Art

Known for her monumental, polychrome paintings of industrial ruins, Anna Held Audette was an American precisionist in the tradition of Charles Scheeler, Walter Murch and Charles Demuth. Audette’s paintings depicted the decline of late twentieth century American industry. Using color, form and scale to dramatic effect, Audette portrayed the corrosive effects of time and neglect on abandoned scrap yards, aircraft, ships, trains and factory interiors.

Early in her career, Audette focused on drawings and printmaking. It was only later, in middle age, when Audette would embrace painting. Yet even as her preferred media changed over time, Audette consistently explored form and deconstruction. Across a wide variety of subject matter, from the human form to heavy machinery, these underlying themes remained evident throughout Audette’s vast body of work.

Today Audette’s paintings, prints and drawings can be found in private collections as well as museums, such as The National Gallery of Art, The Yale University Art Gallery and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her works vary across subject matter, scale and medium, but they share a common thread; in Audette’s words, “they form a visual requiem for the industrial age."