| With the reassessment of abstract expressionism, figurative realism, and women's place in art history, Hartigan's position as an innovative, prolific, and socially critical artist is secure. Referred to as a "second generation abstract expressionist," Hartigan began her career in New York City in the 1950s and by 1951 had achieved her initial recognition as an innovative artist. She began to paint figuratively in 1952, an act considered regressive by the champions of abstract expressionism. In 1960 she moved to Maryland, further severing her ties and lessening her fame in New York. Although Hartigan's career has been increasingly recognized in print, little scholarly attention has been given to her as an astute social observer. This dissertation examines Hartigan's works formally, biographically, and culturally, focusing on her personal iconography, its ideology, and its commentary on contemporary American issues, especially those that focus on women.;Hartigan has consistently painted themes of masquerade and explored issues of identity as she observes and comments on her environment. In locating her work theoretically, I investigate feminist literature on masquerade and how it relates to the images of masks. Hartigan criticized society-imposed gender roles, in particular how they consciously or unconsciously affect identity. On that point, her collaboration with the poet Frank O'Hara centers on the "Oranges" series as an expression of their complex relationship. Essentially, my purpose is to assess Hartigan's self-identification through the images she chooses from history, art history, popular culture, literature, and everyday life.;Although there are many and varied definitions of modernism, I view Hartigan's work on the basis of modernist aesthetic ideology. Her personal manifesto, to capture subjects both vulgar and vital and their possible transcendence into the beautiful, is evident throughout her career. |
