SYLVIA PLIMACK MANGOLD (B. 1938) | Untitled, 1974

watercolor and graphite on paper; signed and dated '9/17/74'

Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica
Santa Monica Auctions, 21 November 2004, Lot 207
Acquired from the above sale by the present owner

This work is in very good condition overall. There is a slight undulation to the sheet and artist's pinholes to the upper edge. There are scattered handling marks and stray media to the edges of the unpainted areas. There are scattered areas of pinpoint foxing, primarily to the lower half and upper corners, visible upon close inspection. There are two marks from repaired tears, measuring 1 and 1.5 inches respectively, to the unpainted areas of the vertical edges, visible upon close inspection. Unframed.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

Working in the late 1960s and 70s, when Minimalism and Pop were the dominant modes of artistic expression, Sylvia Mangold was iconoclastic for her focus on the traditional – namely, her trompe l'oeil depictions of wooden floors. However, by faithfully reproducing the floorboards and sometimes incorporating rulers, the artist was equally as interested in exploring the complex relationship between space, light, viewership and the overall aesthetics of encountering art in space as her Minimalist contemporaries. “If Minimalism was about getting down to irreducible essentials, the limit – Carl Andre placing bricks or sheets of lead on the floor of a pristine white cube – Plimack Mangold went one step further and got down to the floor itself. By doing so, and remaining true to the pattern of the floorboards, she incorporated aspects of Minimalism into her painting without succumbing to its flamboyant rhetoric about keeping the paint as good as it was in the can. Having attitude was of no interest to her,” (John Yau, ‘Sylvia Plimack Mangold Has the Floor,’ ‘Hyperallergic,’ 20 March 2016). The artist has held many solo exhibitions, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Connecticut.