id: 147478 accession number: 1973.211 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1973.211 updated: 2022-07-12 09:01:03.898000 First Theme, 1963. Burgoyne Diller (American, 1906-1965). Oil on canvas; framed: 231 x 99 x 4 cm (90 15/16 x 39 x 1 9/16 in.); unframed: 228.6 x 96.5 cm (90 x 38 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1973.211 © Estate of Burgoyne Diller / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY title: First Theme title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1963 creation date earliest: 1963 creation date latest: 1963 current location: creditline: Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund copyright: © Estate of Burgoyne Diller / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY --- culture: America, 20th century technique: oil on canvas department: Contemporary Art collection: CONTEMP - Painting type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Burgoyne Diller (American, 1906-1965) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 231 x 99 x 4 cm (90 15/16 x 39 x 1 9/16 in.); Unframed: 228.6 x 96.5 cm (90 x 38 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1973 opening date: 1974-01-30T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1973. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 30-March 17, 1974). title: The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2006-06-09T00:00:00 The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * "Burgoyne Diller Exhibition," Walker Art Center, Minn. (Dec. 1971 - Jan.16, 1972), Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (Feb. 16 - March 26, 1972), Pasadena Art Museum (May 9 - July 2, 1972).
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (Spring 1973).
"Year in Review 1973," CMA (1974).
"Burgoyne Diller," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Sept. 14 - Nov. 26, 1990).


MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 102, p. 122, color repr. p. 66. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: During the Great Depression, while trying to support his education at the Art Students League, Diller painted signs for restaurants in exchange for meals. digital description: wall description: For much of his long and productive career, Burgoyne Diller sought to create the illusion of volume and space through colors on a flat surface. He pursued this effort by exploring three themes, all involving geometric forms against contrasting backgrounds. In "First Theme" paintings, floating rectangular shapes are dominant. In "Second" and "Third Theme" works, these elements become part of increasingly complex grid systems. The controlled and ordered tensions in this First Theme painting result from a long and painstaking process of creation. Diller composed his works by arranging colored paper rectangles on a canvas. When satisfied with their placement, he removed them and painted the shapes in primary colors, as well as black, white, and gray. He often rubbed the surface with fine sandpaper to avoid the distraction of glare and remove any indication of brushmarks, along with all evidence of emotional expressiveness. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 253 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n273 Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 66-67, no. 102 url: --- IMAGES