Untitled. Print from the suite of ten entitled 'Ten Works by Ten Painters'
Print
1964 (made)
1964 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Ad Reinhardt began painting in the 1930s and became one of the most influential figures in American painting during the mid-20th century, as an artist and as a writer and critic.
His early work is abstract but comprised of more or less biomorphic forms with curving linear patterns within the composition. In the 1950s he began to limit his canvases to single colours, but usually of more than one hue. These were generally white, red, or blue. He also began to remove all curving lines, restricting his compositions to strict rectilinear geometry. After 1953 he used only black as a colour. However, within this he also explored tonality, and in his many images of black on black, such as this black cross, he expressed the idea that there is no such thing as an absolute. Such work acted as a powerful influence on the development of Conceptualism and Minimalism as aesthetic movements, throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
His early work is abstract but comprised of more or less biomorphic forms with curving linear patterns within the composition. In the 1950s he began to limit his canvases to single colours, but usually of more than one hue. These were generally white, red, or blue. He also began to remove all curving lines, restricting his compositions to strict rectilinear geometry. After 1953 he used only black as a colour. However, within this he also explored tonality, and in his many images of black on black, such as this black cross, he expressed the idea that there is no such thing as an absolute. Such work acted as a powerful influence on the development of Conceptualism and Minimalism as aesthetic movements, throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Untitled. Print from the suite of ten entitled 'Ten Works by Ten Painters' |
| Materials and techniques | printer's ink, paper, screenprint |
| Brief description | Ad Reinhardt: Untitled. Screenprint from the suite of ten prints published by the Wadsworth Atheneum, entitled ' Ten Works by Ten Painters'. 1964 |
| Physical description | Image of a black cross on a black ground. The bars of the cross the same width as the spaces on either side of them. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Limited edition |
| Copy number | 382/500 |
| Marks and inscriptions | blind stamped with the printer's chop mark on bottom right corner of sheet |
| Credit line | Given by Kasmin Ltd. |
| Object history | Suite originally housed in a cream cloth-covered portfolio box with cream and white paper lining. On front X / + / X in blue and white and in blue on spine ‘TEN WORKS BY TEN PAINTERS THE WADSWORTH ATHENEUM’ Container is unnumbered and housed elsewhere, currently (2011) at the back of '1st Mezz' in the National Art Library. Inside the container still remains four pages (description and transcript below): Title-page: vertically in black ‘X / + [cut out] / X / [and horizontally through the same +] TEN WORKS [+] TEN PAINTERS / THE WADSWORTH ATHENEUM’ Title-page verso of title-page: ‘Copyright 1964, The Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut 67/500 [edition number in pen] / Designed and Produced by Ives-Sillman, New Haven, Connecticut’ Page 2: in caps a list of names: ‘GEORGE ORTMAN / FRANK STELLA / ELLSWORTH KELLY / ROBERT MOTHERWELL / ANDY WARHOL / STUART DAVIS / ROY LICHTENSTEIN / LARRY POONS / ROBERT INDIANA / AD REINHARDT’ Page 3: ‘This portfolio was commissioned and printed in an attempt to extend / as much of the visual impact as pssible of ten artists to paper and / to make the prints available to collectors who might not otherwise / have such a vivid slice of the artist. / The dry surface of screening seemed to be most apt to translate the / effect of their painting, both the flatness which is the unifying bond / between the ten, and the insistence of paint on the surface of canvas / so like the visible heft of ink on paper here. / Samuel J. Wagstaff, Jr. Curator of Paintings’ [followed by a list of sponsors] Dims. of container: 65 x 53.5 x 2.5cm. Condition note: Spillages and staining all over container especially front cover. |
| Production | Sirocco were the printers, supervised by Ives-Sillman Inc. |
| Summary | Ad Reinhardt began painting in the 1930s and became one of the most influential figures in American painting during the mid-20th century, as an artist and as a writer and critic. His early work is abstract but comprised of more or less biomorphic forms with curving linear patterns within the composition. In the 1950s he began to limit his canvases to single colours, but usually of more than one hue. These were generally white, red, or blue. He also began to remove all curving lines, restricting his compositions to strict rectilinear geometry. After 1953 he used only black as a colour. However, within this he also explored tonality, and in his many images of black on black, such as this black cross, he expressed the idea that there is no such thing as an absolute. Such work acted as a powerful influence on the development of Conceptualism and Minimalism as aesthetic movements, throughout the 1960s and 1970s. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.132-1969 |
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| Record created | February 1, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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