Women artists you should know: Mary Abbott

The It-Girl Abstract Expressionist history forgot about

This week’s post is a deeper dive into my note series, “Women Artists You Should Know.” We’ll take a closer look at one fab female artist - and everything you should know about her. Today’s feature? The Abstract Expressionist Mary Abbott - who has a major retrospective in NYC through June 28th, 2025.

A few months ago, I started a little note series called “Women Artists You Should Know,” which is, of course, exactly what it sounds like: a quick scrollable look into iconic (but lesser-known) women artists. What you don’t see? All the tabs I have open, learning every little juicy detail & never-told stories about them. And it’s time that my little art club gets IN on this deep dive too.

Enter today’s star: Mary Abbott - the debutante-turned-Abstract Expressionist who has a major NYC show right now.

Mary Abbott in her studio (1950). She gets a sidelight in my fave book - the 9th Street Women - so naturally I decided we must uplift her to be the main character in our story (at least for today). 📸: Estate of Mary Abbott.

Without further ado…

Meet Mary Abbott—The Woman Artist You Should Know (and everything you should know about her). From what she wore to who she loved–and all of her best work, of course. You’ll be on first-name basis by the end.

Mary Abbott’s Bill’s Painting (1951) - a painting dedicated to Mary’s ~lover~ Willem de Kooning (more on that later). And yes - I’ve picked up the toxic habit of referring to famous artists I’ve never met before exclusively by first name. Yes👏Mary!!!

Who she was:

Allow me to introduce you to Mary Lee Abbott (1921–2019), the American Abstract Expressionist who left her mark on NYC’s postwar art scene - but has been overlooked for decades.

Born into privilege in the Upper East Side, Mary was your classic blue-blooded uptown girl. But instead of settling for the typical debutante life, she headed downtown - and quickly fell in step with the avant-garde Abstract Expressionists like Pollock, Krasner, Frankenthaler & Willem de Kooning (they were lovers for a time!).

Mary Abbott’s Self-Portrait (1941). She was a born-and-bred Upper East Side debutante who surprised everyone by swapping her cocktail gown for high-waisted, paint-splattered chinos & a dose of downtown grit. She was polished yet fearless. She did what she wanted! I love her for that.

What is abstract expressionism, you may ask? It was *the* movement that put American art on the map. Post-WWII, New York was BUZZING. Europeans were fleeing fascism - and crossing paths with scrappy NYC artists ready to break. the freaking. rules. Canvases became big. Brushstrokes loose! Gestural. Subject matter?? More of a ~feeling~.

Mary Abbott’s Untitled, c. 1952. It is easy to talk about Mary as a Vogue model, debutante etc but she was the real deal - let us not reduce her to a muse! I actually had screenshotted her work before I knew who she was - I was instantly captivated by the color, the thick brushstrokes, the aliveness of it all.

Abstract Expressionism is a scene people tend to associate with the guys: Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko. The men became international celebs - but here’s the thing: the women were there too. Painting just as boldly! Thinking just as radically! We gotta give the girls - like Mary - their moment. It is about time.

Where she came from:

Let’s get things straight. Mary Abbott was rich. Born July 27, 1921, she was a true Upper East Side high-society girl. She had a pedigree - literally a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Her dad was a decorated naval officer - her mom, a poet and Hearst columnist.

She attended the ~very elite~ Chapin School and summered in Southampton. In 1941, Mary made her grand debut at the Colony Club (crowned the “most glamorous debutante”) then got snapped by Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, and Mademoiselle.

A studio photo of Mary from her modeling days - snapped after graduating from Chapin School. Other notable alumni? Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis & Anne Lindberg. The school is still going strong - kindergarten tuition starting at 65k.

Mary on the cover of Glamour, 1916. “For the girl with a job!” Speaking of which, the women in her family were always up to something. Her mom, a poet, her grandma - a sculptor. You could say it was in her blood!

Mary had every advantage money could buy - but here’s why we love her! She never settled. She funded herself through two divorces via modeling gigs, moved downtown to a gritty East Village loft, and earned respect in NYC’s Abstract Expressionist scene. Mary Abbott had privilege, but she also had serious grit and talent. Go girl.

How she got into art:

Just like Frida & Warhol - Mary’s entry into art started with some good old-fashioned trauma. Bedridden with complications from pneumonia at age 9, she later said - “I wasn’t with beauty and nature anymore—I was seeing it from the outside. So for the rest of my life, I’d paint to get with it again.”

She started her art education early- age 12 at the Art Students League (pro-tip, it is still around). Three schools later, at 27 & freshly divorced post-WWII, Mary modeled to pay for her East Village apartment - then got introduced to the key figures of the Abstract Expressionist scene.

