Henry Martin - Agnes Martin: Pioneer, Painter, Icon

Copyright 2018 by Henry Martin

First Paperback Edition

Printed in the United States

Cover Photo: Granted by Permission of Susan Sharpe

Cover and Interior Design: Jordan Wannemacher

No part of this book may be excerpted or reprinted without the written permission of the publisher. For permissions, contact:

Schaffner Press, Inc., POB 41567, Tucson, Az 85717

The Publisher gratefully acknowledges the following for permission to reprint from these published works: Li Po, Questions Answered from Crossing the Yellow River: Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese, translated by Sam Hamill. Copyright 2000 by Sam Hamill. Reprinted with thepermission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Tiger Bark Press, Four Strong Winds excerpts, printed by permission of Ian Tyson, Slick Fork Music.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Martin, Henry, 1983- author.

Title: Agnes Martin : pioneer, painter, icon / Henry Martin.

Description: First paperback edition. | Tucson, AZ : Schaffner Press, Inc., 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017040812 (print) | LCCN 2017042118 (ebook) | ISBN 9781943156313 (Adobe) | ISBN 9781943156320 (Epub) | ISBN 9781943156337 (Mobi/Kindle) | ISBN 9781943156306 (paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Martin, Agnes, 1912-2004. | Artists--United States--Biography. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Artists, Architects, Photographers. | ART / Individual Artists / General.

Classification: LCC N6537.M38 (ebook) | LCC N6537.M38 M37 2018 (print) | DDC 759.13 [B] --dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017040812

ISBN: 978-1-943156-30-6

www.schaffnerpress.com

For my parents, who told me storiessometimes without intending to, and even when I would not listen.

And for Kristina Wilson.

Id just as soon be discovered 25 years after Im dead thatd really be greatthat would mean so much.

1974, AGNES MARTIN INTERVIEW WITH KATE HORSFIELD

It is better to go to the beach and think about painting than it is to be painting and thinking about going to the beach.

1987, AGNES MARTIN, SKOWHEGAN

We think we are very mundane, but we are all capable of fugues.

1993, AGNES MARTIN INTERVIEW WITH SALLY EAUCLAIRE

T here are hundreds of artworks mentioned in this book. Most, but not all, are by Agnes Martin. It is very difficult to reproduce Martins work properlyimpossible to reduce to five by five inches a canvas that is seventy-two by seventy-two inches in size: few details can be preserved, and only the most general color and form can be communicated.

The following list has been selected to offer an overview of her output. The list is biased because it includes work that is particularly meaningful to the narrative withinwork that highlights people, places, or ideas close to the artist. As an overview it includes all the media the artist worked in; sculpture, painting, prints, and film, as well as her different styles; figurative, biomorphic, abstract, geometric and so forth. In these examples, to aid the understanding of what paintings were produced where, Pioneer artwork was generally produced in Oregon and New Mexico, Painter artwork in New York, and Icon artwork in New Mexico.

I hope the reader looks at some of the artwork listed below and that they feel free to reference books, libraries, and online searches for other work, so that they form their own connections and opinions on the artist and her contemporaries.

There is nothing better than seeing the work in person, and work by the artist can be found in public collections around the world. You may come across a work when you least expect it. If you do, follow the artists advice and give it at least thirty seconds of your time.

I hope youll be happy that you do. After all, Happiness is the goal.

Untitled, 1948

Encaustic on canvas, 18 x 14 in.

Private collection.

View from the Porch, no date

Oil on canvas, 19 x 23 in.

Private collection.

New Mexico Mountain Landscape, Taos, 1947

Watercolor on paper, 11 x 15 in.

Raymond Jonson Collection, The University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM.

Portrait of Daphne Vaughn, c.194749

Encaustic on canvas, 20 x 16 in.

Peters Family Art Foundation, Santa Fe, NM.

Self Portrait, no date

Encaustic on canvas, 26 x 19 in.

Private collection.

Personages, 1952

Lithograph, 10 x 14 in.

Private collection.

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Good and Evil, 1953

Oil on paperboard, 48 x 72 in.

Private collection.

Untitled, 1953

Oil on canvas, 34 x 47 in.

The Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM.

Untitled, 1954

Black crayon or pastel and oil on paperboard, 36 x 47 in.

The University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM.

Mid-Winter, 1954

Oil on canvas, 33 x 48 in.

Taos Municipal Schools Historic Art Collection, Taos, NM.

Dream of Night Sailing, 1954

Oil on canvas, 15 x 22 in.

Private collection.

Untitled, c.1957

Oil on canvas, 34 x 34 in.

Dia Art Foundation, NY.

This Rain, 1958

Oil on canvas, 70 x 70 in.

Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.

The Laws, 1958

Oil and boat spikes on wood, 93 x 18 x 2 in.

Private collection.

Homage to Greece, 1958

Oil paint on pieces of canvas on wood panel, with nails, 12 x 12 in.

Private Collection.

Dominoes, 1960

Gouache, ink, and graphite on paper mounted on canvas, 36 x 12 in.

Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL.

Mountain, 1960

Ink and pencil on paper, 9 x 12 in.

The Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Words, 1961

Ink on paper, mounted on canvas, 24 x 24 in.

Thomas Ammann Fine Art AG, Zurich.

Friendship, 1963

Incised gold leaf and gesso on canvas, 75 x 75 in.

The Museum of Modern Art, NY.

The Wave, 1963

Edition of 4

Plexiglas, wood and beads, 10 x 10 x 2 in.

Private collection.

The Tree, 1964

Oil and graphite on canvas, 72 x 72 in.

Larry Aldrich Foundation Fund, Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Praise, 1976

Edition of 1000, Parasol Press Ltd.

Rubber stamp print on paper, 11 x 11 in.

Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Gabriel, 1976

16mm film, total running time 78 minutes,

Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Untitled #1, 1989,

Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 72 x 72 in.

Marc and Laura Andreessen Collection.

The Agnes Martin Gallery, 19931994

A series of 7 paintings,

Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 60 x 60 in.

The Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM.

With My Back to The World, 1997

A series of 6 paintings,

Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 in.

Ovitz Family Collection.

Affection, 2001

Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 60 x 60 in.

Private collection.

Homage to Life, 2003

Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 60 x 60 in.

Private collection.