The work of abstract artist and Washington, DC, native Anne Truitt is often associated with movements such as Minimalism and the Washington Color School. But Truitt’s practice eschewed the industrial materiality of Minimalist peers. She often worked with natural materials like wood, which she painted and sanded by hand. She is best known for totemic sculptures such as Southern Elegy, 1962, in Glenstone’s collection. Truitt’s works subtly engage the idea of monumentality and architecture and are enlivened by natural light. Their color combinations range from subdued to vibrant and from playful to lyrical. Truitt was also an insightful writer; her published diaries, including Daybook: The Journal of an Artist (1982), are eloquent meditations on what it means to live as an artist in the modern age.

–Michelle Clair, from the Glenstone Field Guide