{
"data": {
"id": 173006,
"accession_number": "2017.126.c",
"share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
"tombstone": "Forest Fire, Jan. 5, 1984, 1984. Donald Sultan (American, 1951-). Latex, plaster, and tar on vinyl tile over masonite; panel: 122.4 x 122 cm (48 3/16 x 48 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Agnes Gund, 2017.126.c. \u00a9 Donald Sultan/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Forest Fire, Jan. 5, 1984",
"creation_date": "1984",
"creation_date_earliest": 1984,
"creation_date_latest": 1984,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"America"
],
"technique": "latex, plaster, and tar on vinyl tile over masonite",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Contemporary Art",
"collection": "Paintings",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Panel: 122.4 x 122 cm (48 3/16 x 48 1/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"panel": {
"height": 1.224,
"height_inch": 48,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.1875,
"width": 1.22,
"width_inch": 48,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": "\u00a9 Donald Sultan/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York",
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "On reverse: #3, accompanied by small diagram of a square divided into four sections; the upper right section is \"x\"'d in to show position of this portion of \"Forest Fire\"",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 295657,
"title": "Donald Sultan: The Disaster Paintings",
"description": "Donald Sultan: The Disaster Paintings. Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (organizer) (February 19-April 23, 2017); Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC (May 26-September 4, 2017); North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC (September 23-December 31, 2017); Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE (January 24-May 13, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2017-02-19T05:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [
"285.1993.c"
],
"did_you_know": "Sultan\u2019s father worked in a tire retreading shop which motivated the artist to use industrial materials.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "This multipanel work, showing a raging forest fire, belongs to Donald Sultan\u2019s Disaster Painting series. Sultan layers tar, vinyl, latex, and plaster to create ominous landscapes of industrial and environmental destruction. Dripping tar forms skeletal trees and muddies the gray sky. Orange latex licks at dead branches, engulfs trees in flames, and peels from the linoleum surface. Drawing on source imagery from newspapers, the Disaster Painting series speaks to, in the artist\u2019s words, the \u201cimpermanence of all things.\u201d",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60482564"
],
"internet_archive": []
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Catlin, Roger. \u201cThis Artist\u2019s Worldview Drips with Unending Pessimism,\u201d Smithsonian Magazine, June 5, 2017.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/this-artists-worldview-drips-unending-pessimism-180963566/"
},
{
"citation": "Guida, Isabella. \u201cThe Surrealism of Witness,\u201d ArtsEditor, August 28, 2017.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "http://artseditor.com/site/the-surrealism-of-witness/"
},
{
"citation": "Hearst, Alison, Charles Wylie, Max Blagg, and Donald Sultan. Donald Sultan: The Disaster Paintings, 2016.",
"page_number": "Mentioned p. 19, reproduced pl. 5, p. 40.",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sultan, Donald. Donald Sultan: 8 February-3 March, 1984, Blum Helman, New York, New York. New York: Blum Helman Gallery, 1984.",
"page_number": "9",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sergeant, Philippe, and Donald Sultan. Donald Sultan, Appoggiaturas. New York: Portmanteau Press, 1992.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Ratcliff, Carter, and John B. Ravenal. Donald Sultan: The Theater of the Object. New York: Vendome Press, 2008.",
"page_number": "55",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Truong, Alain R. \u201cThe Cleveland Museum of Art Announces New Acquisitions,\u201d Alain Truong, September 27, 2017.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2017/09/27/35716436.html"
},
{
"citation": "Lancelin, Herv\u00e9. \u201cDonald Sultan: The Alchemist of Tar,\u201d ArtCritic, January 8, 2025.",
"page_number": "",
"url": "https://www.artcritic.com/en/donald-sultan-the-alchemist-of-tar/"
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.126.c",
"images": {},
"alternate_images": [],
"creditline": "Gift of Agnes Gund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 173006,
"creators": [
{
"id": 10413,
"description": "Donald Sultan (American, 1951-)",
"extent": null,
"qualifier": null,
"role": "artist",
"biography": null,
"name_in_original_language": null,
"birth_year": "1951",
"use_in_caption": true,
"include_extent": false,
"weight": 1
}
],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "2017-09-11T00:00:00-04:00",
"sortable_date": 1984,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1984",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "part",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": "2017.126",
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-01 06:53:37.847000"
}
}