Modern Cycle

Grace Hartigan, Modern Cycle, 1967, oil on canvas, 78 ¹⁄₂ x 108 ¹⁄₂ in. (199.4 x 275.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.33

Artwork Details

Title: Modern Cycle
Artist: Grace Hartigan
Date: 1967
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
3rd Floor
/
North Wing
Dimensions: 78 ¹⁄₂ x 108 ¹⁄₂ in. (199.4 x 275.6 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Figure
Abstract
Object Number: 1980.137.33
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1980.137.33

Artwork Description

My male students at the time were obsessed with motorcycles--one even kept his in his studio--and out of sheer self-preservation I bought a poster of Brando on a bike and [of] Peter Fonda, some cycle magazines, pinned them on my painting wall and Modern Cycle was the result. It is, incidentally, one of my favorite paintings.
--Grace Hartigan

Grace Hartigan's work often combines the spontaneity and large scale of abstract painting with images drawn from popular culture or everyday experience. In Modern Cycle, we see fragments of people and motorbikes--a dynamic mix of human and mechanical, masculine and feminine.