An original oil painting on canvas from Grace Hartigan’s “Paintings and Poetry” body of work (1975), incorporating a poem: “A Theory,” by Musa McKim Guston. Signed and dated “Hartigan ’75” lower center. Exhibition: Gertrude Kasle Gallery, Detroit, 1975.

The monumental composition interweaves handwritten poetry with an energetic gathering of birds and abstract forms rendered in red, blue, black, brown, and green against the white canvas ground. The crowded composition, shallow pictorial space, and combination of recognizable imagery with abstraction reflect Hartigan’s work of the 1970s, a period increasingly shaped by autobiographical imagery, literature, and her longstanding engagement with Abstract Expressionism.

Provenance: From the personal collection of Stephen Kasle, son of Detroit art dealer Gertrude Kasle, founder of the Gertrude Kasle Gallery; acquired directly from Grace Hartigan in 1975 and retained in the collection for more than 50 years. As recorded by Stephen Kasle, Hartigan brought the painting to the Gertrude Kasle Gallery rolled and unstretched in 1975. She explained that the work originated after reading a poem by her close friend Musa Guston, which she transcribed directly onto the canvas before developing the painted imagery around it. Kasle purchased the painting directly from Hartigan and it has remained in his personal collection for more than five decades.

Exhibition History: Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection, University of Michigan Museum of Art, A. Alfred Taubman Gallery I, March 10–July 22, 2018.

Literature: “A Theory,” by Musa McKim Guston, published in "Alone With The Moon," Copyright 1994 by Musa Mayer.

Dimensions: 70" h x 82" w (stretched, unframed). In very good condition, consistent with age. Recently professionally re-stretched on a museum-quality stretcher frame to ensure proper support and preservation of the canvas. Full condition report available upon request.

Grace Hartigan (1922–2008) was a major American painter associated with the second generation of the New York School. During the 1970s, her work became increasingly autobiographical, combining crowded compositions and shallow space with recognizable subjects and an enduring interest in Cubism. Her close friendship with fellow artist Philip Guston also informed this period, with both artists using recurring figures and symbols as vehicles for personal thought and experience. Hartigan was included in the Museum of Modern Art’s influential The New American Painting exhibition of 1958–59 and served for decades as director of the Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work is represented in major collections including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Smithsonian American Art Museum.