Joan MITCHELL (1925-1992)
1953
2020 SOLD for $ 11.3M by Phillips
In May and June 1951, the Ninth Street Exhibition was a landmark in Manhattan artistic life. Managed by Leo Castelli with the support of Franz Kline, it brings together the works of 74 artists. Alongside Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, the youngest already form the second generation of abstract expressionism.
This exhibition reveals the 26-year-old Joan Mitchell. Arrived from Chicago in the previous year, she had soon entered the artistic circles of New York. In this first phase, energy is dominant over color. Her surfaces are dotted with small abstract figures that provide anchor points and rhythm, quite similar to de Kooning's compositions at that time, inspired by Mondrian's earliest abstractions, and anticipating Twombly and Ryman.
Joan needs to be alone in her studio to transfer her feelings onto the canvas. She has a very good fitness and is not afraid to work on large formats. Her art expresses her interpretation of her environment without recourse to figuration, modernizing Cézanne's precept that nature cannot be copied.
On December 7, 2020, Phillips sold for $ 11.3M an oil on canvas 205 x 176 cm made by Joan Mitchell circa 1953, lot 24. This painting expresses her vision of Manhattan in a style that was already premonitory of the major phases of her career.
In 1955 and 1956 Joan spends the summer in France. There she discovers that the bright colors of the countryside will be the best source for her inspiration, with limitless variations. Later in Paris, she will express a centrifugal violence, before her great come back to nature in Vétheuil in 1968.
This exhibition reveals the 26-year-old Joan Mitchell. Arrived from Chicago in the previous year, she had soon entered the artistic circles of New York. In this first phase, energy is dominant over color. Her surfaces are dotted with small abstract figures that provide anchor points and rhythm, quite similar to de Kooning's compositions at that time, inspired by Mondrian's earliest abstractions, and anticipating Twombly and Ryman.
Joan needs to be alone in her studio to transfer her feelings onto the canvas. She has a very good fitness and is not afraid to work on large formats. Her art expresses her interpretation of her environment without recourse to figuration, modernizing Cézanne's precept that nature cannot be copied.
On December 7, 2020, Phillips sold for $ 11.3M an oil on canvas 205 x 176 cm made by Joan Mitchell circa 1953, lot 24. This painting expresses her vision of Manhattan in a style that was already premonitory of the major phases of her career.
In 1955 and 1956 Joan spends the summer in France. There she discovers that the bright colors of the countryside will be the best source for her inspiration, with limitless variations. Later in Paris, she will express a centrifugal violence, before her great come back to nature in Vétheuil in 1968.
1960 12 Hawks at 3 O'Clock
2018 SOLD for $ 14M by Christie's
Joan Mitchell moved permanently to Paris in 1959, the year when she also began her affair with Riopelle. Her studio in rue Frémicourt is far from intellectual communities, perhaps to better preserve the authenticity and originality of her abstract creativity inspired by the colors of nature.
Her style changes after she arrives in Paris. It brings her solution to the great ambition of the abstract expressionists to offer the visitor an infinite vision without frame : it gathers a multicolored centrifugal energy in the center of very large canvases whose edges are only reached by apparent splashes.
From her training and beginnings in the United States, she had learned the lesson of Jackson Pollock, with significant differences for the aesthetic effect of the art. Her pure colors are bright. Concentrated in the middle of the canvas, they provide the illusion of an explosion with many drips. Less spontaneous than Pollock, Mitchell reworked her paintings until reaching the desired balance between colors.
On November 13, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 14M a 296 x 200 cm oil on canvas painted in 1960, lot 14 B.
Joan gave titles to the works which she considered the most evocative. The painting that comes on sale is named 12 Hawks at 3 O'Clock. The title in English cannot be linked to some Parisian surrealist poetry. The work also has no particularity at that time position on a clock dial.
In her attention to nature, Joan included the birds. 12 hawks at 3:00 is certainly referring to reserves for the protection of raptors in which birdwatchers recorded the flight of birds with that level of detail.
