Description
Book SynopsisThe first biography of Grace Hartigan (1922-2008) traces her rise from self-taught painter to art-world fame in New York, her plunge into obscurity after moving to Baltimore, her constant efforts at artistic reinvention, and her tumultuous personal life, including four troubled marriages and a chilly relationship with her only child.
Trade ReviewCurtis's biography capture the mute stubbornness involved in persisting with life, despite its many disappointments. * Jenni Quilter, London Review of Books *
This spirited biography is the first to chart the career of Abstract Expressionist Hartigan (1922-2008), a painter with as much swagger as any of her male peers...an accessible portrait of a gutsy AbEx figure. * Publishers Weekly *
A fascinating look at the life of Grace Hartigan, a tough Abstract Expressionist woman artist who drank with the best of the men and had a sexual appetite that equaled the alcohol. Ambitious, driven and wrestling inner demons she abandons her only child for what she believed to be necessary for her life as an artist. Cathy Curtis deals with it all in her inclusive and well documented book. * Audrey Flack *
Cathy Curtis brings us a driven, determined, and dedicated Grace Hartigan who, as a rebellious young artist, attained a rare degree of success in the 1950s among the male abstract expressionist painters of the New York School. This expertly researched biography gives us a vivid, insightful, and fascinating glimpse into the world of the well-known artists and writers-including Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Frank O'Hara-whom Hartigan knew so well. * Laurie Lisle , author of Portrait of an Artist: A Biography of Georgia O'Keeffe, and Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life *
At last, a life of the incomparable Grace! Cathy Curtis's biography is as colorful, tough-minded, and incisive as Hartigan's work at its best. * Patricia Albers, author of Joan Mitchell, Lady Painter: A Life *
Table of ContentsContents ; How I Came to Write This Book ; Prologue: The Weekend That Changed Her Life ; PART ONE: Escape Artist (1922-1944) ; Chapter One: Dreaming ; Chapter Two: Searching ; Chapter Three: Learning ; PART TWO: New York Adventure (1945-1949) ; Chapter Four: Risking ; Chapter Five: Connecting ; Chapter Six: Coping ; PART THREE: Rising Star (1950-1955) ; Chapter Seven: Struggling ; Chapter Eight: Launching ; Chapter Nine: Succeeding ; Chapter Ten: Asserting ; color plates ; PART FOUR: Fame (1956-1960) ; Chapter Eleven: Celebrating ; Chapter Twelve: Swerving ; color plates ; PART FIVE: Beginning Again in Baltimore (1961-2008) ; Chapter Thirteen: Drifting ; Chapter Fourteen: Teaching ; Chapter Fifteen: Unraveling ; Chapter Sixteen: Renewing ; Chapter Seventeen: Prevailing ; Acknowledgements ; Notes ; Selected Bibliography ; Index