She enrolled in a class Subjects of the Artist school - a short-lived but legendary experimental program founded by Rothko, Newman, and Motherwell. Suddenly, she was at the red-hot center of it all.

Mary Abbott, Untitled. Back to the Subjects of the Artist school - it was the hottest ticket in town. Founder of the school / overall legend Robert Motherwell hosted Friday Night Lectures that attracted swarms of people - once it was so packed, they accidentally turned away the director of the MoMA Alfred Barr (full story: 9th Street Women). Today’s equivalent - Happy Medium but make it intellectual?

Where she hung out:

The Colony Club (est. 1903 - today)

Mary is in her teenage years and she’s slipping into a bespoke pair of satin gloves, getting ready for her official debut. Tucked into a tree-lined street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the Colony Club is where Mary “came out” to society (it is still one of NYC’s most infamous private clubs today).

The Colony Club c. 1916 (a few years before Mary was born). It was founded in 1903 by suffragettes & is New York’s first women-only social club (you can still join it!). Mary’s grandma was a founding member. Not a bad place to grow up honey.

“The Club” (1949 - ca. 1970)

What was the hottest, most exclusive, members-only club in NYC for Abstract Expressionists? A little rented loft on 8th Street aptly known as The Club. Founded in 1949 by sculptor Philip Pavia, Mary got an official invite by 1950. The who’s who of the art world was there: Noguchi (yes you know him for his paper lamps), Rothko, de Kooning.

It was a salon of sorts. They exchanged ideas, drank, danced, dined, covered the walls in collage, hosted lectures & live debates (the entry ticket = bottle of liquor).

Apparently, there were two founding rules: no homosexuals or women. But clearly that didn’t hold up. The COOLEST girls in town - Mary, Lee Krasner, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell and Elaine de Kooning - all had a seat at the table.

Major squad alert. Mary Abbott (right) with Grace Hartigan and husband Tom Clyde (1959). Once Mary was thick with the downtown crowd, she was surreee to never tell them she was a debutante. God forbid!!! Not that there weren’t signs - apparently, she accidentally still curtsied everywhere she went. 📸: Grace Hartigan Papers, Courtesy of the Estate of Mary Abbott.

Cedar Tavern (1945–April 1963, reopened 1964–2006)

The Cedar Tavern is an IYKYK in the art world - nestled in a nondescript building in Greenwich Village, it was the unofficial HQ for the postwar avant-garde crowd. It’s reputation = legendary. Part dive, part philosopher’s den - Roger Rauschenberg looked back "One beer would last me six different artists’ fantasies. Rothko, Barney Newman, Franz Kline, Bill de Kooning, Reinhardt and Pollock occasionally.”

Mary was a regular, drinking and sparring with the guys. She remembered Jackson Pollock’s crazy antics: “his way of making friends was to knock you down and get on top of you.” Pollock was eventually banned after tearing a bathroom door of its hinges and hurling it at Franz Kline (oh!!!!).

Outside the Cedar Tavern, late 1950s early 1960s. The place had lore. It was opened right after the Civil War in 1866 and finally closed its doors for good in 2006. What I would do to spend a night there! 📸: Fred W. McDarrah. Getty Images

Who she loved:

Our girl! A total cutie! 📸: Mary Abbott (1959) Photog unknown.

Petite, blonde, and impossibly stylish, Mary Abbott was a catch. She had two husbands, many lovers, and no kids (can we get a round of applause for the bohemian girls?). One of her early flames was sculptor David Hare - fresh off a breakup with surrealist icon Lee Miller - when she met him in the East Village. But the great, unspoken love of her life? Willem de Kooning.

If you’re new here: de Kooning was one of the biggest names in Abstract Expressionism. He was married to Elaine de Kooning - painter, critic, social butterfly, and all-around legend (the two pictured here🥰). Their marriage was famously open (veryyyy modern!), and Mary was one of Willem’s first - and possibly most meaningful - affairs. 📸: Elaine & Bill de Kooning (1953), courtesy of Bridgeman Images.

Though it was never official, Mary later referred to Willem as “the love of [her] life.” You can see his influence in her brushstrokes.

Willem had a clear influence on Mary - Mary Abbott’s Oisin’s Dream (1951) to the left & Willem de Kooning’s Interchange (1955) to the right. Willem’s painting sold for $300 million back in 2015 (one of the most expensive sold at the time). Mary’s most expensive painting = sold for $525k in 2024.

Abbott’s second husband, Tom Clyde, took her around the world to Haiti and the Virgin Islands. Their marriage didn’t last (divorced in 1966), but the warm-weather trips left their mark - it is clear in Mary’s work.

Mary Abbott, Untitled. She swapped city grit for sun-soaked palettes - lush landscapes, saturated color, can’t you just feel the heat radiating off the canvas?