Joan had always stated a great admiration for Le Champ de Blé aux Corbeaux, considered as the ultimate and premonitory work by Vincent van Gogh. In the final phase of her life, she will paint a colorful composition inspired by this artwork, titled No Birds in a poignant effort to force optimism.
An oil painting of large size, 243 x 200 cm, made circa 1960 in her early Parisian life, was sold for $ 9.3M by Sotheby's on November 9, 2011.
Her style changes after she arrives in Paris. It brings her solution to the great ambition of the abstract expressionists to offer the visitor an infinite vision without frame : it gathers a multicolored centrifugal energy in the center of very large canvases whose edges are only reached by apparent splashes.
From her training and beginnings in the United States, she had learned the lesson of Jackson Pollock, with significant differences for the aesthetic effect of the art. Her pure colors are bright. Concentrated in the middle of the canvas, they provide the illusion of an explosion with many drips. Less spontaneous than Pollock, Mitchell reworked her paintings until reaching the desired balance between colors.
On November 13, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 14M a 296 x 200 cm oil on canvas painted in 1960, lot 14 B.
Joan gave titles to the works which she considered the most evocative. The painting that comes on sale is named 12 Hawks at 3 O'Clock. The title in English cannot be linked to some Parisian surrealist poetry. The work also has no particularity at that time position on a clock dial.
In her attention to nature, Joan included the birds. 12 hawks at 3:00 is certainly referring to reserves for the protection of raptors in which birdwatchers recorded the flight of birds with that level of detail.
Joan had always stated a great admiration for Le Champ de Blé aux Corbeaux, considered as the ultimate and premonitory work by Vincent van Gogh. In the final phase of her life, she will paint a colorful composition inspired by this artwork, titled No Birds in a poignant effort to force optimism.
An oil painting of large size, 243 x 200 cm, made circa 1960 in her early Parisian life, was sold for $ 9.3M by Sotheby's on November 9, 2011.
1960
2014 SOLD for $ 12M by Christie's
An oil on canvas 250 x 204 cm painted in 1960 by Joan Mitchell was sold for $ 12M from a lower estimate of $ 6M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 32.
This Untitled is an early example of the signature multicolored style of her stay in Paris with a centrifugal energy made of vibrant stains and ribbons that vanes into a thin translucent halo in the outer edges of the picture.
The highly gestural execution required a full involvement of her body including raising on her tiptoes to reach the upper border of the canvas, up to the completion of her pre-conceived work for the desired effect from the distance.
This Untitled is an early example of the signature multicolored style of her stay in Paris with a centrifugal energy made of vibrant stains and ribbons that vanes into a thin translucent halo in the outer edges of the picture.
The highly gestural execution required a full involvement of her body including raising on her tiptoes to reach the upper border of the canvas, up to the completion of her pre-conceived work for the desired effect from the distance.
1961-1962 Noël
2020 SOLD for $ 11M by Phillips
Joan Mitchell is passionate about the colors of landscapes, and the treatment of color by the great masters such as Turner, Monet and Van Gogh. Like Pollock, she expresses her feeling for nature through abstraction. This involvement by a woman in abstract expressionism surprised art critics : they referred to her as Miss Mitchell.
Joan is appealed by European art and by the landscapes of France where she makes frequent stays before setting up her workshop in Paris in 1959, in a remote district to avoid unwanted influences on her creativity.
However times are difficult for Joan, very affected by the poor health of her parents. She supersedes the impressions of nature by an abstraction of great violence. She will remember it later as a period of great anger.
In fact her anger was under control. The artworks, often very large, remain the object of a meticulous preparation. The gestures that create the illusion of an explosion do not extend beyond the preliminary sketch. Unlike other abstract painters, she uses all the techniques to obtain the desired effect on the canvas : wash, impasto, throwing, fine brush strokes, and probably also the fingers. Green remains her favorite color.
