Richard Pousette-Dart

Acquired as a gift from the artist in 1985 by the present owner

The work is one of several paintings on etching paper from the 1970s. Although he signed it in 1979, it is quite possible that it was painted earlier than that date, as he often did not sign or date works until a later date. He used the imprint from the etching plate as frame for this rare series of paintings. He also found the proportions of the painted area in relation to paper dimensions to be very pleasing, bringing the painting into sharp focus surrounded by a large border. Each of the works from this group was distinct and as a whole revealed a lexicon of Pousette-Dart compositional arrangements and color harmonies. Another unique element of the work on paper I am documenting is the jewel-like colors; the great majority of Pousette-Dart works on paper are black and white works drawn with graphite, pencil and sometimes gouache.

Works on paper were always an integral part of Richard Pousette-Darts oeuvre. He worked on paper and large canvases simultaneous. Untitled gives us a blend of the artist’s primary motifs from the 1960s on and various methods of paint application he used throughout his career. In the center of the painting is an oval, a shape he used before and after he painted Untitled in works such as Possible Oval, 1962. The oval shape was a variation on the circle which he used from the 1950s on. His intention was to find the cosmic or transcendental meaning in primary shapes. The oval is contained within a rectangle, another basic shape which appears in his works in the 1980s, such as Radiance Black Square, 1978-1980. He alternated between the square and the rectangle for both the shape of his canvases and the central form. The rectangle is framed by an area of blue, yellow, and green comprised of gestural strokes, dabs, and loose markings on which he layers black calligraphic lines, harking back to the automatic line which is a hallmark element of Abstract Expressionism. Subtle repetitions of color and expressive paint applications unite elements of the painting. The black lines in the oval give just enough pictorial weight to counter the lines in the outer area. In the center of the oval area, strokes of red paint relate to the red rectangle surrounding the oval. The central area of red over yellow, white, and blue is in itself a passage of all-over paint application further anchoring the work in the expressive paint application which is central to Abstract Expressionist work.

Untitled differs from other Pousette-Dart works on paper as it is not an exploration of one motif or technique. It is a complete painting on top of an etching of the highest quality, a quintessential example of Richard Pousette-Dart’s work.