Birthday - March 28

Born today in 1922, Abstract Expressionist painter Grace Hartigan.

This, I am told, is one of her most famous works, it's called Grand Street Brides:

From The Art Story:

Mannequins from a bridal shop window in her Lower East Side neighborhood, where arranged brides were often brought from Europe, are on display much like the women posing in Francisco de Goya's Charles IV of Spain and his Family (1800). At this time in Europe, aristocratic women were seen as commodities to exchange among powerful families in order to forge financial or political unions between them. Though the geography and time period were different, the brides depicted by Hartigan are also shown as if for sale. Hartigan also appreciated how shop windows frame the scene and "provide a shallow space, and define the back plane." Complexity is achieved through the layering of shapes and rendered objects.

Keep looking at the painting.  Abstract and still commentary on a number of different levels.

And here's her portrait of Marilyn Monroe:

Not a traditional portrait, more an arrangement of elements of her face (a smile, an eye and so on).  It's abstract.  You have to keep looking to see what's there.

Oh, yea.  Raphael and someone named Lady Gaga were also born today.