Joann Gedney

Joann Gedney (March 16, 1925 – June 20, 2013) was a trailblazing Abstract Expressionist painter and sculptor who played an integral role in elevating the cultural prominence of the Tenth Street Galleries by co-founding March Gallery in 1957. Born in East Orange, New Jersey, Gedney moved to a loft at 37 East 8th Street in 1947 and became enmeshed in the Abstract Expressionist movement. Gedney was determined to pursue a life of creativity: “I will do it my way with or without a game plan. I want to be me,” she wrote in her journals. She attended the Art Students’ League, where she studied under Nahum Tschacbasov: “He taught me what art is, everyone learns from a fellow artist, not from academics: it’s like a blood transfusion.”

By 1950, Joann Gedney moved to 49 East 10th Street at the center of the New York School Abstract Expressionist world in New York. She frequented the Cedar Tavern and was heavily involved with The Club, all in the neighborhood South of Union Square. There she developed relationships with influential artists like Franz Kline. While she is left out of male-dominated narratives of the Abstract Expressionist movement, her involvement, independence, and influence are well documented. Gedney’s paintings are composed of gestural brushstrokes, bold lines, and structural blocks of color. While her work is decidedly abstract, representation of the human figure and landscape is alluded to throughout her work. These paintings attest to her fascination with the expressive power of the human face and body. From her arrival in New York in 1947 until her death in 2013, Gedney continuously made art and was a fixture in the Village.