Agnes Martin, in her 92nd year! And she still paints at least 3 hours every day. Only concession to age has been a reduction of her famous square canvases from 6 ft to 5 ft and the use of a stool to sit on instead of standing up to work.
I like her quip about the prices her paintings command these days: 'You can get two for a million.' (that's as in million dollars).
If there ever was a female counterpart to Mark Rothko, it has to be Martin. Her paintings are more formal and rigid than Rothko's 'square' works, but they are just as stark, cold, and unrelenting in their minimalism - IMO!
You can find a warm insightful article about Martin in the November issue of New Mexico magazine. Yes, I know, it's not an art magazine that's widely available, but perhaps a web version will emerge soon. The author is Linda Mason Hunter of Des Moines, Iowa.
For the female contingent of RAF out there, and particularly for Nerdgerl, I think the article on Martin should be inspiring. It certainly makes me stop and think when considering that Martin has been painting for 60 years the same formal and frequently austere canvases.
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/martin_agnes.html
This web site has links to images of some of her works, but copyright restrictions apparently prevent other works from being shown. You can find good biographical information on some of the links.
