(1922—2008)
Founding Director of the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting
Grace Hartigan was an important second-generation Abstract Expressionist artist and one of the three painters featured in the group biography of early AbEx women artists, Ninth Street Women. Hartigan, along with Fred Lazarus and LeRoy E. Hoffberger, conceived of and implemented the Hoffberger program in 1965. Hartigan remained director for the next 42 years, serving as mentor for many significant Hoffberger graduates, including Amy Sherald. During Hartigan’s tenure, she was the only full-time professor in the program, which averaged about 14 students a year.