Joan Mitchell
I would say Joan Mitchell’s Special Exhibition was the most anticipated show of 2022 that I was looking forward to see. Finally, last weekend I had the chance to go to Baltimore Museum of Art.
Joan Mitchell’s (1925 - 1992) is one of the most significant American artist from Post-War era. She was a painter who hated aesthetic lables, even though she is known for being from “New York School”, the Artist’s Club in Greenwich Village where she was one of the few women allowed to join.
Mitchell called herself the “last Abstract Expressionist”. She is known for the compositional rhythms, bold coloration, and expansive gestural brushstrokes of her large and often multi-paneled paintings ( dipych, tripych ). Inspired by landscape, nature, and poetry, her intent was not to create recognizable images, but to bring emotions. Her early success in the 1950s was striking at a time when few women artists were recognized.
She was born in an upper middle class family and had the opportunity to compete in sports at young age. Her activities were diving, horseback riding and ice-skating.
“Actually, she was nationally renowned ice-skater. We can see her movement, her full body spanning in some of these really grand paintings from large brush strokes to smaller, more active marks”
Curatorial Assistant at BMA, Karlan Thomas says.
The exhibition will run until August and it’s a good opportunity to see in loco her work.
