Agnes Martin’s Birthday | Screening of Agnes Martin Before the Grid
Come celebrate the life, legacy, and art of icon Agnes Martin on her birthday!
Visit the world-famous Agnes Martin Gallery. Head to the Arthur Bell Auditorium at 1:00 PM for a screening of Agnes Martin Before the Grid. Director Kathleen Brennan will introduce the film, and she will be joined by Marcia Oliver, artist and friend of Agnes, for a Q&A session after the screening. Additional screenings will take place at 3pm and 4pm.
Stop by the Museum Store on your way out for birthday cake, blueberry muffins, and beverages!
Image Courtesy of Mildred Tolbert Family archives.
Learn more about the event here. Copies of Agnes Martin: Independence of Mind are available at the Museum shop and online.
Agnes Martin: Independence of Mind
I think we’ve fallen into an elaborate but beneficent trap that Agnes Martin has set for us. She gives the paintings these titles so that when you speak of them, you can say something like, “I love Happiness” or “I’m very moved by Innocence” or “I came around a corner and saw Friendship.” She’s giving us language in an unembarrassed way, so that things can happen to us when we actually say those words.
– Teju Cole
This is a re-envisioned, fresh look at Agnes Martin, the enigmatic, influential, highly independent painter whose life (1912–2004) spanned much of the twentieth century and extended into the twenty-first. Martin’s abstract, deceptively simple paintings continue to resonate with contemporary artists and writers. In a series of essays commissioned especially for this volume, the contributors write about Martin’s influence on their creative lives and work, and offer new interpretations that defy stereotyped notions about Martin’s life. The result is a varied tapestry of voices, proving that Martin’s art still influences the contemporary world, and offering glimpses into modes of being and making that are still relevant nearly two decades after her death.
Artwork by Agnes Martin
Texts by Teju Cole, Bethany Hindmarsh, Bill Jacobson, Jennie C. Jones, James Sterling Pitt, Alison Rossiter, Jenn Shapland, Darcey Steinke, Martha Tuttle, and Susan York