The American abstract painter Vivian Springford (1913–2003) offers a compelling case study of a mid-century woman artist navigating the New York art world. Working initially in an Abstract Expressionist mode before developing a distinct Color Field vocabulary, Springford exhibited actively from the 1950s through the 1970s, with solo and group shows at Great Jones Gallery, the Preston Gallery, Women in the Arts, and the Visual Arts Coalition.

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Springford’s early work emphasized gesture, dripping, and splattering, aligning her with the aesthetics of Abstract Expressionism. Deeply influenced by East Asian art and philosophy—particularly Chinese calligraphy, Taoism, and Confucianism—she credited her friend, Chinese-American painter Walasse Ting, with introducing her to these traditions. Inspired by the unalterable nature of calligraphic marks, Springford created what she called “one-shot” paintings: works executed in a single, unedited gesture that capture her technical virtuosity and immediacy.

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By the 1970s, she had developed a unique approach to stain painting, using thinned pigments on raw or lightly primed canvas. Evolving from the calligraphic methods of her earlier work, her later paintings feature abstract, fluid forms in expanding washes of color—an approach that places her firmly within the lineage of Color Field painting, while maintaining a style all her own.

Springford described painting as an “attempt to identify with the universal whole,” seeking to express “the inner me in terms of rhythmic movement and color.” Her work, driven by technical innovation and a deep sense of spiritual inquiry, deserves greater recognition within the canon of postwar American art. Following her inclusion in the Denver Art Museum’s landmark exhibition Women of Abstract Expressionism (2016, curated by Joan Marter), her practice is ripe for critical reappraisal—reflecting the broader, often overlooked contributions of women artists of her time.

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Springford’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among others.