Before, Again II

1985

Joan Mitchell American, 1925-1992

Not On View

Before, Again II: 1 of Collection Gallery

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.

About the Artwork

Known as a "second generation" Abstract Expressionist, Mitchell left New York for Paris in 1959, just as this movement began to be hailed as the "new American painting." She was unapologetic in her preference for living in France, and her work reflects the French landscape tradition and the paintings of Claude Monet, in particular. In her paintings from the late 1970s through the mid 1980s, Mitchell refined her technique to overlapping, calligraphic lines, evoking images of flower-covered hills. Before, Again II is painted in intense colors, laid across the canvas in short strokes and long drips with enormous freedom and luminous effect. The artist described this work, painted during an illness, as a preoccupation with mortality, but one that reaffirms life and defeats death.

Title Before, Again II

Artwork Date 1985

Artist Joan Mitchell

Life Dates 1925-1992

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 110 × 78 3/4 inches (279.4 × 200 cm) Framed: 111 3/8 × 79 3/8 × 2 1/4 inches (282.9 × 201.6 × 5.7 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department Contemporary Art after 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase with funds given in memory of Henry Ford II by his sister, Josephine F. Ford

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1988.18

Markings

Signed Signed, verso: J. Mitchell

Inscriptions Inscribed, titled, dated on verso: Before, Again II 1985

Provenance

Xavier Fourcade Gallery, Inc. (New York, New York, USA). 1988-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Joan Mitchell: New Paintings. Exh. cat., Xavier Fourcade Gallery, Inc. New York, 1986, p. 11 (ill.).

Bulletin of the DIA 64, nos. 2/3 (1988): 15, fig. 11 (ill.).

Kindly share your feedback or any additional information, as this record is still a work in progress and may need further refinement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

Joan Mitchell, Before, Again II, 1985, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds given in memory of Henry Ford II by his sister, Josephine F. Ford, 1988.18.