Mary Abbott American, 1921-2019

Mary Abbott (1921-2019) was an American painter and one of the few women closely connected to the first generation of Abstract Expressionists. Born in New York City, she studied at the Art Students League and later with painter Milton Avery. By the late 1940s and early 1950s, she was working in the same circles as artists like Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko and was one of only three women members of the Artists’ Club,alongside Perle Fine and Elaine de Kooning. Abbott’s work combined bold gestural brushwork with an intuitive use of color, often influenced by her time spent in the Caribbean, particularly in Haiti, where she immersed herself in the local landscape and culture. Despite being part of one of the most important movements of the 20th century, Abbott’s contributions were long overlooked.