The Independent 20th Century: The Expatriates: Joan Mitchell (1925–1992), Kimber Smith (1922–1981), The Breuer, New York, 945 Madison Avenue

Bueno & Co is pleased to present The Expatriates: Joan Mitchell (1925–1992), Kimber Smith (1922–1981), curated by John Cheim, for the 2026 edition of Independent 20th Century. Bueno & Co, in collaboration with the Independent 20th Century, will host a film screening of Joan’s Friends and discussion on Joan Mitchell with John Yau and Guy Bloch-Champfort, moderated by Alya Sama of Sotheby’s, on Saturday, September 26 at 1pm.

Mitchell, born in Chicago and Smith, born in Boston, were in their twenties when they first arrived in New York - Mitchell in 1949 and Smith around the same time. Mitchell and Smith both debuted their paintings in the landmark 1951 Ninth Street Show at the New Gallery. This exhibition not only established New York as the cultural zenith of the art world, but marked the formal debut of Abstract Expressionism, the first American art movement with international influence. Mitchell and Smith continued to exhibit in New York in the years to follow, each with several solo exhibitions at venerable galleries such as the Peridot Gallery (Smith) and the Stable Gallery (Mitchell). While many artists of their generation preferred to remain in close proximity to The New York School of painters, Mitchell and Smith decided – independently of one another – to leave the city for Paris. Smith left for France in 1954, Mitchell in 1959. Like Twombly, both Mitchell and Smith rejected Clement Greenberg's notion of absolute non referential abstraction and were uninterested in the advent of Pop Art that was gaining popularity in New York. Expatriation was a bold opening gambit in their youthful careers, but the fateful decision to cultivate their art at a remove from New York resulted in distinct yet important journeys through the language of abstraction.

Mitchell is one of the defining painters of her generation, while Smith has had a lasting influence on the artists who followed him. Mitchell turned remembered landscape and feeling into rhythmic constellations of color and line. Smith drew on architecture and geometry, setting spontaneous brushwork against an underlying order. Yet the two artists have rarely been considered together. Together they offer two routes beyond Abstract Expressionism, both keeping the observed world - its complexities as well as its source of beauty and inspiration - as a point of departure.

Please click here to access Joan Mitchell’s CV.

Please click here to access Kimber Smith’s CV.