What she wore:

Oooh, how I love thinking about what the downtown art girls wore. Mary Abbott was always polished - painterly - ok - but irreversibly chic. There’s no #shopmylinks on record but here’s where she probably shopped based on era and orbit:

Mary featured on the cover of Mademoiselle’s January 1943 issue. Posing with a baby child that is not her own! Look at her sharp skirt suit.

Fifth Avenue:
When Mary “came out” to society in 1939, she probably floated into the Junior Assembly Ball in a white floor-length gown from a Fifth Ave icon - Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, Hattie Carnegie, or Bonwit Teller & Company. Bergdorf’s had just opened its women’s salon & debutantes like Mary stopped by for opera gloves and everyday wear.

Mary didn’t just shop local. A 1940s Vogue profile called her a “promising young painter” dressed in “silk jersey and fishnet” – a Germaine Monteil dress from Bonwit Teller & Company” paired with pieces from Ransohoff’s & Bullocks-Wilshire - two once-iconic West Coast department stores now forgotten in time.

Mary profiled via Vogue - notice the other ladies mentioned were rocking Saks Fifth and Hattie Carnegie - this could send me down an entire rabbit hole on once-hot but now-defunct luxury department stores in the US. Credit: Vogue, May 15, 1940, p. 26. © Condé Nast. 📸: Horst P. Horst

8th Street Boutiques:
By the late ’40s, Mary had traded Fifth Avenue for a little painter’s loft in the East Village. Downtown, she would’ve ducked into the surplus stores and vendor stands along 8th Street and St. Marks - grabbing oversized men’s shirts, broken-in chinos, maybe a canvas bag or two. Functional - but still cool.

Look at her outfit! I”m obsessed. The striped tee - the vintage metal belt - a simple earring. She probs was wearing this to a Club meeting at 39 East 8th, before grabbing a drink at Cedar Tavern, then heading home to paint the night away.

Copy her look:

• Alex Mill Marsielle Tee

• Vintage Navajo metal belt here or a Southwestern silver one here

• Vintage hoop earrings from Front General

The Island Wardrobe:

When Mary wasn’t in the city, she was in the Sun. Haiti, the Virgin Islands, or East Hampton. Think: gauzy linen, lightweight blouses, or 100% hand-dyed cotton. Natural fibers & unstructured silhouettes - if it were today, she’d def be wearing Doen.

Island girl! Sun-clad Mary at her St. Croix studio. She is for sure a Doen girl (this tank or this dress). The tropical theme lasted - look at this little scarf she was wearing right before she died at 98.

Mary Abbott in her Southampton studio - look at that cute cotton floral print dress. 📸: Tom Clyde (1951)

Some more work I love<3

Mary Abbot, All Green (1954).

Mary Abbott’s Lucy (1956-1958).

Mary Abbott’s Untitled (Blue) (2005). What do you get when you merge avant-garde art with the lineage of the founding fathers?!? This!

Mary Abbott’s Jungle Blood. The more interviews I read of Mary’s, the more I loved her - one she admitted to doing Peyote and walking down the NYC streets. Next weekend’s activity anyone? KIDDING

Why she matters:

Mary is THE forgotten woman in the room. She was one of the few trailblazing women in the inner circle of Abstract Expressionism–the Club–but hardly gets talked about.

She’s not just overshadowed by the men (Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko), she’s been secondary to the other women (Krasner, Elaine De Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler). To put it in context, Krasner’s paintings sold for $11.7 million. Mary’s top range - 5k-525k, averaging 14k.

She should have chosen the quiet domestic life - the life of a glam model - her family set up for her. Instead, she traded it all for that of a bohemian creative - twice divorced, no kids, traveled the world. Was a professor at the University of Minnesota for 10 years, for the love of god! (that’s my home state!!!).

Abstract Expressionism was the first truly American art movement that put NYC on the map. We must know the women at the center of it all.

P.S. there is ONE week left of her show at Schoelkopf Gallery downtown (through June 28th). Go to pay our girl some RESPECT!

More of Mary…

• To buy: Her work is still well under market value - if you’re serious about collecting, allow me to point you here

• To read: 9th Street Women - right now - I’ll take you out for tea and we can talk for hours about it

• To listen: get to know Mary’s peers - Katy Hessel’s podcast on Lee Krasner is fantastic

For more interesting, strange, unusual stories from the art world:

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A note on sources:

One of my MAIN sources for this piece was The 9th Street Women by Mary Gabriel - I cannot tell you how life-changing it is in terms of understanding and loving art. The author wrote it over twenty years and had a chance to interview Mary Abbott, among many of the other main artists featured, themselves. I’ve read it twice.