Michael Wright (1931-2025) American, Mixed Media on Panel Abstract Expressionist. Abstract Expressionist oil painting features bold, expressive gestures in vibrant shades of red, yellow, green, black, and white, set within a molded gilt frame. Signed lower right. Framed.

Size: 26 1/4 x 22 1/4 in.

Michael Fitzhugh Wright (1931–2025) was an American painter whose long career encompassed the Abstract Expressionist milieu of postwar New York and, later, the lyrical landscapes of the American Southwest. Born in New Rochelle, New York, Wright studied at the Yale Music and Art School, Albright Art School, and Brooklyn Museum School before serving as a regimental artist in Korea. After returning to New York in 1954, he became acquainted with leading artists including Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, and David Smith and exhibited in the city’s Tenth Street galleries. From 1964 to 1967 he lived in East Hampton and worked as a studio assistant to Willem de Kooning, while also exhibiting at Guild Hall and receiving the Long Island Painters’ Award in 1966. Wright moved to Santa Fe in 1986, where the distinctive light, forms, and landscapes of New Mexico became central to his mature work; painted primarily from memory rather than directly on site, his post-Impressionist landscapes combine lyrical color, expressive line, and a deep engagement with nature. He died in Santa Fe in April 2025 at the age of 93.

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