Jennie Haddad (1906-1996)
Untitled (Abstract)
oil on canvas
53.75 x 41.75 inches
55 x 43 inches (frame)
signed verso: Jennie Haddad
verso: signed; label, Matthews Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Jennie Haddad began her formal art training with Otis Dozier at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, though it was her time in New York City and Provincetown under the tutelage of Hans Hoffman that profoundly impacted her style. Haddad was one of twelve artists chosen to study with the Abstract Expressionist in 1956, and in the artist’s words, “I clicked with Hans Hoffman and that turned out to be one of the best things that could have happened to me.” He encouraged her to take inspiration from nature and to loosen her style, as reflected in this painting, where the flat planes of receding and advancing colors establish negative and positive space. Haddad kept in touch with Hoffman until his death and continued her studies at the Arts Students League in Woodstock, New York. She exhibited across the country, and received the Houston Museum Award in 1957, upon which the critic Clement Greenberg noted, “Jennie Haddad has what I’d call ‘painting culture’ in her very bones; she has it by instinct. She was born to paint.”

The painting appears to be in good condition. Under UV examination, there is no evidence of restoration or inpainting.