Marisol’s signature sculptural style was first seen in 1962 at the Stable Gallery in a show that included the Albright-Knox’s The Generals, 1961–62. As in all her work, Marisol used a variety of media in this sculpture, including wood, pencil, paint, casters, and both real and gold teeth inside the horse’s mouth. The museum also owns Marisol’s Baby Girl, 1963—an overly large baby with a small adult figure that wears the artist’s own face, which often appears in her work. Both works were recently on view in 2016’s Defining Sculpture.
The meditative paintings, drawings, and writings of Agnes Martin have influenced generations of artists interested in abstraction. Although she began making art in New York in the early 1940s, she chose to live and work in Taos, New Mexico, for much of her life. In 2013, the Albright-Knox hosted Agnes Martin: The New York–Taos Connection (1947–1957), featuring rarely seen paintings and drawings created by Martin in Taos from 1947 to 1957. Martin’s The Tree, 1965, is currently on view in the 1962 Building.
Bridget Riley began to create the black-and-white optical paintings for which she is best known in 1961. In the mid-1960s she began incorporating shades of gray—as seen in the Albright-Knox’s Drift No. 2, 1966—and, in 1967, she began adding limited color. In 1968, Riley received the International Prize for Painting at the Venice Biennale, making her both the first woman and the first British contemporary painter to achieve that honor. Drift No. 2 is currently on view in the 1962 Building.