Pallas Athene 1961

Grace Hartigan made Pallas Athene in 1961, and it feels like she was really going for it! I see a lot of gestural marks and a kind of muted color palette of blacks, reds, yellows, and purples, which must have been born out of trial, error, and intuition. I imagine Hartigan was deep in thought, maybe even wrestling with some ideas while creating this. The texture looks like she might have used thin paint, allowing the surface beneath to peek through, creating depth and visual interest. There is one particular gesture, a bold stroke of black paint, that feels like a decisive statement, charged with emotion. This piece definitely resonates with Hartigan’s wider practice, and it reminds me of some of the other Abstract Expressionists who were exploring similar territories of feeling and form. It is like the artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring each other. Painting is like that, right? It is a form of expression that embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations. It can become pretty intense and uncertain.