Agnes Martin

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Agnes Bernice Martin (born March 22, 1912 in Macklin, Saskatchewan , Canada ; † December 16, 2004 in Taos / New Mexico , USA ) was a Canadian-American artist . Her work is often described as minimalist , but also ascribed to abstract expressionism .

Life

Martin was born to Scottish immigrants on a farm in Macklin, Saskatchewan. She grew up in Vancouver . In 1931 she went to the USA , where she studied at various universities in Oregon , California and New Mexico , among others . From 1935 to 1938 he studied at the Western Washington College of Education in Bellingham , Washington . In 1941/1942 she completed a history and sociology degree at the Teacher's College of Columbia University , New York, with a Bachelor of Science degree . From 1946 to 1948 she studied and taught at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque . From 1948 to 1950 she taught in public schools in Washington and Delaware . In 1950 she returned to New York and received her Master of Arts degree from Columbia University's Teacher's College . In the same year, she also acquired US citizenship. From 1954 to 1957 she lived in Taos, New Mexico . Until then, her style of painting had been naturalistic and surrealistic.

She returned to New York in 1957, discovered by gallery owner Betty Parsons , and lived in the new bohemian neighborhood of Coenties Slip, where she met artists such as Robert Indiana , Ellsworth Kelly , James Rosenquist and Jack Youngerman . Martin had her first solo exhibition in 1958 at the Betty Parsons Gallery .

Martin left New York for good in 1967 and after a troubled time moved back to New Mexico near Cuba, where she built an adobe house. Martin did not paint for seven years.

On a clear day (sheet 1) by Agnes Martin (1973) from the holdings of the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
Link to the picture

(Please note copyrights )

Her second major phase of work began in 1973 with a portfolio with 30 screen prints entitled On a Clear Day . Agnes Martin participated in documenta 5 in 1972 and in documenta 6 in Kassel in 1977 . In 2007, works by her could be seen at documenta 12 .

In 1991 the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam organized a retrospective, which was then shown in Wiesbaden, Münster and Paris. This was immediately followed by a traveling exhibition in the USA organized by the Whitney Museum New York . In 1997 Martin took part in the Venice Biennale . In the same year, Martin spoke about her work in an interview with the AP news agency. According to her own statements, her paintings do not represent anything, but should only evoke emotional reactions in the audience. Martin had a strong affinity with the English poet John Keats , whose equation of beauty and truth shaped her work.

In 1994 Agnes Martin returned to Taos, where she bought a studio and lived in a retirement home. She painted until a few months before her death, before her rapidly deteriorating health no longer allowed this.

Martin was known for her contemplative way of life and work and her reluctance towards the media and public appearances. Nevertheless, three films were made between 2000 and 2002, which give deep and in some cases very personal insights into her life and work. In 2000, Thomas Lüchinger made a documentary entitled On a clear day - Agnes Martin , in which, among other things, the influence of the New York School as well as her friendship with Ad Reinhardt , Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman in the early 1950s and their artistic range from classic modernism to minimalism. Two other films made during this time are Agnes Martin: With my Back to the World by Mary Lance from 2002 and Agnes Martin: Between the Lines by Leon d'Avigdor , a documentary that was produced in 2002 and on February 12, 2016 now appears on DVD in an expanded and revised version (English with German subtitles). In the latter film, Martin speaks not only about essential stations and aspects of her career and artistic work, but above all about her insights into fundamental questions of human existence.

Abstract paintings by Martin are represented in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum , the Museum of Modern Art , the Dia Art Foundation , as well as the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and the Tate Gallery . In the first retrospective since her death, Agnes Martin's work was shown from June to October 2015 at the Tate Gallery of Modern Art in London, which also organized the exhibition. At the end of 2015, the exhibition moved on to K 20 in Düsseldorf, which acquired its 1998 work Untitled # 5 in 2011 . Further stations of the retrospective are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2016.

Awards

Films about Martin

  • 2000: Thomas Lüchinger: On a Clear Day - Agnes Martin. Documentation (English), 52 minutes.
  • 2002: Mary Lance: Agnes Martin: With my Back to the World. Documentation (English), 57 minutes.
  • 2002/2016 (new version): Leon d'Avigdor: Agnes Martin: Between the Lines. Documentation (English with German subtitles), 60 minutes.

literature

  • Agnes Martin. The Writings , edited by Dieter Schwarz, for the exhibition Agnes Martin: Paintings and Works on Paper, 1960–1989 , Kunstmuseum Winterthur 1992
  • Agnes Martin: The Untroubled Mind , In: Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art , edited by Kristine Stiles; Peter Selz, University of California Press, Berkeley 1996
  • Agnes Martin: Recent Paintings , April 27 - June 3, 2000, Pace Wildenstein, New York 2000

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Lüchinger on sikart.ch
  2. ↑ New Deal Films ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.newdealfilms.com
  3. ^ Leon d'Avigdor film
  4. ^ Guggenheim Collection ( Memento of July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ MoMA
  6. ^ Dia Art Foundation ( Memento from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ^ Whitney Museum of American Art ( Memento April 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
  9. ^ Tate Gallery
  10. ↑ Bernd Aulich: The strength of the artist Agnes Martin lies in silence . Article from November 6, 2015 in the portal ruhrnachrichten.de , accessed on November 8, 2015
  11. ↑ Members: Agnes Martin. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 12, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Awards - Biennale di Venezia
  13. ↑ Agnes Martin, 92; Abstract Painter Won the Golden Lion Los Angeles Times , December 17, 2004
  14. ^ Agnes Martin Gallery of the Harwood Museum of Art
  15. ↑ National Medal of Arts 1998 ( Memento from August 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (at Wayback Machine )

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Martin, Agnes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Martin, Agnes Bernice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian-American artist
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Macklin, Saskatchewan , Canada
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 2004
Place of death Taos (New Mexico)