Mary Lee Abbott (July 27, 1921 – August 23, 2019) was an American artist, known as a member of the New York School of abstract expressionists in the late 1940s and 1950s. Her abstract and figurative work were also influenced by her time spent in

Saint Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

and Haiti, where she lived off and on throughout the 1950s.

Early life and education

Abbott was born in New York City, where she attended the Chapin School. Her family lineage traces back to

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...

, the second president of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Her mother, Elizabeth Grinnell, was a poet and syndicated columnist with Hearst

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports ...

. Her family would spend time in the summer in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, New York in Long Island. She was a student of artist George Grosz, while attending the Art Students League of New York. At the experimental school, Subjects of the Artist, Abbott worked with Barnett Newman,

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

, and David Hare. Abbott then studied in the late 1930s at the Corcoran Museum School (now known as

Corcoran School of the Arts and Design The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, DC.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts and ...

) in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

. She was briefly married to painter

Lewis Teague Lewis Teague (born March 8, 1938) is an American film director, whose work includes ''Alligator'', '' Cat's Eye'', ''Cujo'', '' The Jewel of the Nile'', '' The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion!'', ''Navy SEALs'' and '' Wedlock''. Biography Teague was ...

from 1943 until 1946. Soon after her separation from Teague, she married businessman Tom Clyde. Clyde and Abbott spent many winters in Haiti and St.Croix. Here, she found many inspirations, such as the people and landscapes, that often inspired her paintings.

Career and later life

After World War II, Abbott began seriously pursuing a career the art world and she joined the "Downtown Group", which represented a group of artists who lived in lower

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. In 1946, she set up an art studio on Tenth Street in Manhattan. Her location in Manhattan granted her access to a sort of inner circle of artists.

Philip Pavia Philip Pavia (1911-2005) was a culturally influential American artist of Italian descent, known for his scatter sculpture and figurative abstractions, and the debate he fostered among many of the 20th century's most important art thinkers. A foun ...

invited her to be one of the only three women included in "The Artist's Club" alongside

Elaine de Kooning Elaine Marie Catherine de Kooning (, née Fried; March 12, 1918 – February 1, 1989) was an Abstract Expressionist and Figurative Expressionist painter in the post-World War II era. She wrote extensively on the art of the period and was an edit ...

and

Perle Fine Perle Fine (born Poule Feine)(1905–1988) was an American Abstract expressionist painter. "Generally speaking the women at the Club weren't treated differently than anyone else -- an artist was an artist. Sometimes you might get treated like a girl because you were pretty. I was chosen to collect the dues and go buy the booze because I was pretty and the guys would pay up if I asked them to. Other times you had to be tough to be taken seriously," Abbott said. Lucy (1956-58) by Mary Abbott

In 1948-49, she took artistic development influence from

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

. Her use of large-scale gesture is significantly different after his lecture at the Subjects of the Artist. Abbott and

de Kooning Kooning is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Willem de Kooning (1904–1997), Dutch American artist * Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989), American artist {{Short pages monitor