JOAN MITCHELL (1925-1992)

'Champs' (from Carnegie Hall 100th Anniversary Portfolio), 1990

Framed Limited Edition Abstract Expressionist Lithograph Print

Huge beautiful rare framed multi-color original lithograph on wove paper. Printed by Atelier Franck Bordas, Paris, France and published by Fine Art Ltd., St. Louis, MO. SIGNED by artist (lr) and numbered '23/60' (ll) in pencil on recto. Limited edition of 60 (plus 13 artist’s proofs, and additional publisher’s proofs). Dimensions: 60" x 40" (152 x 101.5 cm) sheet. Framed in white wash natural wood (67" x 47" x 1-3/8"), float mount with UV plexi-glass. Excellent condition (some wear to frame commensurate with age and display).

PROVENANCE: Acquired directly from publisher Fine Art Ltd., St. Louis, MO, in 1998.

Champs is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (Accession Number: 1991.122.4).

This print, signed and numbered 23/60, is entitled "Champs" ('fields' in English), made in the same year as four other paintings with the same exact name ("Champs") and alongside several others entitled Marge (Margins), Taillade (Slash), Sunflowers, and Rivière (River)—all from 1990. Here and elsewhere Joan Mitchell boiled down her impression from nature into a work of synthesized feeling about what she experienced when outside. The pure and bright colors featured in this version of "Champs" evoke a late fall or early wintry landscape with a grey and white sky, red leaves changing color, dark blues and black from groundcover at rest, and a very small remaining hint of green. This print represents how Mitchell felt outside.

Joan Mitchell was one of six artists whose work was chosen to be made into a series of 60 highly collectable color prints created for The Carnegie Hall 100th Anniversary Portfolio in 1990. The participating artists were: Joan Mitchell, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, Alex Katz, George Baselitz and Larry Rivers.

Joan Mitchell, while having explored printmaking throughout her four-decade career ultimately made relatively few prints. However, Mitchell's prints maintain the complexity, intensity, fluidity of line and abstract marks that have become synonymous with the visual language of her work. Although this print is heavily abstracted, there are strong traces of the natural world, as the title indicates. Dense bands of marks at the top and bottom of the paper can be seen as river banks. The lightly-worked areas between suggest the water of the river itself.

Mitchell is recognized as a principal figure – and one of the few female artists – in the second generation of American Abstract Expressionists, after the aesthetic breakthroughs of Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline. Her early works are characterized as turbulent and related to personal bereavement. This turbulence is often expressed in opposites: dense versus transparent strokes, warm versus cool palettes, gridded structure versus chaos, and choppy versus continuous brushstrokes. Working for the most part on multiple panels or large-scale canvases, she strived to evince a natural, rather than constructed, rhythm from the composition, which emanated from the expansiveness of her gesture and from her uninhibited use of color.

Mitchell received her BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before establishing herself as a formidable talent in postwar New York's avant-garde scene. In 1951, her work was exhibited alongside that of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Hans Hoffman in the celebrated 'Ninth Street Show', which marked the ascendancy of Abstract Expressionism within the development of modern art. Exemplifying the ideals of the New York School, Mitchell's paintings wager all on the expressive potential of the painterly mark itself, freed from the constraints of traditional representation. Given the macho posturing for which the movement's adherents have earned a reputation – almost all of them were men – Joan Mitchell's prowess in this milieu is all the more remarkable. She has since been the subject of numerous museum exhibitions, and examples of her paintings and editioned prints hang in nearly all major public collections of modern art.

Mitchell left New York and the United States for France in 1959. After spending the better part of a decade in Paris, she relocated to Vétheuil, France in 1968, a town on the Seine about 40 miles north of the capital. There in her studio she embarked upon a body of work whose subject matter derives from the sunflowers and natural beauty that thrive in the golden sunlight of the Seine valley. She would return to this source material periodically throughout the rest of her career.

