Harmony Hammond
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Biography
Harmony Hammond (b.1944) is an artist, writer, and curator. A leading figure in the development of the feminist art movement in New York in the early 1970s, she attended the University of Minnesota from 1963–67, before moving to New York in 1969. She was a co-founder of A.I.R., the first women’s cooperative art gallery in New York (1972) and Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art & Politics (1976). Since 1984, Hammond has lived and worked in northern New Mexico, teaching at the University of Arizona, Tucson, from 1989–2006. Hammond’s earliest feminist work combined gender politics with post-minimal concerns of materials and process, frequently occupying a space between painting and sculpture.
For years, she has worked with found and repurposed materials and objects such as rags, straw, latex rubber, hair, linoleum, roofing tin, and burnt wood as well as buckets, gutters and water troughs as a means of introducing content to the world of abstraction. Hammond’s near-monochrome paintings of the last two decades participate in the narrative of modernist abstraction at the same time they insist on an oppositional discourse of feminist and queer content. Their focus on materiality and the indexical, suggesting topographies of body and place, derives from and remains in conversation with her feminist work of the 1970s. A second ongoing series of overtly political work in various media ranging from bronze sculpture to digital prints, deals with issues of intolerance, censorship, and self-censorship.
A survey exhibition of Hammond’s work, Material Witness, Five Decades of Art, was presented in 2019 at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT, and traveled to the Sarasota Art Museum, Ringling College of Art and Design, FL in 2020. Other one-person exhibitions of her work include Big Paintings 2002–2005, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM (2005); Monster Prints, SITE Santa Fe, NM (2002); and Ten Years 1970–1980, Glen Hanson Gallery and W.A.R.M, Minneapolis, NM (1981), among others. Her work has also been included in many group exhibitions, including Women in Abstraction, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2021), traveled to Guggenheim Museo Bilbao, Spain (2021); Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019); Wack!: Art and the Feminist Revolution, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2007), traveled to National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (2007); MoMA PS1, Queens, NY (2008); and Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia (2008), among others.
Hammond’s work is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Brooklyn Museum, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM; Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others. She is the recipient of many awards and fellowships, including the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2014); the Lifetime Achievement Award, Women’s Caucus for Art (2014); the Distinguished Feminist Award, College Art Association (2013); Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship (2007 and 1989); and Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (1998), among others. Hammond’s book, Wrappings: Essays on Feminism, Art and the Martial Arts (1984), is a foundational publication on 1970s feminist art. Her groundbreaking book Lesbian Art in America: A Contemporary History (2000) received a Lambda Literary Award and remains the primary text on the subject. Her archive is housed at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA.
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Series
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Bandaged Grid Paintings
Harmony Hammond’s Bandaged Grid series (2015–present) develops out of the artist’s near monochrome paintings, combining an earth-based palette with an expanded vocabulary of found fabrics. Many of these large-scaled works... -
Bandaged Quilt Paintings
Harmony Hammond’s Bandaged Quilt paintings (2018–present) continue her exploration of “material engagement.” Building on her previous series of Bandaged Grids and Chenilles, these paintings incorporate a multi-layered, built-up surface of... -
Chenille Paintings
In her ongoing series of Chenille paintings (2016–present), Harmony Hammond incorporates rough burlap and grommets into her signature layers of thick paint, suggesting the soft texture and domestic warmth of... -
Cross Paintings
Building on the artist’s series of Chenilles (2016–present), Harmony Hammond’s Cross Paintings (2019–present) are punctuated with protrusions, holes, seams and fraying edges, foregrounding notions of suture and concealment—of hidden layers,...
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Exhibitions
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Queer Threads
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles 10 May - 23 Aug 2023 -
Harmony Hammond
Accumulations 27 Apr - 10 Jun 2023 New YorkAlexander Gray Associates, New York presented Harmony Hammond: Accumulations, the artist’s sixth exhibition with the Gallery. The show featured a selection of paintings from the last three years that continue...Read more -
"A sheet of paper casts a shadow."
16 Sep - 30 Oct 2022 GermantownAlexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents 'A sheet of paper casts a shadow.” This group exhibition features a selection of works on paper by six Gallery artists, Ricardo Brey, Luis Camnitzer,...Read more -
Harmony Hammond
Monotypes 22 Jul - 11 Sep 2022Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown presents Harmony Hammond: Monotypes. This exhibition follows the evolution of Hammond’s monotypes, featuring a selection of works from three series that trace her deep engagement with...Read more -
Women's Work
Lyndhurst 27 May - 26 Sep 2022 -
No Forms
Hill Art Foundation 21 Apr 2022 -
The Printer’s Proof: Artist and Printer Collaborations
Albuquerque Museum 19 Feb - 15 May 2022 -
Women in Abstraction: Another History of Abstraction in the 20th Century
Centre Pompidou, Paris 5 May - 23 Aug 2021 -
Harmony Hammond
Crossings 12 Nov 2020 - 30 Jan 2021 -
Harmony Hammond: Material Witness, Five Decades of Art
Sarasota Art Museum 15 Oct - 15 Nov 2020 -
Stonewall
21 Dec 2019 -
Making Knowing: Craft in Art, 1950–2019
Whitney Museum of American Art 22 Nov 2019 - 1 Feb 2022 -
Art After Stonewall, 1969–1989
The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum 14 Sep 2019 - 6 Jan 2020 -
Harmony Hammond
White Cube Bermondsey 12 Sep - 3 Nov 2019 -
Queer Abstraction
Des Moines Art Center 1 Jun - 8 Sep 2019 -
Harmony Hammond
Bandaged Grid #5 25 May - 25 Jun 2019 -
About Face: Stonewall, Revolt, and the New Queer
Wrightwood 659 22 May - 10 Aug 2019 -
Art After Stonewall, 1969–1989
Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art 20 Apr - 21 Jul 2019 -
Harmony Hammond: Material Witness, Five Decades of Art
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum 3 Mar - 15 Sep 2019 -
Harmony Hammond
