Nancy, from the Paper Doll Series

Grace Hartigan

1922-2008

Born in Newark, NJ

Died in Baltimore, MD

Nancy, from the Paper Doll Series

1981

Oil on canvas

79 x 80 inches

Gift of Dolly J. Fiterman

2016.10.01

Grace Hartigan is one of the leading 2nd generation Abstract Expressionist painters who exhibited with friends like William DeKooning, Jackson Pollock, and Milton Avery. She began in the 1950s doing abstract work, which morphed in the 70s and 80s into work that portrayed a fascination with both ancient and popular culture. Her signature colors and drips became connected with icons of popular culture, in this case, a series of paintings on movie stars of the 1930s. Nancy is one of the Paper Dolls series, an all-over painting that brings figuration back into abstract forms. She was inspired by the Glamorous Movie Stars of the Thirties paper doll book, where images emerge "like through a rain forest." She depicts them not as dolls but as women, stuck between Hollywood pop culture and painterly presence. Nancy is named for Nancy Carroll, one of the stars in the book. It is the first work by Grace Hartigan in the M's collection.

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