Anne Truitt was born in 1921 in Baltimore, Maryland and died in 2004.
Read MoreTruitt is a major figure in American art. Her career as a painter and sculptor spanned over forty years, during which time she was the subject of major solo presentations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974; the Baltimore Museum of Art, 1992; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2010. While often labelled a Minimalist, Truitt's work was actually defined by a powerful emotional and autobiographical reflex which stands her apart from her contemporaries.
In the 1950s Truitt abandoned psychology and nursing to dedicate herself to art. Truitt's early practice found resonance with the American Abstract Expressionists, formulating itself around a core interest in colour - albeit from a sculptural standpoint. From hesitant experiments with clay, wire and cement, to elegant wooden, totem-like sculptures and monochromatic paintings, Truitt's work successfully re-defined the boundaries of American Abstraction. She is now recognised as one of the movement's leading proponents. While she is perhaps now best known for her sculptures, Truitt was committed to a daily ritual of drawing and painting.
Writing in April, 1965, Truitt stated: "What is important to me in not geometrical shape per se, or color per se, but to make a relationship between shape and color which feels to me like my experience. To make what feels to me like reality." (Private papers.)
