On view May 9 to June 28, 2025, Mary Abbott: To Draw Imagination marks the first major survey exhibition addressing the full scope of Mary Abbott’s painterly practice. Spanning 1940 to 2002, the works on view demonstrate Abbott’s immense contributions to Abstract Expressionism, including her bold exploration of color, form, and media, as one of the few women invited to join The Club, which was a group of artists dedicated to shaping Abstract Expressionism. A peer of Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and Barnett Newman, Abbott experimented with the conceptual and physical possibilities of her materials—including pastel, charcoal, collage, and oil paint—to express a deeply personal visual language of abstraction informed by the natural world, her travels, and her own lived experience throughout her long career.
Order the accompanying catalogue for Mary Abbott: To Draw Imagination featuring essays by Gwen Chanzit and Laura Smith by clicking the link below:
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Mary Abbott (1921-2019)Untitled, c. 1952Signed twice at lower right: Mary Abbott / M. Abbott; stamped three times with the estate stamp on verso and stretcher: The Estate of / Mary Abbott / (1921–2019)Oil on canvas51½ x 40 inches
130.8 x 101.6 cmON RESERVE -
Mary Abbott in her studio window, Frederiksted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, c. 1951, photo by Tom Clyde
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Motherwell was in charge and he was OK but always trying to educate you...I preferred Barney Newman and Rothko...They were the ones I learned the most from. They taught us to draw imagination.
— Mary AbbottThomas McCormick, interview with Mary Abbott, March 25, 2004, in Mary Lee Abbott: A Painter (Chicago: McCormick Gallery, 2020), 22.
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Mary Abbott (1921-2019)
Garden at Nîmes, c. 1957
Signed at lower right: M. Abbott; signed and inscribed with the title on verso: Mary L Abbott / "Garden at Nîmes"
Oil on canvas and collage
59¾ x 84⅝ inches
151.8 x 214.9 cmSOLD
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Mary Abbott (1921-2019)
The Kiss (Kiss Me Dear), 1957–59
Signed at lower left: Abbott; inscribed on verso: Red Plum / 1957; inscribed twice with the artist's inventory number on verso and stretcher: MAC 1-144
Oil on canvas and collage
70¾ x 95⅜ inches
179.7 x 242.3 cmSOLD
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My paintings happen through a journey: dancing, seeing, waiting; destroying, discovering, doubting, guessing, finishing and reopening. I like the process of painting. The intensity of Living Nature through myself using my medium, paint, color and line. . . . All this comes from unconscious openings and very conscious decisions.— Mary Abbott quoted in American Abstract Expressionism of the 1950s, by Marika Herskovic (New York: New York School, 2003), 22.
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Mary Abbott (1921-2019)
Palm Frond
Signed at lower right: M. Abbott; signed and inscribed with the title on verso: M. Abboll [sic] / Palm Frond / 49 x 60
Oil on canvas
48 x 60 inches
121.9 x 152.4 cm -
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For additional information about Mary Abbott or any of the works presented, please be in touch with Alana Ricca at alana@schoelkopfgallery.com or (212) 879 - 8815
