Agnes Lawrence Pelton (August 22, 1881 – March 13, 1961) was a modernist painter who was born in Germany and moved to the United States as a child.

[1] In 1888, when Agnes was about 7 years old, she and her mother moved to Elizabeth Tilton's home in Brooklyn, New York, located at 1403 Pacific Street.

She studied landscape and was Dow's assistant at his summer school, where he taught Modernism, inspired by Chinese and Japanese art.

Biographer Tiska Blankenship said that "Dow emphasized structure, spirit, imagination, creation, and the nonnaturalistic use of color, a technique he taught using Japanese prints to demonstrate space relations and the appropriate use of light and dark masses... Dow's influence was critical to Pelton's development of abstractions based on interior, spiritual values.

[1][4] What Pelton called "Imaginative Paintings" were influenced by the work of Arthur B. Davies and depicted the effect of natural light.

She painted in oil and used pastels to create realistic portraits and desert landscapes and her works were exhibited in Santa Fe at the School of American Research.

[citation needed] She created abstract works of art beginning 1926, which were exhibited in New York at the Argent Galleries and the Museum of New Mexico.

She had a close friendship with modern transpersonal astrology pioneer Dane Rudhyar and Modernist Southwest painter Raymond Jonson.

[4] Curator Michael Zakian wrote: Pelton's works were poetic celebrations of nature that explored the vital forces animating the physical world.

Interested in themes of creation, growth, and radiance, Pelton translated favorite subjects—a glowing star, an opening flower—into life-affirming images of rare beauty and resonance.