Joan Mitchell was a famous American painter and important member of the American abstract expressionism, despite the fact that much of her career took place in France. Just like her fellow artists Lee Krasner, Grace Hartigan and Helen Frankenthaler, Mitchell was one of her era’s few female artists who gained a lot of public appreciation. She was a tough and disciplined person, always courageous and ready to sail against the wind in the masculine art world, at the time when no one believed that women could paint. I try to eliminate clichés, extraneous material. My painting is not an allegory or a story. It is more like a poem, said Joan Mitchell about her work. [1]
Joan Mitchell was born in Chicago in the mid-20s. Even though her parents weren’t visual artists, they were into fine arts and poetry. Her father was a physician who enjoyed drawing while her mother was a successful writer. The younger of two daughters, Joan grew up in a family where both art and literature were highly appreciated. She went to high school at Francis W. Parker School, which was a very progressive institution. After she graduated from this high school, she enrolled at Smith College. Joan Mitchell also studied fine arts at the summer school organized by the Art Institute of Chicago. These summer lessons were held in Saugatuck, Michigan, where the young artist could enjoy an interesting mix of personal freedom and strict artistic guidance. Mitchell attended another summer school program in Guanajuato, Mexico, in the mid-40s. She proved to be an outstanding young artist and in 1947 she won a Ryerson Traveling Fellowship, which allowed her to visit New York and later on Europe. She lived in Europe for two years, from 1948 to 1950, when she decided to come back to the United States in order to marry Barney Rosset, a future publisher. They were both originally from Chicago, but they moved to New York City in the 1950s.
In 1950, the artist kept working on her education – she started taking courses at the prestigious Columbia University and NYU, in order to complete requirements needed for an MFA degree. Joan Mitchell befriended the circle of abstract expressionists as soon as she settled down in NYC and she started attending various events with them. For instance, she was a frequent visitor of Cedar Bar, a popular spot for aspiring creatives, and she also participated in important group exhibitions featuring abstract expressionists, such as the legendary 9th Street Show in 1951. Already a year later, in 1952, she had her first solo show, followed by another one in 1953, held at Stable Gallery. After the great initial success, Mitchell continued showcasing her works at Whitney Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. In 1957, Mitchell took part in one of the most important exhibitions in her career – it was called Artists of the New York School: Second Generation and it was held at the Jewish Museum. The term Second Generation was coined to describe creators such as Mitchell herself, Norman Bluhm, and Sam Francis, who were young painters all belonging to the same movement which resembled expressionism. When it comes to Mitchell’s style in the mid and late 1950s, it was based on strong and rhythmical brushstrokes and her works were dynamic, bold and even impulsive. In 1959, Joan Mitchell came back to Europe and she opened a studio in France, located first in Rue Fremicourt in Paris before transferring to Vétheuil in 1968. Vétheuil is a small yet famous town in the French countryside, where the legendary impressionist Claude Monet worked in the 1880s. Mitchell has permanently moved to Vétheuil until her death in 1992.
Pop and conceptual art which were taking over abstract expressionism starting from the 60s didn’t prevent the artist from continuing to work in her own, independent style. During this revolutionary era, she kept exhibiting regularly in solo and group shows throughout the United States and France. In the 1980s, when the interest in conceptual art gradually diminished, Mitchell was discovered by a new generation of painters. She participated in the American Art Biennial Exhibition held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1983, with a group of popular young artists including big names such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel. She also took part in numerous annual shows at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C. and Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. Joan Mitchell’s exploration of form and composition was rather refreshing as she expanded the previous expressionist tradition. Her bold colors and gestures created a uniquely compelling language, where ideas and feelings are represented through versatile patterns and shapes. Because of the tumultuous energy of her approach, Mitchell’s work has been often described by art critiques as truly breathtaking. Of all the museum retrospectives she had at the Whitney Museum, the one from 2002 was most memorable. It included a wide range of her paintings from different periods of her career, which allowed the viewers to fully understand Joan Mitchell’s artistic achievements.
Mitchell’s paintings can be found in various prestigious collections, including The Museum of Modern Art and The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and The Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois. There is also the Joan Mitchell Foundation, which was established in 1993 as a non-profit organization. This foundation is still active and it gives numerous awards, grants, and stipends to talented creatives. It is important to mention that already during her lifetime, Mitchell has achieved a lot of commercial success, more than any other female painter of the same generation. Between 1960 and 1962, she has earned over $30,000, while in 2007, the Art Institute of Chicago sold one of Mitchell’s work from 1957 at Christie’s New York for astounding $3.8 million.[2]
Joan Mitchell was one of the rare women among the best-ranked abstract expressionists. She proved to be more successful than the majority of her male mentors and fellow painters, with Lee Krasner being her only female rival.[3] Even though she was well-received by the most influential critics and artists, her great achievements didn’t receive full recognition during her lifetime. For instance, her paintings haven’t been shown in New York City for roughly 20 years, because of her different style which made it even harder for her to excel in the art world led primarily by male creators. Throughout her life, the artist was deeply committed to autonomous abstract works, which allowed her to expressed her immense love for the craft and technique of contemporary painting.