During this Parisian period, the titles of the works are defined afterwards, only when necessary and most often without a real meaning. Some confirm the artist's taste for poetry. Noël, 205 x 200 cm painted in 1961 or 1962, was sold for $ 11M by Phillips on July 2, 2020, lot 5.
Garden Party, 165 x 130 cm painted in 1961-1962, was sold for $ 7.9M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2020, lot 7.
Joan is appealed by European art and by the landscapes of France where she makes frequent stays before setting up her workshop in Paris in 1959, in a remote district to avoid unwanted influences on her creativity.
However times are difficult for Joan, very affected by the poor health of her parents. She supersedes the impressions of nature by an abstraction of great violence. She will remember it later as a period of great anger.
In fact her anger was under control. The artworks, often very large, remain the object of a meticulous preparation. The gestures that create the illusion of an explosion do not extend beyond the preliminary sketch. Unlike other abstract painters, she uses all the techniques to obtain the desired effect on the canvas : wash, impasto, throwing, fine brush strokes, and probably also the fingers. Green remains her favorite color.
During this Parisian period, the titles of the works are defined afterwards, only when necessary and most often without a real meaning. Some confirm the artist's taste for poetry. Noël, 205 x 200 cm painted in 1961 or 1962, was sold for $ 11M by Phillips on July 2, 2020, lot 5.
Garden Party, 165 x 130 cm painted in 1961-1962, was sold for $ 7.9M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2020, lot 7.
1966-1967 Untitled
2022 SOLD for HK$ 83M by Christie's
In 1966-1967 Joan Mitchell was looking for a home far away from the city. She once again daydreamed of the fertile colors of nature.
A monumental Untitled oil on canvas 280 x 200 cm painted during that period was sold for HK $ 83M by Christie's on November 30, 2022, lot 41.
The abstract image looks like a lush bouquet of colorful flowers and leaves in a dense close up that reminds the irises by van Gogh.
A monumental Untitled oil on canvas 280 x 200 cm painted during that period was sold for HK $ 83M by Christie's on November 30, 2022, lot 41.
The abstract image looks like a lush bouquet of colorful flowers and leaves in a dense close up that reminds the irises by van Gogh.
1969 Blueberry
2018 SOLD for $ 16.6M by Christie's
New York City did not suit the creativity of Jackson Pollock. It is the same for Joan Mitchell in Paris where she set up her studio in 1959. Yet she develops an original style based on the centrifugal explosion of bright colors on a white background, which ensures her fame.
She reacts in 1964. Her art is too violent. By exploiting her own anger, she forgets her main theme which is the expression of the colors of nature. The title, sometimes topographical, barely guides the viewer to understand what she wanted to do.
She finds the solution in 1968 by settling in Vétheuil, the village surrounded by gardens where Monet had lived before Giverny. Her workshop in an old farm building enables to increase the width of the paintings while maintaining the towering height that had been her specialty in Paris.
Blueberry, oil on canvas 200 x 150 cm painted in 1969, already announces this transition from anger to contentment, with a physical energy that operates a variety of techniques from knife impasto to multiple thin layers.. It was sold for $ 16.6M by Christie's on May 17, 2018 from a lower estimate of $ 5M, lot 6 B.
Painted in the same year, an Untitled oil on canvas 260 x 160 cm was sold for $ 9M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 20C. A few bright squared leaves flow beside a larger area of brilliant colors that simulates a bloom, The overall composition is in the same ethereal style as the Sunflower series of 1969, in the same towering format. The background is enhanced by passages of pale yellow ochre and white hues.
She reacts in 1964. Her art is too violent. By exploiting her own anger, she forgets her main theme which is the expression of the colors of nature. The title, sometimes topographical, barely guides the viewer to understand what she wanted to do.
She finds the solution in 1968 by settling in Vétheuil, the village surrounded by gardens where Monet had lived before Giverny. Her workshop in an old farm building enables to increase the width of the paintings while maintaining the towering height that had been her specialty in Paris.
