Attributed to Joan Mitchell, no coa, private collection, medium: oil, measurements: 44"WX33"H framed, mint condition Biography: Joan Mitchell was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artists in the 1950s. In 1950 Mitchell painted what would be her last picture with a human figure incorporated in the work Figure and the City, of which she said later "I knew that it would be my last figure". Then throughout the 1950s, Mitchell was active in the New York School of artists and poets, and was associated with the American Abstract expressionist movement,although she personally abhorred aesthetic labels.Beginning in 1950, she maintained a studio in Greenwich Village, first on Eleventh Street and later on Ninth Street.[9] She was a regular at established artist gathering spots like the Cedar Tavern and The Club, an invitation-only loft space on Eighth Street where Mitchell participated in panel discussions and attended social gatherings throughout the 1950s.: Mitchell maintained a robust creative discourse with fellow New York School painters Philip Guston, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning, whose work she greatly admired.As Katy Siegel wrote in Joan Mitchell, "She went to their studios and shows, and they came to hers; she had dinner and drinks with them, in company and alone, talking painting materials and great art.": Along with Lee Krasner, Grace Hartigan, Helen Frankenthaler, Shirley Jaffe, Elaine de Kooning, and Sonia Gechtoff, Mitchell was one of the few female artists in her era to gain critical acclaim and recognition.In 1951, Mitchell's work was exhibited in the landmark "Ninth Street Show," organized by art dealer Leo Castelli and by members of the Artists' Club; the show also included work by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Hans Hofmann. Joan Mitchell carried her large abstract painting across town with the help of Castelli. Her friends Franz Kline and Willem de Kooning thought her work was excellent and put the painting in good place in the exhibition.Her first solo exhibition was held at the New Gallery in New York in 1952.By the mid-1950s Mitchell was spending increasing amounts of time traveling and working in France.She continued to exhibit regularly in New York, with numerous solo exhibitions at the Stable Gallery throughout the 1950s–1960s.