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Agnes Martin was born in 1912 in Maklin, Saskatchewan, Canada. She grew up in Vancouver and moved to the United States in 1932. In 1942, Martin received her B.S. degree at Teacher's College, Columbia University, New York. In 1946, she began to study at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, where she began teaching one year later. From 1947 to 1953 Martin taught in New Mexico, Oregon, and Delaware. She obtained her United States citizenship in 1950 and settled in New York City in 1957.

By 1967 Martin had established a firm reputation for monochromatic, usually gray, paintings based on the grid system. Her work was often grouped with Minimalist artists.

Martin stopped painting in 1967 and moved to New Mexico where she built her adobe house with her own hands. She began painting again in 1974.

Source: News, November/December 1992.


“When I think of art, I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is an awareness of perfection.” This statement is Agnes Martin’s definition of art, and a revealing statement about the intent of her paintings. All of her work is non-representational, and has no narrative or political content. Instead, she uses subtle color washes and the rhythmic pattern of the grid to inspire contemplation in the viewer.

 

Martin’s work is often compared to Zen Buddhism, in which one must attempt to achieve perfection by discarding material possessions, earthly desire, and individual thought. Similarly, Martin’s work, simplified to a hermetic grid, restrained color, and confined to a perfect square shape, is an attempt to rid her art of all stylistic and intellectual convention. The imperfect pencil lines and visible brushstrokes she leaves on the canvas are reminders that perfection is only possible in the mind. Nature is also an important influence in Martin’s work, and childhood memories of the expansive Canadian province of Saskatchewan and her home in Taos, New Mexico have been seen as inspirations for the open spaces in her paintings.


Exhibition History"Agnes Martin Retrospective," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, Nov. 6, 1992 - Jan. 31, 1993; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, Feb. 12 - April 4, 1993

"Negotiating Rapture: The Power of Art to Transform Lives," Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, June 21 - Oct. 20, 1996

"Commitment, Community and Controversy: The Des Moines Art Center Collections," Des Moines Art Center, Jan. 24 - May 10, 1998

"Agnes Martin: To the Islands: Paintings 1974-79", Dia:Beacon, Beacon, NY, April 7 - June 26, 2006

"Illumination: The Paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe, Agnes Pelton, Agnes Martin, and Florence Miller Pierce", Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA, May 3 - September 6, 2009
Published ReferencesRichard Francis, et al., "Negotiating Rapture: The Power of Art to Transform Lives," Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1996, exh. cat. p.103

"An Uncommon Vision: The Des Moines Art Center", Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.183, color ill. p.182

Sister Wendy Beckett, "Sister Wendy's 1000 Masterpieces" Dorothy Kindersley, London, 1999, ill. p.297

Karen Moss, "Illumination: The Paintings of Georgia O'Keefe, Agnes Pelton, Agnes Martin, and Florence Miller Pierce", Orange County Museum of Art and Merrell, 2009, color ill. pg. 40, index pg. 184

Bell, Tiffany, and Frances Morris, AGNES MARTIN, Tate Publishing, 2015, color ill. pg. 137, pg. 259

Schieren, Mona, AGNES MARTIN, Munchen, 2016, color ill. pg. 346

Durga Chew-Bose, etal.,AGNES MARTIN, Pace Publishing, 2021, pp. 105, 170

Valentine Ferrante, "Agnes Martin," Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, 2024, ill. p.42
DimensionsFrame: 72 3/8 × 72 1/2 × 2 in. (183.8 × 184.2 × 5.1 cm)
Canvas (image): 71 3/4 × 71 5/8 in. (182.2 × 181.9 cm)
Accession Number 1992.12
Classificationspainting
CopyrightARS
ProvenanceArtist; (Pace Gallery, New York); Mildred and Arnold Glimcher, New York [acquired from the previous]; (Pace Gallery, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 1992]

Images (1)

Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines

Audio (1)

Untitled #3
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Agnes Martin
1958
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Agnes Pelton
1928
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Agnes Weinrich
1920
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Agnes Weinrich
ca. 1925
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Agnes Weinrich
date unknown
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Robert Mangold
1973
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Roy Lichtenstein
1969
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Martin Kippenberger
1989
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Edward Dugmore
1970