½ Manila Curved Area Series W
News has made its way to me that the Museum has acquired several new works for the Modern and Contemporary collection. I hope to share some of those with you over the next few months.
The first to be unveild are two prints by Robert Mangold. They are from a series he worked on in 1968 that consisted of semicircular configurations of solid color subdivided into wedge-shaped sections.
Thank you to Leesa Fanning, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art for her description of the following works.
In the same year of these prints, Mangold was creating paintings called the W and X series. The composition of these prints is the same as those paintings and their black lines form variations on that motif. Also, repetition of a kind of unit, such as the wedge-shaped form and the desire to make a composition based on a set of rules, around which certain variations can occur, are fundamental principles of Minimalism.
Mangold also believed that a “beautiful thing” about a “fraction of a form,” a semi-circle for example, “is that it is implies a circle, but it is also a complete thing in itself.”
Mangold emphasizes the literal quality of his art and formal qualities—line, color, form, repetition balance, and proportion are the subject matter of his art. He has consistently refused to make statements regarding content. As he says, “Art should be taken at face value.”
For all of the objectivity of the work, and the clearly rational approach to art making, ½ Gray Curved Area Series X and ½ Manila Curved Area Series W subtly reveal slight variations in the thickness of the black lines, and in small irregularities along the black lines, to convey the touch of the artist.
Together, these two prints join Four Color Frame Painting #4, a major work in the existing Modern and Contemporary collection, to build not only our holdings of Mangold’s work but Minimalism in general.
½ Gray Curved Area Series X