Skip to Navigation Skip to Content

Dorothy Fratt

Dorothy Fratt: Color Mirage

Feb 3 - Jul 21, 2024

Color Mirage is the first major U.S. museum exhibition on the prolific, yet underrecognized, American painter Dorothy Fratt.

About

About

Dorothy Fratt: Color Mirage is the first major U.S. museum exhibition on the prolific, yet underrecognized, American painter Dorothy Fratt (1923–2017). Born in Washington, D.C., Fratt showed prodigious talent in art as early as age 9 and garnered much attention at age 15 when her painting won first place in an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. She received numerous educational scholarships, as well as apprenticeships with cubist painter Karl Knaths and landscape and figure painter Nicolai S. Cikovsky. Originally joining the Washington Color School in the 1950s, Fratt left to forge her own style of abstraction that was more closely tied to the  Southwest United States after she moved to Arizona in 1958. Although Fratt’s paintings are often classified as color field and abstract expressionist, her use of color and expression of her surroundings evolved into a prolific body of work that idiosyncratically emotes landscape, atmosphere, gesture, and mood on her own terms.  

Spanning more than five decades of the artist’s oeuvre, the exhibition will present a selection of foundational early works and ephemera alongside numerous paintings that exemplify Fratt’s vibrant and distinct style of abstraction. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalog in collaboration with Radius Books to present new scholarly essays on the artist; unpublished writing by the artist; an extensive biography; artist conversations with Teresa Baker, Caroline Kent, and Rebecca Ward; and illustrations of artworks and ephemera. 

Organized by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and co-curated by Jennifer McCabe, director and chief curator, and Lauren R. O’Connell, curator of contemporary art.

Generous support provided by Title Partners Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation and The Virginia M. Ullman Foundation, Signature Partner Yares Art, New York, and Supporting Partner Pazo Fine Art, and Supporting Sponsors Nancy and Robert Kravetz Philanthropic Fund, John Armstrong and Joan Prior, and Christy and Charlie Jerz.


 

                           

Dorothy Fratt: Works

The Shop @SMoCA | Buy Online

Dorothy Fratt: Works is published by Radius Books in conjunction with the first major US museum exhibition on the prolific, yet underrecognized, American painter Dorothy Fratt (1923–2017). The artist’s monograph includes a selection of foundational early works alongside numerous paintings that exemplify Fratt’s vibrant and distinct style of abstraction. The book also features new scholarly essays, an extended biography, and a conversation with exhibition curators and contemporary artists Teresa Baker, Caroline Kent, and Rebecca Ward.

 

Artwork by Dorothy Fratt
Essays by Lauren R. O’Connell and Jennifer McCabe
Illustrated biography by Dr. Ashley Busby

Hardcover
9.75 x 11.75 inches
224 pages / 70 images
ISBN: 9781955161374

Programs

Outspoken: Poetry Readings in Celebration of International Women’s Day 

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Hear local poets perform original work inside the galleries in celebration of International Women’s Day. 

 

Dorothy Fratt Serigraph Demonstration with Artist John Armstrong   

Saturday, May 11, 2024 

Artist and master printer John Armstrong, who organized Dorothy Fratt’s 1980 exhibition at Scottsdale Center for the Arts and collaborated with the artist on several serigraphs, demonstrates the unique technical process used to create Great Day (1982), Dance (1983), Hopscotch (1984), and Red Triad I, II, and III (1996). This is an experience unlike any other with expert insight into Fratt’s color fluency and singular approach. Light refreshments will be provided.