Amaranth Ehrenhalt American, 1928-2021
'Painting is the magic of making a world. Each painting is a voyage into a new, unknown space.' - Amaranth Ehrenhalt
Amaranth Ehrenhalt (1928–2021) was an American painter, poet, and writer associated with the second generation of Abstract Expressionism. Born in Newark, New Jersey, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, she moved to New York in the early 1950s and became part of the downtown scene. In 1951, she relocated to Paris, where she became a prominent figure among the postwar international artists working in the city, exhibiting alongside Joan Mitchell, Shirley Jaffe, Sam Francis, and Paul Jenkins.
Ehrenhalt’s paintings are known for their fluid, expressive brushwork, layered color, and compositional energy. She worked across painting, drawing, and writing, maintaining a multidisciplinary practice rooted in gesture, intuition, and rhythm. Though often overshadowed by her male contemporaries, she maintained a consistent presence in both the New York and Paris art worlds.
Today, Ehrenhalt’s work is increasingly recognized as a vital contribution to postwar abstraction, bridging American Abstract Expressionism and European lyrical abstraction.