1956, Joan Mitchell, Marie Stadler Artichaud -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: Mitchell believed that abstract painting—unlike language and representational art—has the capacity to address many different ideas at once. She worked slowly and intuitively, responsively layering colors and brush marks. Though she often left her works untitled, some of her titles refer to places she visited, people she knew, and the natural world. Here the title combines references to an acquaintance—Marie Stadler—and a variation on the French word "artichaut" for artichoke, perhaps owing to the work's composition of upward arching green lines. Though based in New York at the time, Mitchell painted this work in Paris, where other artists were similarly expanding the boundaries of abstraction.
1956, Joan Mitchell, Marie Stadler Artichaud -- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
From the museum label: Mitchell believed that abstract painting—unlike language and representational art—has the capacity to address many different ideas at once. She worked slowly and intuitively, responsively layering colors and brush marks. Though she often left her works untitled, some of her titles refer to places she visited, people she knew, and the natural world. Here the title combines references to an acquaintance—Marie Stadler—and a variation on the French word "artichaut" for artichoke, perhaps owing to the work's composition of upward arching green lines. Though based in New York at the time, Mitchell painted this work in Paris, where other artists were similarly expanding the boundaries of abstraction.