Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin (b. 1912)
1997
Acrylic on canvas

I can see humility
Delicate and white
It is satisfying
Just by itself. . .

And Trust
absolute trust
a gift
a precious gift

I would rather think of humility than
anything else.

Humility, the beautiful daughter
She cannot do either right or wrong
She does not do anything
All of her ways are empty
Infinitely light and delicate
She treads an even path.
Sweet, smiling, uninterrupted, free.

. . . Agnes Martin 1973

Born in Maklin, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1912. After spending her youth in Vancouver, she moved to the United States in 1931. Agnes became a US citizen in 1950. In 1954 she moved to Tao, New Mexico. Returning to New York in 1957, she held her first solo exhibition in 1958 at the Betty Parsons Gallery. In 1967 she moved to New Mexico and abandoned painting for seven years. In 1975 she began her association with the Pace Gallery, New York. In 1991 the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam held an exhibition of her paintings and drawings which travelled on to various other European museum. In 1992 the Whitney Museum of American Art held a grand retrospective of her work. Agnes now lives and works in Galisteo, New Mexico and is 88 years old.