Agnes Karlin Mills

1915, New York City - 2008, Sebastopol, California, USA

Artist Name: Agnes Karlin Mills

Title: Seated dancer, 1970s

Signature Description: Hand-signed lower right

Technique: Mixed media and collage on paper

Image Size: 53 x 38 cm / 20.9" x 14.96" inch

Frame: The painting is unframed

Condition: Very good condition

Artist's Biography:

Agnes Karlin Mills (American, 1915-2008)

Agnes Eunice Mills, painter, printmaker, and sculptor, was born in New York City on 2 April 1915 to Herman and Celia Karlin.
A prolific multi-disciplinary arts, she specialized in dance subjects and imagery pertaining to the arts.
She worked in the Long Island/New York City for most of her career, eventually moving to Florida.

Mills was a graduate of Pratt Institute and Cooper Union Art School, and was associated with the Bauhaus, Social Realist, and Abstract movements.
She worked for the WPA early in her career, becoming the youngest instructor in the Federal Arts Project along with fellow artist Ruth Gikow.
She studied under Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, David Siqueiros, Hans Hoffman, Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 in New York, Krishna Reddy, and many other leading printmakers and painters of the time.
For twenty-five years she served as resident artist for the Alwin Nikolais Dance Company, and several other dance companies hired her to sketch their rehearsals. She was a member of the Artists Union and was Co-Chair for the committee for public use of art. She published the Index of American Design for the Library of Congress.

Agnes Eunice Mills died in Sebastopol, California on March 9, 2008.

THE ART OF AGNES MILLS

As one of the youngest and considered by many to be one of the most gifted W.P.A. Artists, Agnes Mills continued producing and innovating as a fine artist throughout her life. “She draws like an angel,” remarked Hans Hoffman. Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, David Siqueiros, Hans Hoffman, Mies Van Der Roe, Krishna Reddy, E.S. Hayter, and Kimon Nikolaides supported her vision of “creating the sense of motion...in a fugue-like rhythm” in oils, pen and brush, lithography, viscosity and further printmaking techniques, bronze casting, welding, murals, frescos, animation, batik and computer drawing.

The richness, depth and breadth of Agnes Mills’ work places her in the first ranks of Contemporary 20th Century Artists. Shown in established galleries and nationally recognized museums throughout her career, Mills was committed to social engagement and the mentoring of young artists long beyond her W.P.A. period.

As Resident Artist for the Alwyn Nikolais Dance Company for over a quarter century, and rehearsal artist at Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor, Elisa Monte, Yoriko Kikuchi, and Jacob’s Pillow companies, her paintings, prints, sculpture and drawings of the moving figure were acclaimed at Lincoln Center, New York Public Library, City Center Gallery, and numerous universities and galleries throughout the area.

Agnes Mills created art and continued to explore new medium up until shortly before her death in 2008. Eight years earlier, she wrote of her on-going connection: “Even the trees and the skies dance for me… and things and people, young and old, are still beautiful and challenging.”

MUSEUM & LIBRARY EXHIBITIONS:

 Boca Raton Museum of Art
 NY Public Library/ Dance Collection  
 Lincoln Center Art Gallery
 Brooklyn Museum of Art
 Heckscher Museum
 Smithsonian Institute 
 Audubon Society
 New York World’s Fair
 Hofstra University Special Collections
 Seattle Art Museum
 Women’s Museum of Art, Washington D.C.
 National Academy of Art & Design
 Columbus Museum Of Arts & Crafts
 Hunterdon County Art Museum

ONE-WOMAN SHOWS:

Lincoln Center Art Gallery, New York City: Drawings & Prints on the Dance
City Center Gallery, New York City: Drawings & Prints on the Dance
Alfredo Valente Gallery, New York City: Sculpture, Drawings & Prints
Carus Gallery; New York City: Oils, Drawings & Prints
Harbor Gallery; Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Drawings & Prints
Graphic Eye Co-op Gallery, Roslyn, NY: Prints & Drawings
North Shore Community Arts Center, Great Neck, NY: Prints & Drawings on the Dance
Unitarian Society, Manhassett, NY: Sculpture, Drawings & Prints
North Truro Art Gallery, Cape Cod, MA: Sculpture
The Robbins Gallery, East Orange, NJ: Oils, Drawings & Sculpture
The Nuance Gallery, Tampa, FL: Oils, Drawings & Sculpture
Friends of Tampa Ballet, Tampa, FL: Drawings & Prints

GROUP SHOWS:

National Academy of Art & Design - New York, NY
Alfredo Valente Gallery - New York, NY
Madison Gallery - New York, NY
Lincoln Center Library of Performing Arts - New York, NY
Brooklyn Museum of Art - Brooklyn, NY
Audubon Society - New York, NY
Art Students League, New York, NY
NYU School of Architecture & Applied Art - New York, NY
Cooper Union School of Art - New York, NY
American Artists School - New York, NY
Design Laboratory, New York, NY
New York State Pavilion/ NY World’s Fair, NY
Brooklyn Museum of Art - Brooklyn, NY
Post College Hutchins Gallery - Greenvale, NY
Pratt Institute School of Art & Design - Brooklyn, NY
Kersaage Group/ Napeague Inst. of ArtNapeague, NY
Marymount Gallery - Tarrytown, NY
Vassar College - Poughkeepsie, NY
Cornell University - Ithaca, NY
C.W. Post College - Old Brookville, NY
North Shore Community Arts Center - Great Neck, NY
Colgate University Library - Hamilton, NY
East Hampton Guild of Artists - East Hampton, NY
Heckscher Museum - Huntington, NY
Joan Avnet Gallery - Great Neck, NY
Gallery K - Woodstock, NY
Graphic Eye Coop Gallery - Port Washington, NY
Silvermine Art League - New Caanan, CT
University of Hartford - Hartford, CT
Hunterdon County Museum - Clinton, NJ
Provincetown Art Association -  Provincetown, MA
Brandeis University - Waltham, MA
Butler Institute of American Art - Youngston, OH
Pennsylvania Academy of Art  - Philadelphia, PA
Nuance Galleries - Tampa, FL
Brown University - Providence, RI
Northern University - DeKalb, IL
Oklahoma Art Center - Oklahoma City, OK
The Print Club - Philadelphia, PA
Seattle Art Museum - Seattle, WA
Temple University - Philadelphia, PA

CONTEMPORARY MINIATURE PRINT EXHIBITIONS:

Flint Institute of Arts - Flint, MI
Columbus Museum of Arts & Crafts - Columbus, GA
Art Academy of Cincinnati - Cincinnati, OH
Perdue Memorial Union - West Lafayette, IN
Louisville School of Art - Anchorage, KY
Morehead State University - Morehead, KY
Cornell College - Mount Vernon, IA
Coe College - Cedar Rapids, IA
South Dakota State University - Brookings, SD
Bethel College - North Newton, KS
Washington State University - Pullman, WA
Walla Walla Community College - Walla Walla, WA
The Arkansas Art Center - Little Rock, AK
State College of Arkansas - Conway, AK

COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY EXHIBITS: 

C.W. Post, Hofstra, Univ. of Maine,
California School of Fine Art, Cornell, Brandeis Univ., Nassau Community College, Cooper Union Art School, Pratt Graphic Center, Vassar College, Temple Univ., Bodoin College Museum of Art, Brown Univ., Marymount, Northern University,
Colgate Univ. Library, Univ. of Hartford, Washington State Univ., Lycoming College, Berea College, Walla Walla Community College, Morehead State Univ., South Dakota State Univ., Bethel College, State College of Arkansas, Coe College.