Blueberry, oil on canvas 200 x 150 cm painted in 1969, already announces this transition from anger to contentment, with a physical energy that operates a variety of techniques from knife impasto to multiple thin layers.. It was sold for $ 16.6M by Christie's on May 17, 2018 from a lower estimate of $ 5M, lot 6 B.
Painted in the same year, an Untitled oil on canvas 260 x 160 cm was sold for $ 9M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 20C. A few bright squared leaves flow beside a larger area of brilliant colors that simulates a bloom, The overall composition is in the same ethereal style as the Sunflower series of 1969, in the same towering format. The background is enhanced by passages of pale yellow ochre and white hues.
1971 Plowed Field
2019 SOLD for $ 13.3M by Christie's
Plowed Field, painted by Joan Mitchell in 1971, is a culmination of her phase of meditative tranquility in Vétheuil with a great diversity of warm colors in the blocks that simulate the imaginary fields.
The surface is completely filled. The endless ground is composed of blocks as if seen from the air, with shimmering colors that express the various crops. She does not want to copy a landscape but to express her feeling. Paradoxically, she finds in Vétheuil the memory of the unlimited cornfields of her childhood between Saskatchewan and the Great Lakes.
This triptych of oils on canvas of total size 285 x 540 cm was sold for $ 13.3M by Christie's on November 13, 2019, lot 25 B.
The surface is completely filled. The endless ground is composed of blocks as if seen from the air, with shimmering colors that express the various crops. She does not want to copy a landscape but to express her feeling. Paradoxically, she finds in Vétheuil the memory of the unlimited cornfields of her childhood between Saskatchewan and the Great Lakes.
This triptych of oils on canvas of total size 285 x 540 cm was sold for $ 13.3M by Christie's on November 13, 2019, lot 25 B.
1983 La Grande Vallée
2020 SOLD for $ 14.5M by Christie's
La Grande Vallée is a series of paintings made by Joan Mitchell in 1983 and 1984, expressing memories of childhood. But these memories are not those of the artist.
Children love to have a secret place away from adults, where they can personalize their world. Gisèle Barreau spent her childhood in Brittany, near Nantes, where she appropriated a hidden valley, used to graze cows in the middle of untouched woods, with abandoned barns and wild flowers.
Gisèle is a musician. She becomes Joan's assistant in Vétheuil for the work of everyday life.
Gisèle shared her secret with her cousin Jean-Philippe. The young man died in 1982 without having seen his valley again. In the same week, Joan lost her sister Sally Perry.
Since the 1950s Joan has been inspired by the colors of the French countryside. To face the double mourning and ward off death, she imagines with all the vibrant colors of happiness this Grande Vallée that she will never view.
The series consists of a single triptych, 5 diptychs and 15 single canvases. This set was built with a diversity of composition comparable to the Grandes Décorations by Monet. Monet's presence in Vétheuil from 1878 to 1881 certainly influenced Joan's installation in the same village in 1968. Joan expresses the confrontation of bright colors in abstract landscapes that are not based on any topographic reality, but the tendency to the abstraction in Monet's latest works could not leave her indifferent.
La Grande Vallée VII, diptych 260 x 260 cm overall painted in 1983, was sold for $ 14.5M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 61.
The opus XIV, which is the only triptych, is at the Centre Pompidou. Dominated by the colors of the flowers, the opus XIII, 280 x 200 cm, was sold for € 3.6M by Sotheby's on December 3, 2013. The opus XI predominantly blue, 200 x 180 cm, was sold for £ 2.6M by Sotheby's on February 27, 2008.
Children love to have a secret place away from adults, where they can personalize their world. Gisèle Barreau spent her childhood in Brittany, near Nantes, where she appropriated a hidden valley, used to graze cows in the middle of untouched woods, with abandoned barns and wild flowers.
Gisèle is a musician. She becomes Joan's assistant in Vétheuil for the work of everyday life.
Gisèle shared her secret with her cousin Jean-Philippe. The young man died in 1982 without having seen his valley again. In the same week, Joan lost her sister Sally Perry.
