Between the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the “second generation” of abstract expressionists came around. While females of the first generation faced issues of being left out of the narrative and not getting credit or recognition for a movement they helped found, women of the second generation had an entirely new issue. Since the cannon of abstract expressionism was already established, female artists in this new era were constantly being compared to “the greats” of the first generation, even though these women were making new and exciting work.
Grace Hartigan is a prime example of a female artist subjected to this bias. Hartigan moved to New York to pursue an artistic career in 1945. Although her talents were great, she had extreme trouble