Joan Mitchell

Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) never shied away from experimentation, creating works of unparalleled beauty, strength and emotional intensity. This book traces the career of a major artist, demonstrating how Mitchell expanded the field of abstract painting and illuminating the contexts on both sides of the Atlantic that shaped and underpinned her career. The sumptuous illustrations in this book span her entire career – from the exceptional New York paintings of the early 1950s to the majestic polyptychs she later executed in France. Reproduced here are Mitchell’s iconic works, as well as rarely seen paintings, works on paper, sketchbooks, and photographs documenting her life, her circles of friends and acquaintances, and her daily environment. Bringing together previously unpublished texts by art historians and specialists, analyses of works, and testimonies by artists and writers on the artist’s itinerary, this book is organized chronologically in ten chapters, each centered on a series of closely related works that reveal an ever-evolving inner landscape, colored by experience, sensations, memories, and a profound sense of place. With its multiple perspectives on Mitchell’s art, biography, and relationship to poetry and music, this unprecedented book is destined to become the essential reference for those who already admire Joan Mitchell as well as for those who will discover her. This book is published in French on the occasion of the “Joan Mitchell” retrospective presented at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.