Mary Abbott was a prolific painter, an active figure in the New York School, and one of three female members of the Artist’s Club in New York, alongside Perle Fine and Elaine de Kooning. Abbott declared that her life’s work was “using the medium, paint, color and line [to define] the poetry of living space.” She studied painting with Eugene Weiss and George Grosz, who remembered her “serious demeanor.” Her work was characterized by sweeping and energetic brushwork, as well as a use of vibrant color derived from her mood or her surroundings. Abbott’s influences ranged from her peers like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, to Old Masters like Cimabue and Tintoretto. She was also a former model for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as a distant relative of Samuel Adams.