id: 156048
accession number: 1991.30
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.30
updated: 2022-01-04 17:10:18.160000
The City, 1966. Agnes Martin (American, 1912-2004). Acrylic and graphite on canvas; framed: 184.5 x 184.5 x 3 cm (72 5/8 x 72 5/8 x 1 3/16 in.); unframed: 182.9 x 182.9 cm (72 x 72 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Agnes Gund in memory of Wenda von Wiese 1991.30 © Agnes Martin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
title: The City
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1966
creation date earliest: 1966
creation date latest: 1966
current location:
creditline: Gift of Agnes Gund in memory of Wenda von Wiese
copyright: © Agnes Martin / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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culture: America, 20th century
technique: acrylic and graphite on canvas
department: Contemporary Art
collection: CONTEMP - Painting
type: Painting
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Agnes Martin (American, 1912-2004) - artist
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measurements: Framed: 184.5 x 184.5 x 3 cm (72 5/8 x 72 5/8 x 1 3/16 in.); Unframed: 182.9 x 182.9 cm (72 x 72 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Notable Acquisitions
opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00
Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* New York, Marlborough Gallery, Selected Works from the Collection of Carter Burden, 1974, p. 23.
The Art of Collecting Modern Art: An Exhibition of Works from the Collections of Clevelanders, Feb. 12 - March 30, 1986.
New York, Mary Boone Gallery, Agnes Martin, 1959-1969, 1991.
CMA 1991: "Notable Acquisitions," CMA Bulletin, 78 (June 1991), p. 105, repr.
The Cleveland Museum of Art (06/01/2007); "CMA @ Akron"
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
Drawing rectangular grids on a square canvas required extensive computation to precisely achieve; Martin spent hours calculating the lines of her grids before putting pencil to canvas.
digital description:
Agnes Martin developed her signature style in the late 1950s and early 1960s while living in New York City—six-foot-square canvases covered in thinly lined rectangular grids. Martin painstakingly drew her grids by hand, the faintly modulated background enriching the graphite lines with subtle variations of light and pattern. While her work is abstract, she often conjured subjects or themes with her titles. In this case, she may be referencing the urban plan of gridded city streets, or perhaps the rigidity of city life that Martin felt. The City was made a year before Martin abruptly left New York and settled in a remote town in New Mexico, where she would not resume her practice until 1973.
wall description:
Agnes Martin developed her signature style in the late 1950s and early 1960s while living in New York City—six-foot-square canvases covered in thinly lined rectangular grids. Martin painstakingly drew her grids by hand, the faintly modulated background enriching the graphite lines with subtle variations of light and pattern. While her work is abstract, she often conjured subjects or themes with her titles. In this case, she may be referencing the urban plan of gridded city streets, or perhaps the rigidity of city life that Martin felt. The City was made a year before Martin abruptly left New York and settled in a remote town in New Mexico, where she would not resume her practice until 1973.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Hinson, Tom E. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63-147.
page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 105
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161319
Arendsee, M., and M. Steinman-Arendsee. "Take the CAN disability aesthetics tour, at the Cleveland Museum of art." CAN Journal (Winter 2019/20): 76-87.
page number: Mentioned: p. 87
url:
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IMAGES