Object number1954.9
The Masker
Date1954
Artist
Grace Hartigan
(American, 1922-2008)
CultureAmerican
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 72 1/16 x 41 3/4 in. (183 x 106 cm)
Framed: 73 1/4 x 42 7/8 x 1 1/2 in. (186.1 x 108.9 x 3.8 cm)
Framed: 73 1/4 x 42 7/8 x 1 1/2 in. (186.1 x 108.9 x 3.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Period20th c
Classification(s)
SignedOn recto, signed lower right: Hartigan
InscribedOn recto, by artist, lower right: '54
BibliographyLa Moy, William T, Joseph P McCaffrey, and Terence Diggory. Journals of Grace Hartigan, 1951-1955. 1st ed. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2015, pp. XXII, 50, 149-151, 165-166, 169;
Ferguson, Russell. In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O’Hara and American Art. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in association with the University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California and University of California Press, Ltd., London, England, 1999, p. 92;
Ledesma, Jared. Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Museum of Art, Lewes, UK: Giles, 2025, p. 59, plate 16 repr
ProvenancePurchased from Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 1954Exhibition HistoryPaintings by Grace Hartigan, Vassar College Art Gallery, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, October 25 - November 24, 1954;
New Paintings: Grace Hartigan, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY, March 1 - April 2, 1955;
Women Artists in America, 1707-1964, The Newark Museum, Newark, NJ, April 2 - May 16, 1965;
A Touch of the Poet: Frank O'Hara, The William Benton Museum of Art, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, January 24 - March 15, 1983;
Figurative Fifties, Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA, July 19 - September 18, 1988; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA, October 12 - December 31, 1988; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX, February 15 - April 30, 1989;
Grace Hartigan and the Poets: Paintings and Prints, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, March 25 - April 18, 1993;
Dark Images, Bright Prospects: The Survival of the Figure after WWII, The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, February 9 - March 29, 1997;
In Memory of My Feelings: Frank O'Hara and American Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, July 11 - November 14, 1999; The Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH, January 28 - April 16, 2000; The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY, June 11 - July 23, 2000;
Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, April 12, 2025 - August 10, 2025; The Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME, October 10, 2025 - January 11, 2026; Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, August 13 - December 31, 2026;
DescriptionA loose rendering of a man in a multicolored outfit with a green head wrap as he moves his left arm from his side to against his face. The rest of the canvas is composed of large swaths of abstract brushwork in mostly muted colors with additional narrower strokes of black and white. The model for the work is writer, poet, and MoMA curator Frank O'Hara.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
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