Agnes Martin, Untitled, c. 1955,
oil on canvas, 46 ½ x 66 ¼ in. (118.1 x 168.3 cm),
private collection,
© 2016 Agnes Martin/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York,
photo courtesy Pace Gallery
Agnes Martin retrospective at the LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents ‘Agnes Martin’, the first and most comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work since 1992. April 24–September 11, 2016.]]>
Source: LACMA
This extensive exhibition covers the full breadth of Martin’s practice, revealing her early and little-known experiments with different media, and tracing the development of her work from biomorphic abstraction to the mesmerizing grids and striped canvases that became her hallmark.
A seminal artist of the 20th century and a pioneer of abstraction, Martin viewed her work as a pursuit of perfection, striving to instill every painting with “beauty, innocence, and happiness.” Her style, though restrained, underscored her deep conviction in the emotive and expressive power of art. Martin’s development of the grid marked a crossroads in the history of abstract painting. The artist established a geometric and spatial language often by gently inscribing penciled lines over subtle fields of wash and color—a practice that she would persist in refining and reinterpreting over ensuing decades. A contemporary of the abstract expressionists, Martin was one of the few prominent female artists in the prevailingly masculine art world of the late 1950s and 1960s.
“As the only West Coast venue in the United States, LACMA is pleased to present the work of an artist who was so fundamentally inspired and influenced by the landscape of the American Southwest,” said Michael Govan, LACMA CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director.
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