Michael (Corinne) West (1908–1991) was an extraordinarily independent and obsessively driven artist of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism. Her paintings, poetry, and relationships with key figures of the movement had a lasting impact on American modernism. In the face of pervasive bias against women painters, West remained committed to her art, continuing to paint despite critical and commercial disregard. She studied in Hans Hofmann’s first class at the Art Students League, where she learned to capture the spiritual dimension of abstraction, and her relationship with Arshile Gorky introduced her to European Surrealism and the linear approach to abstraction that influenced her work.

West began her formal study in 1927 at the Cincinnati Art Academy, initially drawn to music, and in 1930 she joined a theater group, marrying actor Randolph Nelson. By 1932 she returned to painting and enrolled in Hofmann’s classes. Encouraged by Gorky, she adopted the name Mikael (later changed to Michael in 1941), an effort to obscure her gender in a male-dominated art world. After Gorky’s marriage in 1941, West returned to New York in 1946, forming close connections with composer Edgard Varèse and painter Richard Pousette-Dart, while marrying avant-garde filmmaker Francis Lee.

Her work matured during this period, displaying remarkable energy, emotional depth, and innovative abstraction. West participated in the 1953 Stable Gallery annual and had her first solo exhibition at the Uptown Gallery in 1957. She explored Zen Buddhist calligraphy in a striking series of deeply brushed abstractions inspired by Japanese masters. West’s dedication to her art and her unique vision earned her a place in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, securing her legacy as a pioneering woman in Abstract Expressionism.