Since the 1950s Joan has been inspired by the colors of the French countryside. To face the double mourning and ward off death, she imagines with all the vibrant colors of happiness this Grande Vallée that she will never view.
The series consists of a single triptych, 5 diptychs and 15 single canvases. This set was built with a diversity of composition comparable to the Grandes Décorations by Monet. Monet's presence in Vétheuil from 1878 to 1881 certainly influenced Joan's installation in the same village in 1968. Joan expresses the confrontation of bright colors in abstract landscapes that are not based on any topographic reality, but the tendency to the abstraction in Monet's latest works could not leave her indifferent.
La Grande Vallée VII, diptych 260 x 260 cm overall painted in 1983, was sold for $ 14.5M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 61.
The opus XIV, which is the only triptych, is at the Centre Pompidou. Dominated by the colors of the flowers, the opus XIII, 280 x 200 cm, was sold for € 3.6M by Sotheby's on December 3, 2013. The opus XI predominantly blue, 200 x 180 cm, was sold for £ 2.6M by Sotheby's on February 27, 2008.
1989 Untitled
2022 SOLD for $ 14M by Christie's
Joan Mitchell once stated : "All I wanted to do was paint". She never gave up.
She was first diagnosed with a cancer in 1984, aged 59. Her health further deteriorated with hip dysplasia and disabling arthritis.
Clearly feeling that her life and art would come to an end, she did not stop working, increasing her quest for the processing of colors by the greatest masters of the past : van Gogh, Monet, Kandinsky, Matisse. She felt like a dying sunflower. She said : "I become the sunflower, the lake, the tree. I no longer exist".
She restarted her former style of color bursts on white background, but without the desperate centrifugal explosion of her Paris period.
An Untitled diptych, oil on canvas 195 x 260 cm overall painted in 1989, was sold for $ 14M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on November 17, 2022, lot 46.
The multi-colored abstract floating bouquet is well centered on the canvas without reaching the edges. Paint drippings provide some gravitation to the image.
She was first diagnosed with a cancer in 1984, aged 59. Her health further deteriorated with hip dysplasia and disabling arthritis.
Clearly feeling that her life and art would come to an end, she did not stop working, increasing her quest for the processing of colors by the greatest masters of the past : van Gogh, Monet, Kandinsky, Matisse. She felt like a dying sunflower. She said : "I become the sunflower, the lake, the tree. I no longer exist".
She restarted her former style of color bursts on white background, but without the desperate centrifugal explosion of her Paris period.
An Untitled diptych, oil on canvas 195 x 260 cm overall painted in 1989, was sold for $ 14M from a lower estimate of $ 10M by Christie's on November 17, 2022, lot 46.
The multi-colored abstract floating bouquet is well centered on the canvas without reaching the edges. Paint drippings provide some gravitation to the image.
1992 Untitled
2021 SOLD for $ 11.9M by Phillips
On the final years of the career of Joan Mitchell, her compositions mingling colored streaks and ribbons could remind a tree, symbol of vitality. Many Untitled works are certainly tributes by the trees to late friends but she did not disclose such an attribution. Her oil colors now inspired by pastel became brighter than ever.
1992 was the last year of her life. Resuming the large formats, she prepared a solo exhibition at the Galerie Jean Fournier in Paris.
An Untitled oil on canvas 280 x 200 cm painted in 1992 was sold for $ 11.9M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 8. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house. Another Untitled in same format and year, also exhibited at Jean Fournier, was sold for € 4.7M by Christie's on October 20, 2022, lot 14.
1992 was the last year of her life. Resuming the large formats, she prepared a solo exhibition at the Galerie Jean Fournier in Paris.
An Untitled oil on canvas 280 x 200 cm painted in 1992 was sold for $ 11.9M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Phillips on November 17, 2021, lot 8. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house. Another Untitled in same format and year, also exhibited at Jean Fournier, was sold for € 4.7M by Christie's on October 20, 2022, lot 14.