The artist is represented by Hauser & Wirth, Weng Contemporary and Woodward Gallery.
Joan Mitchell died on October 30, 1992.
Sources:
All images © Joan Mitchell Foundation
Christie's New York, New York, United States, 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, United States
Year | Exhibition Title | Gallery/Museum | Solo/Group |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Joan Mitchell Retrospective:nHer Life and Paintings | Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany | Solo |
2016 | Joan Mitchell: Drawing into Painting | Cheim & Read, New York, NY | Solo |
2015 | Joan Mitchell - The Sketchbook of Drawings | Museum Folkwang Essen, Essen | Solo |
2014 | Joan Mitchell: Trees | Cheim & Read, New York City, NY | Solo |
2014 | Joan Mitchell - The Black Drawings | Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York City, NY | Solo |
2014 | Why nature? | Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York City, NY | Group |
2014 | Stone on the screen | Studio Franck Bordas, Paris | Group |
2014 | Stone on the screen | Engraving Centre and the Printed Image, La Louviere | Group |
2014 | In three stages | Museum of Fine Arts in Caen, Caen | Group |
2014 | Form Figure Abstraction 1940-1960 | DC Moore Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2014 | Rothko to Richter: Mark-Making in Abstract Painting from the Collection of Preston H. Haskell | Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ | Group |
2014 | Mitchell, Benglis, Wilke | Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA | Group |
2014 | Hans Hofmann, Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis | Galerie Thomas Modern, Munich | Group |
2014 | Everybody is Nobody | Fundación Banco Santander, Boadilla del Monte | Group |
2014 | The Age Of Small Things | DODGEgallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2013 | Paper product: Portfolios From The Polly And Mark Addison Collection | CU Art Museum, Boulder, CO | Group |
2013 | Summer Selections | Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York City, NY | Group |
2013 | Chamberlain Mitchell | Gagosian Gallery, Rome | Group |
2013 | Our Treasures: Highlights from the Minnesota Museum of American Art | Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN | Group |
2013 | From Provincetown to Now 100 Years of Women in Prints | Mary Ryan Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2012 | Joan Mitchell - The Last Paintings | Auser & Wirth London, Piccadilly, London | Solo |
2012 | Elles: Pompidou | Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA | Group |
2012 | Elles: Sam | Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle, WA | Group |
2012 | Portrait Landscape: Genre Boundaries | Moscow museum of modern art - MMOMA, Moscow | Group |
2012 | Abstract Expressionist Works on Paper | Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI | Group |
2012 | Between Abstract and Figurative | Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA | Group |
2012 | After May | Cheryl Hazan Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2012 | American Masters at the Norton: Clyfford Still and Joan Mitchell | Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL | Group |
2012 | Intimate Immensity: The Susan And Larry Marx Collection | Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA | Group |
2012 | Form and formlessness | Museum of Fine Arts, Dole, Dole | Group |
2011 | American Treasures: Masterworks From The Butler Institute Of American Art | Boca Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL | Group |
2011 | Looking Back: The 6th White Columns Annual | White Columns, New York City, NY | Group |
2011 | Master Drawings | Schroeder Romero & Shredder, New York City, NY | Group |
2011 | Carolina Collects: 150 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art from Alumni Collections | Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC | Group |
2011 | Little Gems | Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2011 | The Women in Our Life: A Fifteen Year Anniversary Exhibition | Cheim & Read, New York City, NY | Group |
2011 | Overture | Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX | Group |
2011 | Simply Masterful: Picasso and Artists of the Modern Era | Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA | Group |
2011 | Abstract Expressionism and its Discontents | Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA | Group |
2011 | Familienbande | Galerie Thomas Modern, Munich | Group |
2011 | Matrix to Impression | Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY | Group |
2011 | Editions | Mary Ryan Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2010 | Joan Mitchell - The Last Decade | Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA | Solo |
2010 | Joan Mitchell in New Orleans: Prints | Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans - CAC, New Orleans, LA | Solo |
2010 | Joan Mitchell: Works on Paper | Newcomb Art Gallery , New Orleans, LA | Solo |
2010 | Pavers | Schroeder Romero & Shredder, New York City, NY | Group |
2010 | The Nature of Art: Encounters with nature from the 19th century to the present day | Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur | Group |
2010 | Inquiring Eyes: Greensboro Collects Art | Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC | Group |
2010 | Abstraction Revisited | CAM - Chelsea Art Museum, New York City, NY | Group |
2010 | Masters of the Gesture | Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA | Group |