Inappropriate Longings 19 Apr - 25 May 2018 -
Harmony Hammond: Monster Prints
SITE Santa Fe 6 Apr 2018 -
Harmony Hammond: Erasing Censorship
Artist Curated Projects 1 Feb 2018 -
Monumental
Everson Museum of Art 26 Aug - 31 Dec 2017 -
Be With Me, a Small Exhibition of Large Paintings
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM 29 Oct 2016 - 7 May 2017 -
Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York
Museum of the City of New York 7 Oct 2016 - 26 Mar 2017 -
Haptic
7 Jul - 12 Aug 2016 -
Harmony Hammond
19 May - 25 Jun 2016 -
Painting 2.0: Expression in the Information Age
Musuem Brandhorst 14 Nov 2015 - 30 Apr 2016 -
Harmony Hammond and Francis Cape: Angle of Repose
SITE Santa Fe 18 Jul - 4 Oct 2015 -
Pretty Raw: After and Around Helen Frankenthaler
Rose Art Museum 11 Feb - 7 Jun 2015 -
Harmony Hammond: Becoming/Unbecoming Monochrome
RedLine Art Space 2 Aug - 28 Sep 2014 -
Readykeulous by Ridykeulous: This is What Liberation Feels Like
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis 24 Jan - 13 Apr 2014 -
Harmony Hammond
23 Oct - 7 Dec 2013 -
Alcove 12.2
New Mexico Museum of Art 4 May - 3 Jun 2012 -
Harmony Hammond: Big Paintings 2002–2005
Center for Contemporary Arts 9 Apr - 21 May 2005
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Public Collections
Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Bartlett Center for the Visual Arts, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Denver Art Museum, CO
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, NY
Leslie-Lohman Museum, New York, NY
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC
New Mexico Arts, State Public Art Collection, NM
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
Orlando Museum of Art, FL
Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
Rendez-vous International Sculpture Site, Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum, Providence, RI
Roswell Museum, NM
Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, CA
St. Thomas More Chapel, Fordham University, Bronx, NY
Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM
Tucson Museum of Art, AZ
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC
Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York -
Articles / Reviews
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News / Events
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Harmony Hammond
The National Gallery of Art March 17, 2024Harmony Hammond is included in the group exhibition, Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction at The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.
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Harmony Hammond
Barbican Center February 13, 2024Harmony Hammond is included in a group exhibition, Unravel The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art at the Barbican Center in London, United Kingdom.
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Harmony Hammond
Bruce Museum November 18, 2023Harmony Hammond is included in a group exhibition, Tracing Lineage: Abstraction and its Aftermath at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut.
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Harmony Hammond
New Mexico Museum of Art November 11, 2023Harmony Hammond is included in a group exhibition, Out West: Gay and Lesbian Artists in the Southwest 1900–1969 at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Harmony Hammond, Carrie Moyer, and Joan Semmel
Shah Garg Foundation November 2, 2023Harmony Hammond, Carrie Moyer, and Joan Semmel are included in a group exhibition, Making Their Mark Curated by Cecilia Alemani at the Shah Garg Foundation, New York.
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Harmony Hammond
National Museum Of Women in The Arts October 21, 2023Harmony Hammond is included in a group exhibition, Remix: The Collection, at the National Museum Of Women in The Arts in Washington, D.C.
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Harmony Hammond
516 Arts September 30, 2023Harmony Hammond is included in a group exhibition, Fluid Gaze at the 516 Arts, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Harmony Hammond
New Mexico Museum of Art September 23, 2023Harmony Hammond is included in a group exhibition, Shadow and Light at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Harmony Hammond
Los Angeles County Museum of Art September 17, 2023Harmony Hammond is included in the group exhibition Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California.
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Harmony Hammond and Joan Semmel
Brooklyn Museum June 2, 2023Harmony Hammond and Joan Semmel are included in the group exhibition It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby at the Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York.
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Harmony Hammond
The Brooklyn Rail May 22, 2023Harmony Hammond joins The Brooklyn Rail contributor Ksenia M. Soboleva for a conversation, concluding with a poetry reading by Timmy Straw.
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Harmony Hammond
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles May 10, 2023Harmony Hammond is included in the group exhibition Queer Threads, curated by John Chaich at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, CA.
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Harmony Hammond
Lyndhurst September 20, 2022Harmony Hammond and writer and art critic Lucy Lippard will be in conversation reflecting upon the artists and artwork of the group exhibition Women's Work at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, NY.
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Harmony Hammond
National Gallery of Art July 10, 2022Harmony Hammond included in the group exhibition The Double: Identity and Difference in Art Since 1900 at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C..
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Harmony Hammond
Lyndhurst May 27, 2022Harmony Hammond included in the group exhibition Women's Work at Lyndhurst in Tarrytown, NY.
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Harmony Hammond and Jennie C. Jones
Hill Art Foundation May 12, 2022Harmony Hammond and Jennie C. Jones included in the group exhibition No Forms curated by Margot Norton at Hill Art Foundation in New York.
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Harmony Hammond
Albuquerque Museum April 3, 2022Harmony Hammond included in a panel discussion of her group exhibition The Printer's Proof: Artist and Printer Collaborations held at Albuquerque Museum, NM.
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Melvin Edwards, Harmony Hammond, Joan Semmel
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts February 1, 2020Melvin Edwards, Harmony Hammond, and Joan Semmel included in Making Community: Prints from Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Brodsky Center at PAFA, and Paulson Fontaine Press at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
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