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Lot Essay
This beautiful painting is one of five known works from a series titled Series July 25, which Joan Mitchell painted in 1966 following the untimely passing of Frank O’Hara. O’Hara’s death, after being struck by a car on Fire Island, was a devastating loss to the artistic community in New York City. Not only was he the leading poet of the New York School, he was also an influential art critic for Art News, and a curator of paintings and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art. As Larry Rivers said in his eulogy for O’Hara, at the poet’s funeral two days after his passing, “Frank O’Hara was my best friend. There are at least sixty people in New York who thought Frank O’Hara was their best friend.” In many ways, Joan Mitchell likely considered herself part of that sixty.
Since they first met in the early 1950s, O’Hara was a constant inspiration to Joan Mitchell. They were artists in arms, intellectual companions, and close friends. Mitchell titled numerous paintings after poems by O’Hara, before and after his death, including Crow Hill (1966) and To the Harbormaster (1957). Joan grew up in the society of poets, thanks to her mother, and she felt clearly comfortable in the proximity of O’Hara’s wit and intellect. As Patricia Albers wrote in her biography of Mitchell, “Frank was as devoted to painting, including Joan’s, as Joan was to poetry, very much including that of ‘Genius Frank’. His selfless generosity and marvelous outpourings of affection touched her. In some ways they were alike: both drank prodigiously, adored New York, relished playing the irritator, and shifted the energy of a room when they entered” (P. Albers, Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter, New York, 2011, p. 308).
The Series July 25 paintings are all approximately the same size, and at one point or another passed through Martha Jackson Gallery, where Joan began showing in 1968 after breaking away from Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery. Other examples include Series July 25 (I), which resides in the collection of The Gibbes Museum of Art, and Series July 25 (IV), which sold at Sotheby’s in 2016.
Since they first met in the early 1950s, O’Hara was a constant inspiration to Joan Mitchell. They were artists in arms, intellectual companions, and close friends. Mitchell titled numerous paintings after poems by O’Hara, before and after his death, including Crow Hill (1966) and To the Harbormaster (1957). Joan grew up in the society of poets, thanks to her mother, and she felt clearly comfortable in the proximity of O’Hara’s wit and intellect. As Patricia Albers wrote in her biography of Mitchell, “Frank was as devoted to painting, including Joan’s, as Joan was to poetry, very much including that of ‘Genius Frank’. His selfless generosity and marvelous outpourings of affection touched her. In some ways they were alike: both drank prodigiously, adored New York, relished playing the irritator, and shifted the energy of a room when they entered” (P. Albers, Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter, New York, 2011, p. 308).
The Series July 25 paintings are all approximately the same size, and at one point or another passed through Martha Jackson Gallery, where Joan began showing in 1968 after breaking away from Eleanor Ward’s Stable Gallery. Other examples include Series July 25 (I), which resides in the collection of The Gibbes Museum of Art, and Series July 25 (IV), which sold at Sotheby’s in 2016.