“Abstract is not a style. I simply want to make a surface work.”
—Joan Mitchell
Mitchell is one of the foremost painters of Abstract Expressionism. In the 1950s, she lived between New York and Paris, where she developed a unique approach that set her work apart from the “all over” paintings of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and others. Mitchell looked to nature, people, and moments in time to inspire her choices of color and form, titling works after her experiences and memories (the French “soldats de bois” means wooden soldiers). Distinctively, she shaped her compositions through strong, gestural brushstrokes, called “whiplash lines,” that generate a sense of dimension and energy concentrated in the center of the painting. Visitors have the opportunity to see this stunning painting, now on view in the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, 1st floor gallery for a year.
—Sara Krajewski, The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
