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The The, Study #1

Maker Grace Hartigan (b. 1922, Newark, New Jersey – d. 2008, Baltimore, Maryland)

Date1962

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensionsoverall: 27 in. x 40 in. (68.6 cm x 101.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Shulof (Elna Kahn, Class of 1933)

Object number1972.18

Status

Not on view

RightsCopyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Copyright laws

Photo creditDavis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

More Information

Object Label

Trained in mechanical drawing, Hartigan served as a drafting technician in World War II. When she moved to New York, she joined The Club, a group of abstract artists organized by Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Jack Tworkov, and others. From this early association with Abstract Expressionism, Hartigan was inspired by the dynamism of the city and by poetry. This painting’s title comes from the last line in Wallace Stevens’s 1923 poem “The Man on the Dump,” which reads: “Where was it one first heard the truth? The the.” Hartigan wrote: “I believe in beautiful drawing, in elegance, in luminous color and light.” The final work to which this study relates was purchased by Nelson Rockefeller for the Empire State Plaza Art Collection in Albany, New York.