B. 1922 - One of the first young artists to aspire to Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s and 50s and one of only a few women artists to participate in the movement, Grace Hartigan adopted the commitment of her friends Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock to the art-making process. She has served as Director of the Maryland Institute College of Art Hoffberger School of Painting since its inception in 1965, five years after she moved to Baltimore. Her vibrant artistic vision has continued throughout her long life and career, with her work transitioning from pure abstraction, often inspired by poetry or music, to Pop Art, and to a figurative, expressionistic style inspired by art history from the ancient to the Modern periods.