Agnes Martin, The Islands , , oil and graphite on canvas, 72" x 72" Interested in the transcendent potential of painting, Martin was a contemporary of the Abstract Expressionists, and identified her work with the movement.
Nonetheless, her oeuvre played a critical role in heralding the advent of Minimalism. Martin spent her early childhood years in Saskatchewan, on the western plains of Canada, an experience that would influence her throughout her life.
As a young adult, she moved to the United States, first to Bellingham, Washington and then to New York , and finally to Albuquerque, where she studied painting at the University of New Mexico β Her interest in Eastern philosophy developed in parallel with her appreciation of Abstract Expressionism, resulting in paintings characterized by biomorphic forms and geometric abstraction, further distilled in an earthy palette of beiges, greens, grays, and creams.
In the autumn of , Martin returned to New Mexico, settling in Taos. Shortly thereafter, she received a grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation , resulting in the production of one hundred paintings in the span of a single year.
After a studio visit with art dealer Betty Parsons, Martin was convinced to return to New York in She also began her association with Betty Parsons Gallery, which hosted her first one-artist exhibition in Amid these successes, Martin sought solitude. She decided to stop painting and leave New York in , traveling for eighteen months around the United States and Canada.
