Comparing and Contrasting Joan Mitchell and Agnes Martin's Artwork

This article discusses and compares the artwork of Joan Mitchell and Agnes Martin, focusing on their use of light, brush strokes, and subject matter. It also explores the similarities and differences between their works.

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Introduction
Art is usually an expression of the creative skill and even imagination of a human being
and is mainly presented in a visual form as a sculpture or a painting (Groh, 2012). Art could also
be used to communicate a message to a particular audience whether religious, allegorical, or
historical information. Art can also be used to portray beauty and even the emotional power of
the artist. In my paper I intend to discuss, compare and contrast the works of Joan Mitchell, both
the No Rain of 1976 and the Wood, Wind, No Tuba of 1980. Also included is Jacob’s ladder by
Helen Frankenthaler in 1957 and with my back to the world by Agnes Martin.
Joan Mitchell’s art of Wood, Wind, No Tuba of 1980.
The image of wind, wood no tuba by Joan Mitchell is used to represent vibrancy
(Livingston, Mitchell, Nochlin & Lee, 2012). The yellow-orange paint in the artwork is the most
conspicuous as it occupies a large area of the painting. This represents a situation of being
surrounded by a field which contains windblown flowers in the sunny midday. This is because of
the concentrated yellow-orange haze strokes of brush which rush over the blue and white field.
Also the yellow image is scattered representing the wind. It is also blown separately so as to
show the surface of the white canvas. It is derived from the design of the environment. The
brush stroke of the painting is not visible the painting is looser. It is mainly used for decoration
and also used in museums to attract tourists. This is due to the vibrancy of the image and also its
beauty according to (Hackett, 2014). Most people have also admitted the beauty possessed by the
image.

The colors are horizontally arranged with no strong diagonal arrangement of the strokes.
The light in the artwork however is very intense due to the presence of the yellow-orange blur.
The light is mainly used by the painter to attract the viewers or the audience. It is easily notable
from a distance.
Joan Mitchell’s art of No Rain of 1976.
The No Rain artwork by Joan Mitchell however has the green paint which is more
conspicuous in the painting than any other color used. It has some shades of black haze paint
over the green paint. The traces of orange yellow in this painting are few making the painting not
to be as conspicuous as the wind, wood, and no tuba. The brush strokes in this artwork are
vertical (Gibson, 2017). The light is used to spark drama to the subjects. On the other hand the
harsh whites color and even the black colors in the artwork can be used to attract the attention of
the subjects. The brush strokes of this painting are not visible (Gohari, 2012).
Contrasting the wood, wind, no tuba and the No Rain artwork.
The paintings by Joan Mitchell are widely used to represents the environment. The wind,
wood, no tuba painting is more conspicuous than the No Rain portrait. The No Rain portrait uses
light to arouse drama to the subjects whereas the wood, wind, no tuba artwork, light was used to
light and attract the viewers. The wind, wood, no tuba panting is thus more likely to be used for
decoration whereas the chances of using the No rain painting for decoration are usually limited
(Rosenberger, 2016).
`Helen Frankenthaler’s art of Jacob’ ladder.

Another interesting artwork was that done by Helen Frankenthaler entitled Jacobs ladder.
This painting is used to represent the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream, approaching towards
heaven. Jacob was a character in the bible therefore the painting serves as a way of linking
illusion with a reference that is known. She named the image Jacob’s ladder because she noted
that the image slowly developed while she was working into a jaunty ladder like figure. The
painting therefore has religious functions of depicting the religious stories. The figures in the two
dimensional artwork are horizontally arranged. This is because the shape of the ladder is seen to
be going upwards towards heaven. The light used in the painting is mainly to attract the views
and was used to cause drama. This is because the painting consists of a mixture of colors. The
brush stroke in the painting is looser as they are usually visible. The painting by Helen
Frankenthaler is seen to have a close relation to the artwork done by Jackson Pollock. This is
because the technique used in doing the painting of Jacob’s ladder was borrowed from Jackson
Pollock’s technique of taking the canvas from its eased then putting it on the ground then
dripping, slashing and even smearing paint on the canvas. The ladder like shape was created as a
result of the lines in the painting. The lines were mainly inspired by the technique of Jackson
Pollock of calligraphy, the fluid line and even the line concern (Fokkelman, 2014).
Comparing and contrasting Helen’s work to Joan Mitchell’s work.
Helen’s painting of Jacob’s ladder usually has some similarities to the painting of Joan
Mitchell of No Rain. This is because, in both paintings, light was applied to cause drama. This
can be seen from the use of multiple paints. However, a difference is seen in Joan Mitchell’s
painting of wood, wind, no tuba to Helen’s painting of Jacobs ladder in that as Jacob’s ladder is

