
VancouverVancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The city is bounded by English Bay, Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, the city of Burnaby, and the University Endowment Lands. Vancouver is named after Captain George Vancouver, a...
, and moved to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1931, becoming a citizen in 1950. She studied art at
Columbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private university in the United States and a member of the Ivy League. Columbia's main campus lies in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, in New York City...
and then later at the
University of New MexicoThe University of New Mexico is a public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Founded in 1889, it offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degree programs in the arts, sciences, and engineering...
. Her work is most closely associated with
Taos, New MexicoTaos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico. In New Mexico, a municipality may call itself a village, town, or city . Taos calls itself the "Town of Taos" and was incorporated as such in 1934...
, although she moved to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
after being discovered by the artist/gallery owner
Betty ParsonsBetty Parsons, born Betty Bierne Pierson, was an American artist and art dealer known for her early promotion of Abstract Expressionism. She was known as "the den mother of Abstract Expressionism"...
in 1957. According to a filmed interview with her which was released in 2003, she moved from New York City only when she was told her rented loft/workspace/studio would be no longer available because of the building's imminent demolition. She goes on further to state that she could not conceive of working in any other space in NY and consequently left the city for other places and ended up in Taos, NM.
Artistic style
Her signature style is defined by an emphasis upon line, grids, and fields of extremely subtle color. While minimalist in form, these paintings were quite different in spirit from those of her other minimalist counterparts, retaining small flaws and unmistakable traces of the artist's hand; she shied away from
intellectualismIntellectualism is any of a number of views regarding the use or development of the intellect or the practice of being an intellectual. In non-specialized contexts, the term "intellectualism" is often used to describe an attitude of devotion or high regard for intellectual pursuits...
, favoring the personal and spiritual. Her paintings, statements, and influential writings often reflect an interest in Eastern philosophy, especially
TaoistDaoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts that have influenced East Asia for over two millennia and the West for over two centuries. The word 道, Tao , means "path" or "way", although in Chinese folk religion and philosophy it has taken on more...
. Because of her work's added spiritual dimension, which became more and more dominant after 1967, she preferred to be classified as an
abstract expressionistAbstract expressionism was an American post-World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris....
. She consciously distanced herself from the social life and social events that brought other artists into the public eye. When she died at age 92, she was said to have not read a newspaper for the last 50 years. The book dedicated to the exhibition of her work in New York at The
Drawing CenterThe Drawing Center is a SoHo museum and the only nonprofit exhibition space in the United States to focus solely on the exhibition of drawings, both historical and contemporary.- Location and activities :...
in 2005—3 X Abstraction (
Yale University PressYale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
)— analyzes the spiritual dimension in Martin's work.
Martin worked only in black, white, and brown before moving to New Mexico. During this time, she introduced light pastel washes to her grids, colors that shimmered in the changing light.
Cultural references
Composer
John ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn's recorded output is prolific with hundreds of album credits as a performer, composer, or producer...
's
RedbirdRedbird is an album of contemporary classical music by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn consisting of two tribute compositions for artist Agnes Martin.-Personnel:*Jim Pugliese: Bass Drums, Percussion...
(1995) was inspired by and dedicated to Martin.
Sister Wendy Beckett, in her book
American Masterpieces, said about Martin: "Agnes Martin often speaks of joy; she sees it as the desired condition of all life. Who would disagree with her?... No-one who has seriously spent time before an Agnes Martin, letting its peace communicate itself, receiving its inexplicable and ineffable happiness, has ever been disappointed. The work awes, not just with its delicacy, but with its vigor, and this power and visual interest is something that has to be experienced."
External links