Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention

Important new publication brings together a selection of forty significant works by American Abstract Expressionist artist Grace Hartigan.

Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention explores the significant impact mid—century American poets and poetry had on painter Grace Hartigan’s early career during the 1950s and 1960s. Through a compelling introduction and three illuminating essays, the authors explore how key literary figures—supporters that included Daisy Aldan, Barbara Guest, James Merrill, Frank O’Hara, and James Schuyler—sparked Hartigan’s creativity, providing a fuller examination of the art she created during this time. This book not only spotlights Hartigan within the renowned circle of New York School painters and poets but also highlights the influence of several queer writers whose daring work and lifestyles profoundly shaped Hartigan’s outlook on art and life.

The volume accompanies an exhibition of the same name opening at North Carolina Museum of Art, NC in 2025, before traveling to various venues through 2026.

Hartigan's works can be found in the Art Institute of Chicago, Baltimore Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, Figge Art Museum, McNay Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, MOMA New York, The Nelson—Atkins Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, North Carolina Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Saint Louis Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art and Worcester Art Museum.