Excerpt from The Seventies: From Washington DC to Chelsea
By Jean Lawlor Cohen
Works in this exhibition salute an extraordinary period in the career of Ann Purcell. Their audacious execution confirms her fierce commitment to an expressionistic practice that evolved from life in Washington, D.C. to new life in New York City. For a decade Purcell spent her daytime hours on Capitol Hill as legislative assistant, editor, and speechwriter for several prominent political figures. At night she took art classes, earned a college degree, taught at the Smithsonian and the Corcoran School of Art and, all the while, relished the spontaneity allowed by vibrant acrylic paint. To test her resolve, Purcell took leave from political work in 1971 for a sabbatical in Mexico, spending a few months in the capital where she was delighted to work on a Siqueiros mural and have her work hang near a Picasso at the prestigious Misrachi Gallery. After she left the city for the artists’ haven of San Miguel de Allende, she found unrestricted time and an “idyllic” studio life that validated her desire to paint full-time.
In 1974, Purcell’s paintings figured in group exhibitions like the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s legendary regional show juried by James Pilgrim of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He chose a single work by each artist, except three by Purcell—all-black, heavily textured canvases that she admits were “my contrarian rebellion against the Washington Color School.”
