Jennifer Bartlett was an American artist known for her work in painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Bartlett is recognized for her unique approach to geometric abstraction and her use of serialized imagery.
Bartlett gained recognition in the 1970s for her large-scale works, the most famous of which “Rhapsody,” consisted of 987 one foot square steel plates, each painted with a different image and stretched out more than 153 feet long. This series showcased her interest in repetition, grids, conversation, connectivity, and the exploration of space.
Jennifer Bartlett's next significant endeavor was called "In the Garden." It involved creating nearly 200 drawings of an overgrown garden situated behind a small villa in Nice, France, where she resided during the winter of 1979-80. These drawings served as the foundation for her subsequent large-scale paintings, executed on plates, canvases with oil paint, enamel on glass, as well as various printmaking techniques. This marked a shift towards working directly from life, capturing the essence and details of her environment.
Throughout her career, Jennifer Bartlett exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Her artworks can be found in public and private collections, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others.
Image: House with Open Door by Jennifer Bartlett, 1988, oil on canvas, wood paint and steel, Honolulu Museum of Art via Wikipedia,
