Untitled c. 1960

Here's an untitled print on paper by Joan Mitchell. It's a flurry of black marks, confident and bold, dancing across the stark white ground, with just a few strategic swipes of electric blue to keep things lively. Mitchell was a master of gesture, and you can almost feel her arm moving as she laid down these strokes. The ink is thick in places, pooling to create these rich, velvety blacks, but then thins out to delicate lines that hover like a spider's web. See how the blue streaks anchor the composition, giving it a jolt of energy? It’s like she's captured a moment of pure feeling, a raw, unfiltered expression. I think of Franz Kline, another painter who wasn’t afraid to let the brush fly, but where Kline feels architectural, Mitchell feels like a force of nature. It's a reminder that art doesn't always have to be pretty, it can be messy, chaotic, and still be deeply moving.