Joan Mitchell: Drawings

Kukje Gallery presents a comprehensive exhibition of Joan Mitchell’s drawings created between 1967 and 1992 accompanied by select paintings made between 50s and 80s.

This is Joan Mitchell’s second solo exhibition organized by Kukje Gallery. In 2006, the gallery mounted a major exhibition entitled A Survey 1952-1992 that featured paintings by the artist. This current exhibition Drawings complements Kukje’s earlier survey exhibition and reveals this modern master’s expressive style and her unique approach to works on paper.

Born in Chicago in 1925, Joan Mitchell was a passionate artist who played a critical role in the development of Abstract Expressionism – one of the most important art historical movements of the 20th century. Mitchell was deeply influenced by the new abstract painting style that emphasized gestures. She devoted her life to constantly expanding and reinforcing such painterly tendencies. Over her long and illustrious career, Mitchell developed a unique style that continues to be widely celebrated and influential today. By developing her own signature techniques and color schemes, she was able to create works that expressed her emotions, while at the same time, connecting her to an international audience.

Joan Mitchell was one of the leading Abstract Expressionists to follow in the footsteps of artists such as Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock. The exhibition at Kukje Gallery offers a rare opportunity to experience more than 30 years of her career. The gallery presents 28 drawings made between 1967 and 1992. Her drawings from this significant period of her career portray her passion for nature, affection toward family and friends, and fear of death. Mitchell worked primarily from memory, and she sought to convey allusions to nature through the use of line and movement. “I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me – and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed… I would rather leave nature to itself. I do not want to improve it… I could certainly never mirror it. I would like to paint what it leaves me with.”

Joan Mitchell received both a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the Art Institute of Chicago. She became a well known part of the burgeoning New York art scene after her participation in the historical exhibition titled 9th Street: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, which was coordinated by the famous art dealer Leo Castelli in 1951. Mitchell had numerous solo and group exhibitions at internationally renowned museums following her first major American museum show in 1974 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Mitchell’s works are in major public and private collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, The Tate Gallery in London, Osaka City Art Museum of Modern Art in Osaka, and Samsung Museum in Seoul.