Dorothy Fratt, Hopscotch, 2001, Acrylic on canvas, 40 × 43 in.
Pazo Fine Art is pleased to announce the acquisition of Hopscotch, 2001 by The Columbus Museum (Columbus, GA). This is the first work by Fratt in the collection. The Columbus Museum is one of the largest institutions in the Southeast with a focus on American and regional works. Here, Fratt’s work will reside alongside a number of major works by Washington Color School artists such as Paul Reed, Gene Davis, Sam Gilliam, and Alma Thomas. Other works by Fratt can be found in collections including the New Mexico Museum of Art; Phoenix Museum of Art; the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art; the Hilliard Art Museum; the Palm Springs Art Museum; the Corcoran Gallery, Washington D.C.; and Museum Art Plus, Germany.
Hopscotch, 2001 was recently on view at Pazo Fine Art in the exhibition Dorothy Fratt: Paint the Town Red. The acrylic on canvas features one of Fratt’s signature cadmium ground planes. At center, a zig-zagging, magenta stroke seems to float in what the artist described as “a kind of katty-wampus space not restrained by geometry.” Three additional shapes complete the composition: a brilliant cerulean line below; a vertical, orange rectilinear plane at left; and a small, irregular viridian shape at top right. All push past the edge of the canvas, suggesting an arrangement that seeps beyond the traditional framing edge. Viewed all at once the eye, as suggested by the title, skips and “hops” across and into the composition—an effect of Fratt’s play with color interaction. The end result is a work that is joyous, effervescent, and deceptively complex.
Born in Washington, D.C., Dorothy Fratt (1923-2017) was known for her bold, colorful abstractions and her overt dismissal of traditional labels. Still her work shares much in common with her peers in the Washing Color School. At fifteen, Fratt won first prize at the Corcoran Gallery student show. In subsequent years, she studied at Mount Vernon College and the Phillips Gallery Art School, where she trained under Karl Knaths. By the late 1940s, Fratt’s work had shifted from early explorations in abstract figuration to non-objective compositions. In 1958, she followed her then husband to Phoenix, Arizona, uprooting her family and her artistic practice. Despite the fact that Phoenix initially had little in the way of a support system for a practicing abstractionist, Fratt continued to produce work while also teaching and serving as an advocate for new art in the West. Her desert environs provided a stunning palette and endless light with which the artist would experiment for over four decades. During these years, the artist’s work was featured in both solo and group exhibitions, including her first major retrospective, Dorothy Fratt: 1970-1980 at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts (1980). Since the artist’s death, her work has been shown frequently in both solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad. In early 2024, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art will host the first posthumous retrospective of the artist’s work titled Dorothy Fratt: Color Mirage. The exhibition will be complimented by the artist’s first major monograph, Dorothy Fratt, set for release in late 2023.
Hopscotch, 2001 was recently on view at Pazo Fine Art in the exhibition Dorothy Fratt: Paint the Town Red. The acrylic on canvas features one of Fratt’s signature cadmium ground planes. At center, a zig-zagging, magenta stroke seems to float in what the artist described as “a kind of katty-wampus space not restrained by geometry.” Three additional shapes complete the composition: a brilliant cerulean line below; a vertical, orange rectilinear plane at left; and a small, irregular viridian shape at top right. All push past the edge of the canvas, suggesting an arrangement that seeps beyond the traditional framing edge. Viewed all at once the eye, as suggested by the title, skips and “hops” across and into the composition—an effect of Fratt’s play with color interaction. The end result is a work that is joyous, effervescent, and deceptively complex.
Born in Washington, D.C., Dorothy Fratt (1923-2017) was known for her bold, colorful abstractions and her overt dismissal of traditional labels. Still her work shares much in common with her peers in the Washing Color School. At fifteen, Fratt won first prize at the Corcoran Gallery student show. In subsequent years, she studied at Mount Vernon College and the Phillips Gallery Art School, where she trained under Karl Knaths. By the late 1940s, Fratt’s work had shifted from early explorations in abstract figuration to non-objective compositions. In 1958, she followed her then husband to Phoenix, Arizona, uprooting her family and her artistic practice. Despite the fact that Phoenix initially had little in the way of a support system for a practicing abstractionist, Fratt continued to produce work while also teaching and serving as an advocate for new art in the West. Her desert environs provided a stunning palette and endless light with which the artist would experiment for over four decades. During these years, the artist’s work was featured in both solo and group exhibitions, including her first major retrospective, Dorothy Fratt: 1970-1980 at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts (1980). Since the artist’s death, her work has been shown frequently in both solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad. In early 2024, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art will host the first posthumous retrospective of the artist’s work titled Dorothy Fratt: Color Mirage. The exhibition will be complimented by the artist’s first major monograph, Dorothy Fratt, set for release in late 2023.
May 26, 2023
