On the invitation of E.A. Carmean, Jr., former Chief Curator of The National Gallery of Art, Ann Purcell spent her first summer in Provincetown in 1982 and was introduced to Robert Motherwell. The following four summers in Provincetown, Purcell produced this body of work. While showing at Tibor de Nagy in New York, Ann Purcell exhibited three years in a row with Jack Shainman in Provincetown (the second exhibition at his first gallery and a solo exhibition for Purcell); was included in a group show at PAAM (1982); and participated in several group and solo shows at the Provincetown Group Gallery (1982-84).
Working in series, Purcell draws together a wide range of sources in art history and life, uniting associations and extrapolations. Her “Caravan Series” of paintings, which emanate from Matisse and his cutouts, evoke travel as well as “finding new things, places of influence, buying old things, ancient histories, and open discoveries.”
