Mary Heilmann, the American abstract painter whose vibrant, often playful canvases merged the traditions of abstract painting with the aesthetics of craft and design, has died at the age of 85. Her death was confirmed by her gallery, 303 Gallery in New York, which did not disclose the cause.
Early Life and Artistic Beginnings
Born on April 23, 1940, in San Francisco, Heilmann initially studied ceramics and sculpture at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and later at the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a BA in 1962 and an MA in 1966. She moved to New York in 1968, where she became immersed in the city's vibrant art scene and began to focus on painting.
In the early 1970s, Heilmann developed a distinctive style that combined the geometric abstraction of minimalism with the expressive, often irregular forms of craft traditions. She was influenced by the work of artists such as Richard Diebenkorn and Philip Guston, but also by the patterns and colors of Native American textiles and Japanese ceramics. Her paintings often feature bold, saturated colors, irregular grids, and shapes that seem to float or dissolve into the canvas.
Career Highlights and Major Works
Heilmann's first solo exhibition was at the 55 Mercer Street gallery in New York in 1972. She gained wider recognition in the 1980s and 1990s, with major exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In 2016, a retrospective of her work, "Mary Heilmann: Looking at Pictures," was organized by the Whitechapel Gallery in London, traveling to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the New Museum in New York.
Her work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Tate Modern in London, among others. According to the gallery, her paintings are known for their "joyful, unpretentious, and deeply personal" approach to abstraction.
Impact and Legacy
Heilmann's influence extended beyond painting. She was also a prolific writer and teacher, teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York and the University of California, Los Angeles. Her writings on art and life were collected in the book "Mary Heilmann: The All Night Movie" (2010).
In a 2016 interview with the Guardian, she said: "I always wanted to make paintings that were like a good friend – something you could live with, that would make you feel good." She also noted that her work was often "about the pleasure of looking, the pleasure of color, the pleasure of life."
Heilmann is survived by her husband, the artist David Reed, and her sister, the artist and writer Susan Heilmann. A memorial service is planned for later this year in New York.