based on a fiction, the painting by Joan Mitchell of wind, wood, no tuba is based on a reality
(Mowder, 2013).
Agnes Martin’s art of My Back to the world.
Agnes Martin’s work of My Back to the World is mostly used to represent six paintings
that form a series making the painting to be considered by Agnes Martin as a single entity. The
art is mainly used to represent the view of the painter towards the world. The art by Agnes
Martin is separated from the corruption and even the care of the world. The main aim of the
painting however was to make the subjects to be able to see the world from the way she was
seeing it. From the painting, the artists describe the World as being represented by the blue pastel
bands, yellow and peach. The bands of the painting appear to be very identical but when looked
closely, the bands are seen to vary. The painting is on used to stir up a response from the subject
instead of trying to arrest the reality from the viewer (Prendeville, 2017). The responses evoked
may include mood, joy or even emotions.
The reason behind the formation was to invite the viewer to be able to view the world in
a different perspective. The arrangement of the picture plane is horizontal. In the art work,
Agnes martins arranged the bands in a horizontal manner. The light used in the painting was one
which was to attract a subject and to educate the subject. In the painting, the brush work was not
visible hence it could be described as more suppressed. The use of lines in the art done by Agnes
is clearly seen as in the work by Helen Frankenthaler.
Contrasting Helen’s Jacob’s ladder and Agnes with Agnes’ My Back to the World

The two art works show some clear differences. One of the differences can clearly be
seen in the brush strokes (Schiff, 2012). The brush strokes in the work by Helen Frankenthaler
the Jacobs ladder is more visible whereas the brush stroke in the artwork by Agnes cannot be
seen. Also, another clear difference is in the light of the painting. The light in the painting done
by Helen is meant to create drama to the subjects whereas the light in the painting done by Agnes
is meant for lighting the audience. Even though both of the artists appreciate the use of lines to
complete a painting, the lines in the artwork by Helen seem to be more advance than the lines
used in the painting of the Jacob’s ladder. Another difference in the paintings is that for Jacob’s
ladder, the painting is based on a fiction, whereas the message conveyed by the art done by
Agnes Martin is based on a reality (Moszynska, 2015).
Comparing and contrasting Joan Mitchell’s art to Agnes’ art of My Back to the World.
There is also a close similarity to the Agnes Martins work of My Back to the world to the
painting done by Joan Mitchell. The reference points of both the artists were the world (Keefe,
2011). However, whereas Joan Mitchell’s art of wind, wood no tuba was a representation of the
environment on a sunny midday, the painting done by Agnes martins represented the view of the
world from the perspective of the artist. The difference is that Joan Mitchell viewed the world
physically and put it on a painting as it was whereas Agnes martin created a new perspective of
the world and made a representation of it. The difference in the painting however is that Agnes
Martin’s picture plane was horizontally arranged whereas the painting of wood, wind, no tuba
was vertically arranged. In both of the paintings however, there is the use of light that is
conspicuous and is meant of light the subjects.

References
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(Vol. 12),78-123.
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Groh, F. (2012). Gamification: State of the art definition and utilization. Institute of Media
Informatics Ulm University, 39, 31.
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edition. University of California Press.
Keefe, A. (2011). The ecstatic embrace of verbal and visual: Twenty-first century lyric beyond
the ekphrastic paragone. Word & Image, 27(2), 135-147.

Livingston, J., Mitchell, J., Nochlin, L., & Lee, Y. Y. (2012). The Paintings of Joan Mitchell, 4th
edition. University of California Press.
Moszynska, A. (2015). Agnes Martin. Art and Christianity, (83), 9-11.
Mowder, M. (2013). The art of Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011). Confrontation, 114, 115-130.
Prendeville, B. (2017). The meanings of acts: Agnes Martin and the making of Americans.
Oxford Art Journal, 31(1), 51-73.
Rosenberger, C. B. (2016). Drawing the line: The early work of Agnes Martin, 3rd edition.
University of California Press.
Schiff, K. (2012). Agnes Martin, under new auspices, 6th edition Oxford University New York.