Posted
on March 22, 2015
Her
art is often called minimalist:
Minimalist art is often abstract—it isn't a picture of something just as we see it; it isn't representational.
It is often geometrical—featuring perfect (or almost perfect) lines and geometric shapes rather than organic forms.
It seems to say that less is more.
Agnes Martin, born on this date in 1912, rejected the label “minimalist.” Instead, she called herself an abstract expressionist, which is the art movement that preceded and to some extent led to minimalism. Another abstract expressionist said about art:
“The more stuff in it, the busier the work of art, the worse it is.”
Martin herself said this:
Martin
was born in the little town of Macklin, in Saskatchewan, Canada, but
she lived and studied and worked in some big, exciting cities,
including Vancouver (also Canada), Albuquerque (New Mexico), and New
York City. When she was in NYC, she lived in a loft in the same
building with other struggling artists, and she installed her own
plumbing as well as made other needed repairs. (She probably learned
about practical home-repair and renovation stuff from her mom,
because her mother made the family's living by buying old homes,
fixing them up, and selling them again.)
At
age 55, Martin built—all by herself!—an adobe house in New
Mexico, and lived alone there the rest of her life. Apparently other
artists sought her out, and Martin built three more buildings on her
land—not sure if they were guest houses, or studios, or stores from
which people could buy her art works, or what!
I
read in several places that, in those later years, Martin lived a
simple, quiet life. She didn't have a radio or TV, and she didn't
read a newspaper for 50 years.
While
“in exile” from the world, living in New Mexico, Martin wrote as
well as painted, completing several articles and books. Her paintings
became even better known and more often shown, winning many awards
and honors. Her art works traveled around the world, being exhibited
in many important museums in many large cities. From what I could
discover, Martin did not travel with her art, although she was
delighted by the special Agnes Martin Gallery in the Harwood Museum
of Art in Taos, New Mexico, and she often visited “her” gallery (pictured below).
Eventually,
Martin moved into a retirement residence in Taos. She died when she
was 92 years old.
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