209:’s theory of “living energy” and the new spirituality to come out of post-war American art, West adopted a style that can be described as Neo-Cubist, using heavy painterly brushstrokes to bring movement to the canvas. In an essay from January 1946, she says, “The new peace has brought about a world of opening facts — and a speed which causes change both of matter and a way of doing things — a different system — the world by the artist is sudden viewed and felt in a new way." In 1946, after returning to New York from Rochester, she exhibited at the Pinacotheca Gallery alongside
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325:(1946), West’s complex canvas is not content merely to represent symbolically the spiritual implications of nuclear physics... it’s apparent that the artist is not attempting to distill from detonation a lyricism of rhythm or harsh harmonies from explosive chaos. These are actual abrasions. Real violence. There is a brutal authenticity to West’s painting...
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In the 1960s and 1970s, West held three solo exhibitions at the
Granite Gallery, Imaginary Art, and Woman Art Gallery, all in New York. Her style in these years became more experimental, with West exploring collage, calligraphy, and staining techniques.
236:(1956). She exhibited in Manhattan's prestigious Stable Gallery in 1953, and had a solo show in 1957 at the Uptown Gallery in New York City. In 1958 she had a one-woman show at the Domino Gallery in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
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looms so powerfully in the story of 20th-Century art – how it succeeds more radically and unflinchingly than more celebrated works created around the same time. Unlike works by her better-known male contemporaries such as
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told her that the name "Corinne" sounded like that of a "debutante's daughter." Gorky's suggestion however, was based on a real prejudice against women in the art world, such as with
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and Neo-Cubist in style. In 1936 she had her first solo exhibition, at the
Rochester Art Club; also in 1936, she had begun to go by Mikael to obtain better opportunities, and after
167:'s muse and probably his lover, although she refused to marry him when he proposed several times. They shared a passion for art and visited museums and galleries together.
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as "one of the most daring, uncompromising and innovative paintings to emerge in the century", and said that it is one of the "most intriguing plot points" of
American
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West was one of the few female members of the New York Art School movement. In creating her work, West was inspired by the existentialist writer
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254:. The first major West Coast exhibit of her work was held posthumously at Art Resource Group's Newport Beach, California gallery in 2010.
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228:'s theory of 'living energy' and was guided by her instinctive creativity and passion. During the 1950s, she was committed to
288:(1947-48); the overpainting was a deliberate act of destruction, her response to the destructive power of the atomic bomb.
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West died in 1991 in New York. Five years after her death, a retrospective of her work was held at the
112:(1908–1991) was an American painter; she also used the names Mikael and Michael West. She was an
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in 1942. Later in 1968 she created a series of poem-paintings related to the
Vietnam war.
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West also wrote poems; she wrote a series of 50 poems in the 1940s, including the poem
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This article is about the
American painter. For the American singer-songwriter, see
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711:"Why the Art World Is Rediscovering Female Abstract Expressionist Michael West"
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Why the Art World Is
Rediscovering Female Abstract Expressionist Michael West
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The
Cosmological Musings of Michael West, an American Abstract Expressionist
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765:. Denver New Haven: Denver Art Museum Yale University Press. p. 202.
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Remembering
Michael West, a Forgotten Founder of Abstract Expressionism
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Action, Gesture, Paint: Women
Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970
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Corinne
Michelle West was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended the
552:"Living Energy: the Abstract Expressionist Paintings of Michael West"
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West moved to New York in 1932. She began to study painting with
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In 2016 her biography was included in the exhibition catalogue
580:(Reprint, illustrated ed.). Macmillan. pp. 239–246.
528:"Michael (Corinne) West - Artists - Hollis Taggart Galleries"
507:"Corinne West in the Ohio County Marriage Records, 1774-1993"
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West's paintings in the mid-1930s through the mid-1940s were
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by painting over it (leaving some parts still visible) with
624:"Michael West: Paintings from the Forties to the Eighties"
485:"Michael West: Paintings from the Forties to the Eighties"
221:– married filmmaker Francis Lee; they divorced in 1960.
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Michael West, Woman Artist Excluded from the Ab-E Gang
144:– married theatre actor Randolph Nelson (1909–1978).
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740:"Blinding Light: The 'Great American Painting'?"
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390:. Borghi Fine Art Gallery. Archived from
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136:in 1930. West – on June 26, 1930, at the
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685:"In a Latin Roundup, Breadth and Depth"
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876:Art Students League of New York alumni
606:"Michael West: The Artist Was A Woman"
315:Comprehension of the Atom, Crucifixion
823:by Magda Michalska, DailyArt Magazine
683:Braff, Phyllis (September 22, 1996).
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205:. Inspired by Parisian philosopher
193:, a style commonly associated with
871:Traphagen School of Fashion alumni
550:Somerville, Kris (July 21, 2015).
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835:by Billie Anania on Hyperallergic
658:. Yale University Press. p.
388:"Michael West American 1908-1991"
738:Kelly Grovier (5 October 2020).
578:Arshile Gorky, his life and work
487:. Art Resource Group. 3 May 2010
153:Art Student's League of New York
132:in 1925. She graduated from the
126:Cincinnati Conservatory of Music
763:Women of abstract expressionism
656:Women of Abstract Expressionism
622:Smith, Miriam L (May 2, 2010).
342:Women of Abstract Expressionism
330:Kelly Grovier, BBC October 2020
866:Abstract expressionist artists
861:20th-century American painters
709:Karen Chernick (May 7, 2020).
217:. West – on June 30, 1948, in
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447:"NEW YORK SCHOOL ART GALLERY"
901:20th-century American people
67:1991 (aged 82–83)
891:Painters from New York City
817:on Hollis Taggart Galleries
157:Traphagen School of Fashion
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829:by Karen Chernick on Artsy
155:and commercial art at the
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604:Willette, Jeanne (2017).
232:, as shown in works like
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787:"Action, Gesture, Paint"
761:Marter, Joan M. (2016).
650:Marter, Joan M. (2016).
576:Herrera, Hayden (2005).
841:by Grace Edquist, Vogue
815:Michael (Corinne) West
425:Orange County Register
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191:Abstract Expressionism
134:Cincinnati Art Academy
130:Cincinnati Art Academy
114:Abstract Expressionist
88:Abstract Expressionism
847:by Kelly Grovier, BBC
311:Richard Pousette-Dart
304:This is where West’s
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252:Pollock-Krasner House
128:before moving to the
110:Corinne Michelle West
30:Corinne Michelle West
323:Shimmering Substance
791:Whitechapel Gallery
556:The Missouri Review
359:Whitechapel Gallery
628:Art Resource Group
394:on 3 November 2014
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346:Denver Art Museum
344:organized by the
195:Willem de Kooning
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720:January 27,
361:in London.
245:The New Art
211:Mark Rothko
180:George Sand
855:Categories
694:9 February
633:2017-03-27
561:9 February
491:2 November
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398:2 November
365:References
317:(1944) or
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292:described
163:. She was
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280:Harlequin
275:Harlequin
219:Manhattan
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172:Cubist
796:4 May
742:. BBC
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213:and
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64:Died
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