2010 | The Jewel Thief | The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY | Group |
2010 | Women Artists | Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA | Group |
2010 | Calder to Warhol: Introducing the Fisher Collection | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA | Group |
2010 | Art of Our Time: Selections from the Ulrich Museum of Art | Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS | Group |
2010 | Monet and Abstraction | Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid | Group |
2010 | Modern Times: responding to chaos | Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire | Group |
2009 | Joan Mitchell - Drawings | Kukje Gallery, Seoul | Solo |
2009 | Joan Mitchell - Sunflowers | Hauser & Wirth Zürich, Zurich | Solo |
2009 | Joan Mitchell - A Discovery of New York Schoo | Kunsthalle Emden, Emden | Solo |
2009 | Joan Mitchell - Sunflowers | Cheim & Read, New York City, NY | Solo |
2009 | Joan Mitchell | Paintings and Pastels 1973-1983 | Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York City, NY | Solo |
2009 | Deadline | Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris - MAM/ARC, Paris | Group |
2009 | Before Again | Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York City, NY | Group |
2009 | Masters of printmaking: the twentieth century | Galerie Simon Blais, Montreal, QC | Group |
2009 | The Passionate Pursuit: Gifts and Promised Works from Donna and Cargill MacMillan, Jr. | Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA | Group |
2009 | Influences of Nature on Abstraction | Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, WY | Group |
2009 | The Female Gaze: Women Look At Women | Cheim & Read, New York City, NY | Group |
2009 | Impressionist and Modern Masters: Nature and Light | Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA | Group |
2009 | Pictures dreams. The Collection Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch | New National Gallery, Berlin | Group |
2009 | FLOWER POWER | Craa Centro di ricerca arte attuale Villa Giulia, Verbania | Group |
2009 | Collect With Us | Armand Bartos Fine Art, New York City, NY | Group |
2009 | International: 20th Century and Contemporary Masters | Hillsboro Fine Art, Dublin | Group |
2009 | Chain Links | Georgia Scherman Projects, Toronto, ON | Group |
2009 | Abstract Expressionism: Further Evidence (Part One: Painting) | Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2009 | WHITE LIGHT WHITE HEAT | Hauser & Wirth, London | Group |
2009 | Action Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940–1976 | Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY | Group |
2009 | Smith | Barbara Mathes Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2008 | Wonder Women | Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2008 | Synesthesia: Art and the Mind | McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, ON | Group |
2008 | Autumn Group Show | Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York City, NY | Group |
2008 | Seductions: Impressionist and 20th-Century Painting | Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA | Group |
2008 | Paper Trail II: Passing Through Clouds | The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA | Group |
2008 | Masters of Abstraction Exhibition | Anita Shapolsky Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2008 | The American Evolution - A History through Art | The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC | Group |
2008 | Action Painting | Fondation Beyeler, Riehen | Group |
2008 | Empires and Environments | The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA | Group |
2008 | Suitcase Paintings: Small Scale Work by Abstract Expressionists | Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, UT | Group |
2007 | Joan Mitchell Leaving America | Auser & Wirth London, Piccadilly, London | Solo |
2007 | Joan Mitchell - The Last Prints | Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York City, NY | Solo |
2007 | Joan Mitchell: Paintings, Pastels and Prints, 1962-1991 | Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL | Solo |
2007 | Gestes, signes, traces, espaces | Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Caen | Group |
2007 | The Passionate Gesture | Hackett Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA | Group |
2007 | When Art Worlds Collide - The 60 | Woodward Gallery, New York City, NY | Group |
2007 | Contemporary Currents - Selections from the Bank of America Collection | MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL | Group |
2007 | The color constantly renewed | Tribute to Jean Fournier - Musée Fabre, Montpellier | Group |
2005 | Joan Mitchell - Prints from the Foundation | Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York City, NY | Solo |
2005 | Joan Mitchell - Fremicourt Paintings 1960-62 | Cheim & Read, New York City, NY | Solo |
2005 | Joan Mitchell: Sketchbook | Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, New York City, NY | Solo |
2004 | The Paintings of Joan Mitchell | Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA | Solo |
2002 | Joan Mitchell | Petit Lennon | Weinberg, Inc., New York City, NY | Solo |
2002 | Joan Mitchell - The Presence of Absence | Cheim & Read, New York City, NY | Solo |
1999 | The Nature of Abstraction: Joan Mitchell Paintings, Drawings, and Prints | Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN | Solo |