Joan Mitchell was the only female artist included in the 2010 United States Postal Service (USPS) Stamp Program's 'Abstract Expressionists'. This series of stamps honored the artistic innovations and achievements of 10 abstract expressionists, a group of artists who revolutionized art during the 1940s and 1950s and moved the U.S. to the forefront of the international art scene for the first time. The stamps went on sale March 11, 2010.

SELECT RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2023
'Monet/Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape', Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO
'Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-70' (group exhibition), Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
'Joan Mitchell - Christine Ay Tjoe', Mnuchin Gallery, New York, NY

2022
'Joan Mitchell: Paintings, 1979-1985', David Zwirner Gallery, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: Retrospective', Fondation Louis Viutton, Paris, France
'Monet – Mitchell', Fondation Louis Viutton, Paris, France
'Joan Mitchell: Fierce Beauty', Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), Baltimore, MD

2021
'Joan Mitchell: Fierce Beauty', San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA), San Francisco, CA
'Women in Abstraction' (group exhibition), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
'Joan Mitchell: Prints', Galerie Simon Blais, Montreal, Canada
'Joan Mitchell: Worlds of Colour', National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, Australia

2020
'Joan Mitchell and Grace Hartigan at Tiber Press' (group exhibition), Anders Wahlstedt Fine Art, New York, NY

2019
'Sparkling Amazons: Abstract Expressionist Women of the 9th St. Show' (group exhibition), Katonah Museum of Art (KMA), Katonah, NY
'Joan Mitchell: I carry my landscapes around with me', David Zwirner Gallery, New York, NY

2018
'Epic Abstraction: Pollock to Herrera' (group exhibition), Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), New York, NY
'Mitchell / Riopelle: Nothing in Moderation', Fonds Hélène & Édouard Leclerc pour la Culture, Landerneau, France
'Joan Mitchell: Paintings from the Middle of the Last Century, 1953–1962', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'Monet's Legacy' (group exhibition), Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
'The Long Run' (group exhibition), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
'Monet's Legacy' (group exhibition), Nagoya City Art Museum, Nagoya, Japan
'Hot Sun, Late Sun: Untamed Modernism' (group exhibition), Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles, France
'The Water Lilies: American Abstract Art and the Last Monet' (group exhibition), Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, France
'Mitchell / Riopelle: Nothing in Moderation', Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto, Canada

2017
'Mitchell / Riopelle: Nothing in Moderation', Musée National des Beaux-arts du Québec, Canada
'Women of Abstract Expressionism' (group exhibition), Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
'Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction' (group exhibition), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
'Women of Abstract Expressionism' (group exhibition), Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
'Nothing and Everything: Seven Artists, 1947 – 1962' (group exhibition), Hauser & Wirth, London, UK

2016
'Joan Mitchell: Drawing into Painting', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'Women of Abstract Expressionism' (group exhibition), Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
'Women of Abstract Expressionism' (group exhibition), Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

2015
'Joan Mitchell: Retrospective - Her Life and Paintings', Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
'Joan Mitchell: At the Harbor and in the Grande Vallée', Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: Retrospective - Her Life and Paintings', Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
'Figure Ground: Joan Mitchell, Willem de Kooning and Raoul Hague', Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: The Sketchbook Drawings', Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany

2014
'Joan Mitchell: Trees', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'The Black Drawings and Related Works 1964 – 1967', Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
'Hans Hofmann - Joan Mitchell - Sam Francis', Galerie Thomas Modern, Munich, Germany

2013
'Joan Mitchell', Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, Germany
'Joan Mitchell | John Chamberlain', Gagosian Gallery, Rome Italy
'Joan Mitchell: At Home in Poetry', Poetry Foundation, Chicago, IL
'Joan Mitchell: An American Master', Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, PA

2012
'Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris' (group exhibition), Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA 
'Contemporary Prints by American Women: A Selection from the Gift of Martha and Jim Sweeny' (group exhibition), Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL 
'Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade', The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
'Joan Mitchell: The Last Paintings', Hauser & Wirth, London, UK

2011
'Joan Mitchell: The Last Paintings', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'No Rules: East 9th Street Revisited, 1951 - 2011' (group exhibition), Dorian Grey Gallery, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: Paintings from the Fifties', Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
'Tibor de Nagy Gallery Painters and Poets' (group exhibition), Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
'Willem de Kooning & Joan Mitchell: Editions', Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY

2010
'Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade', Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
'Abstract Expressionist New York' (group exhibition), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell', Inverleith House, Edinburgh, Scotland
'Le Tableau: French Abstractions and its Affinities' (group exhibition), Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'Monet and Abstraction' (group exhibition), Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris, France
'Le grand geste! - Informel and Abstract Expressionism, 1946-1964' (group exhibition), Museum Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf, Germany
'Joan Mitchell: Paintings', New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), New Orleans, LA
'Joan Mitchell: Works on Paper 1956 - 1992', Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
'Joan Mitchell: Prints', Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), New Orleans, LA
'Joan Mitchell: The Roaring Fifties', Galerie Thomas Modern, Munich, Germany
'Monet and Abstraction' (group exhibition), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain and Fundación Caja Madrid, Spain

2009
'Extraordinary Editions: Artist's Books of the 20th Century, Part II, 1950-2000' (group exhibition), Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA), Minneapolis, MN
'Joan Mitchell: Drawings', Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
'Before Again' (group exhibition), Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
'Influences of Nature on Abstraction' (group exhibition), JH Muse Gallery, Jackson Hole, WY
'Joan Mitchell: A Discovery of the New York School', Musée des Impressionismes, Giverny, France
'Joan Mitchell: Sunflowers', Hauser & Wirth, Zurich, Switzerland
'elles@centrepompidou: Women Artists in the Collections of the Centre Pompidou' (group exhibition), Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
'Joan Mitchell: A Discovery of the New York School', Palazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia, Italy
'Abstract Expressionism: Further Evidence' (group exhibition), Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY
'Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976' (group exhibition), Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

2008
'Joan Mitchell: A Discovery of the New York School', Kunsthalle Emden, Emden, Germany
'Joan Mitchell: Sunflowers', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976' (group exhibition), Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
'De Kooning, Mitchell, Richter: Paintings from the 1980s' (group exhibition), Tina Kim Fine Art, New York, NY
'Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976' (group exhibition), The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: Paintings & Pastels 1973 - 1983', Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
'Significant Form, The Persistence of Abstraction' (group exhibition), Maly Manege State Exhibition Hall, Moscow, Russia
'Monet, Kandinsky, Rothko and the Aftermath: Paths of Abstract Painting' (group exhibition), BA-CA Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria
'Action Painting' (group exhibition), Beyeler Museum, Basel, Switzerland
'Empires and Environments' (group exhibition), Rose Art Museum of Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

2007
'Abstract Expressionist Prints' (group exhibition), Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
'The Passionate Gesture Works' (group exhibition), Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
'Joan Mitchell: Leaving America', Hauser & Wirth, London, UK
'Joan Mitchell: Works on Paper 1956 - 1992', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: The Last Prints', Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York, NY

2006
'Woman's Work: Large Scale Paintings 1970-1990' (group exhibition), Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: A Survey, 1952 - 1992', Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
'Joan Mitchell: Paintings, Pastels and Etchings, 1962 - 1991', Eaton Fine Art, Inc., West Palm Beach, FL
'Joan Mitchell: Prints from the Foundation', Susan Sheehan Gallery, New York, NY

2005
'Joan Mitchell: Frèmicourt Paintings 1960-61', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: Sketchbook 1941 - 1951', Francis M. Naumann, New York, NY
'Quartet: Johns, Kelly, Mitchell, Motherwell' (group exhibition), Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN

2004
'Joan Mitchell Larger than Life: Lithographs from the 1980s and 1990s', Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, NY
'The Paintings of Joan Mitchell', The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC

2003
'The Paintings of Joan Mitchell', Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (MAMFW), Fort Worth, TX
'The Paintings of Joan Mitchell', Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

2002
'The Paintings of Joan Mitchell', Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
'The Paintings of Joan Mitchell', Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: Petit', Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: The Presence of Absence', Cheim & Read Gallery, New York, NY
'Joan Mitchell: Working with Poets', Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY

 

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