Joan Mitchell Art Prints
Joan Mitchell was a graduate of the Chicago Art Institute and an Abstract Expressionist painter. Mitchell was recognized for her unwavering commitment to the principals of gestural abstraction. Her artistic mediums ranged from paining, watercolour prints, and lithographs exhibited in New York and France.
What was Mitchell's primary medium?Joan Mitchell's primary medium was oil painting on canvas. She was continuously inspired by the landscape surrounding her and drawn in by natural space, form and colour. Joan Mitchell's brush strokes experimented with curvature, balance and fluidity. Her early turbulent paintings are attributed to personal bereavement. Works that followed focused on contrasting concepts related to the use of light, dark, warmth, cool, growth, decay, gravity, lightness, and density.
What mediums did Mitchell use on paper?Joan Mitchell's elaborate use of colour pencils, watercolours, gouaches, charcoals, and pastels remained colourful and expressive just like her oil paintings. Her paper work consist of emotional rhythmic elements represented in atmospheric space, light and intensity. In 1986, her pastel and watercolour drawings transformed into a new expression designed from merged opaque and powdery colours and smudged watercolour transparency. She united vibrant colours and exaggerated them to convey the world of expressionism.
What technique did Mitchell use on prints?The painter's diversified techniques include a series of abstract screenprints overlaid with hand paint. In addition, Joan Mitchell etched sunflowers, one of her favourite leitmotifs. She coloured them with with burnt and bleached tones to represent the tones of the sun and sky. She also used sugar and ink for etching. Furthermore, the artist endeavored on diversified lithographs painted with lithographic crayon and quicksilver tusche.
Which are Mitchell's most recognized etchings?Her etchings have been displayed around the world. Throughout her four-decade career, the artist only created very few etchings. As an inspirational figure of modern art, Joan Mitchell's paintings and prints can be found in leading public collections of modern art. Her collaboration with Nathan Kernan allowed her to illustrate Kernan's poetry with her brush strokes. Below are a few of her etchings:
- "IV Abstract Blue Yellow" is a vintage 20th Century Blue and Mustard colour etching signed by the artist.
- "Sunflower 1" is a colour etching.
Printed at Tyler Graphics Studio, Mitchell printed multi-colour lithographs on TGL handmade paper. These were published by Tyler Graphics Ltd., New York. The artist's lithographs and paintings were done on multiple panels or large-scale canvases.
- "Arbres" is the painter's beautifully crafted trees etched in black and red.
- "Sky" is one of the pieces from the "Poems" collection. It's turbulent recognition is attributed to her personal bereavement.
- "Urn Burial" is one of the pieces from the "Poems" collection.
- "Bedford III" was developed from multi-layered lithographs projected onto a wall.