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Joan Mitchell

The Last Decade

November 13–December 23, 2010
Beverly Hills

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

Joan Mitchell: The Last Decade

Installation view, photo by Douglas M. Parker Studio

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Works Exhibited

Joan Mitchell, La Grande Vallée XVI, Pour Iva, 1983 Oil on canvas, 102 ⅜ × 78 ¾ inches (260 × 200 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, La Grande Vallée XVI, Pour Iva, 1983

Oil on canvas, 102 ⅜ × 78 ¾ inches (260 × 200 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Row Row, 1982 Oil on canvas, Diptych: 110 × 157 ½ inches overall (279.4 × 400 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Row Row, 1982

Oil on canvas, Diptych: 110 × 157 ½ inches overall (279.4 × 400 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Then, Last Time IV, 1985 Oil on canvas, 102 × 78 ¾ inches (259.1 × 200 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Then, Last Time IV, 1985

Oil on canvas, 102 × 78 ¾ inches (259.1 × 200 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, River, 1989 Oil on canvas, Diptych: 110 × 157 ½ inches overall (279.4 × 400 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, River, 1989

Oil on canvas, Diptych: 110 × 157 ½ inches overall (279.4 × 400 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Yves, 1991 Oil on canvas, 110 ¼ × 78 ¾ inches (280 × 200 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Yves, 1991

Oil on canvas, 110 ¼ × 78 ¾ inches (280 × 200 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Sunflowers, 1990–91 Oil on canvas, Diptych: 110 × 157 ½ inches (279.4 × 400 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Sunflowers, 1990–91

Oil on canvas, Diptych: 110 × 157 ½ inches (279.4 × 400 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Trees, 1990–91 Oil on canvas, 86 ¾ × 157 ½ inches (220.3 × 400 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Trees, 1990–91

Oil on canvas, 86 ¾ × 157 ½ inches (220.3 × 400 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Sunflowers, 1990–91 Oil on canvas, Diptych: 102 ¼ × 157 ½ inches (259.7 × 400 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Sunflowers, 1990–91

Oil on canvas, Diptych: 102 ¼ × 157 ½ inches (259.7 × 400 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Tondo, 1991 Oil on canvas, 59 inches diameter (149.9 cm)© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

Joan Mitchell, Tondo, 1991

Oil on canvas, 59 inches diameter (149.9 cm)
© Estate of Joan Mitchell. Courtesy of the Joan Mitchell Foundation

About

I carry my landscapes around with me.
—Joan Mitchell

Gagosian Gallery is pleased to present “The Last Decade,” an exhibition of fourteen paintings by Joan Mitchell produced during the last ten years of her life.

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.

The series La Grande Vallée refers to the secluded outskirts of Nantes in Brittany, France; although Mitchell had only heard about this location through her friend Gisèle Barreau, she captures the luminosity, wildness and freedom of this natural sanctuary. While La Grande Vallée commemorates the death of her sister and Barreau’s cousin, four paintings in the same series are dedicated to living friends. Unlike many of Mitchell’s other works where the unprimed white canvas is a compositional element, paintings such as Then, Last Time IV (1985), and La Grande Vallée XVI, Pour Iva (1983) (dedicated to Mitchell’s dog) are densely covered with energetic and vividly hued brushwork.

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