Note to teachers: If you are planning to discuss a particular artist in your classes in the months ahead and would like an ArtSmart Quiz on that artist, email me at giraffe@giraffe.com and I will make every effort to accommodate you.

We focus this September on the abstract expressionist Grace Hartigan.


    1. How did Life magazine describe Grace Hartigan at her death?
    A. A 1950's star that faded
    B. A Pollock wannabe
    C. The most celebrated female painter in 1950's America

answer one
    2. How did Time magazine describe Hartigan's brush strokes?
A. Rhythymic and pounding
B. Produced out of rage
C. Subtle and complex

answer two
    3. What happened to Hartigan at age 5?
A. She fell in love with a female classmate
B. She fell off a horse
C. She developed pneumonia

answer three
    4. How did Hartigan describe her early attempts at art?
A. Without talent
B. Promising but unfulfilled
C. Bold and impetuous

answer four
    5. What was the name of the influential show at the Kootz Gallery in New York City that included one of Hartigan's works?
A. Vanguards of Abstraction
B. The Angry New Yorkers
C. Talent 1950

answer five
    6. Where was Hartigan's first solo show held?
A. Tibor de Nagy Gallery
B. The Art Students' League
C. The New York Armory

answer six
    7. How did Hartigan sign her early paintings?
A. Gary Hartigan
B. George Hartigan
C. Gregory Hartigan

answer seven
    8. What was the favorite watering hole of writers and painters in New York City in the 1950's?
A. The Cedar Tavern
B. The Hole in the Wall
C. The Den of Iniquity

answer eight
    9. Hartigan's painting titled "Grand Street Brides" based its structure on whose work?
A. de Kooning
B. Delecroix
C. Goya

answer nine
    10. In 1960, Hartigan left New York to teach where?
A. Vassar College
B. Bryn Mawr
C. Maryland Institute College of Art

answer ten
    11. What problem did Hartigan acknowledge in 1982?
A. Alcoholism
B. Dyslexia
C. Narcolepsy

answer eleven
    12. In 1982, Hartigan began a series of large-scale works in what medium?
A. Charcoal
B. Watercolors
C. Ektochromes

answer twelve
    13. What field of art did Hartigan object to being included in?
A. Pop Art
B. American Realism
C. Cubism

answer thirteen
    14. What was one of Hartigan's hobbies?
A. Poker
B. Playing the trombone
C. Gardening

answer fourteen
    15. How did Hartigan describe her acrylic painting "Inclement Weather"?
A. Like being in a New England snowstorm
B. Like being on a very fast train
C. Like being in a monsoon

answer fifteen

SCORING:12-15 right answers makes you an art smart genius.
8-11 right and you're an art smart cookie.
5-7 right and you're having an art attack.
Fewer than 5 right and you're in art failure!

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