Oral History of the Month

This page was created to highlight some of the interviews that can be found in the Oral History Collection of the Maryland Historical Society. The oral histories in the collection range from single interviews to projects consisting of hundreds of interviews. Please visit the main Oral History page to explore more of the collection.

Previous Oral History of the Months

OH 8080, Grace Hartigan, 1975

Grace Hartigan (1922-2008)

Grace Hartigan was an Abstract Expressionist painter who came to prominence in the 1950s. Born in Newark, NJ on March 28, 1922, Hartigan began painting in the early 1940's and in 1945 moved to New York City where she soon became part of the so called New York School, the arts movement which included the Abstract Expressionists.

Ms. Hartigan's paintings were featured in many important exhibitions during the 1950's. Some of her earliest paintings were included in a 1949 exhibition in New York alongside works by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Franz Kline. She was the only female artist included in the Museum of Modern Art's "The New American Painting" tour of 1958 and 1959, which exposed Abstract Expressionism to a European audience. Life Magazine called her “the most celebrated of the young American women painters” in a 1958 article. Today, Ms. Hartigan's paintings are held by many institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Art.

In 1960 Hartigan moved from New York City to Baltimore where she would remain for the rest of her life. She continued to produce paintings while turning much of her attention to teaching; in 1965 she became the Director of the Hoffberger Graduate School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), a position she held until retiring in 2007. Hartigan died of liver failure on November 15, 2008.

In a very lively and wide ranging interview, Ms. Hartigan delves into a variety of aspects of her life and career including: her upbringing in New Jersey and her first forays into art; her experiences as an artist in New York City in the late 1940's and 1950's; the concepts of Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting; her friendships with fellow artists Jackson Pollack, Lee Krasner, Willem de Kooning, and others in the art world of 1950s New York; the art scene of Baltimore in the 1960s and early 1970s and how it compared to that of New York; her philosophy and approach towards art; her view of Pop Art and Minimalism; the role of women as artists; family life and marriages; her experiences as a teacher at MICA.

Materials available for this interview include a full transcript, a list of solo and group exhibitions that included Ms. Hartigan's artwork from 1949-1975, bibliography of works, newspaper articles, and a program for a March 1975 solo exhibition of Ms. Hartigan's paintings.

To make a request to view transcripts or other materials from OH 8080, please contact the Special Collections Department at specialcollections@mdhs.org, or speak to the Special Collections Librarian at the desk in the library.

(Sources: OH 8080, Grace Hartigan 1975; Grimes, William. "Grace Hartigan, 86, Abstract Painter, Dies," New York Times, November 18, 2008)