Scotland

Grace Hartigan's star rose quickly after she moved to New York in the late 1940s and befriended key members of the emerging Abstract Expressionist group. A few years later, the first painting that she sold was accepted as a gift by the Museum of Modern Art.

Hartigan's ascent to prominence in the New York art world of the period was cemented by her inclusion in the important exhibition The New American Painting, which was organized by the Museum of Modern Art in 1958 to highlight recent trends in American art, and which traveled to eight European countries.

Hartigan's paintings from the mid-to late 1950s in the Abstract Expressionist idiom are noteworthy for their vibrant colors and powerful brushwork, qualities abundantly evident in paintings like "Scotland."

A few years before completing "Scotland" Hartigan stated: "I have found my 'subject,' it concerns that which is vulgar and vital in American modern life, and the possibilities of its transcendence into the beautiful… I want to distill my subject matter until I have its essence. Then the rawness must be resolved into form and unity."

Many of Hartigan's paintings retain recognizable elements from the natural world: "Scotland" is likely a reflection of her increased awareness of landscape after spending more time on Long Island and traveling to Europe and the Caribbean during the late 1950s.