Blue Presence
Artist
Richard Pousette-Dart
(American, 1916 - 1992)
Date1970
MediumOil on board
Dimensions24 x 24 in. (61 x 61 cm)
Frame Dimension: 24 3/8 × 24 3/4 × 1 5/8 in. (61.9 × 62.9 × 4.1 cm)
Frame Dimension: 24 3/8 × 24 3/4 × 1 5/8 in. (61.9 × 62.9 × 4.1 cm)
ClassificationsOil Painting
Credit LineStephen B. Lawrence Fund
Terms
Object number1971.25
Description"Blue Presence" exhibits the distinctive and luminous interplay of textures and light-generating color fields that has had a significant effect upon a variety of abstract modes of painting since the 1970s. What distinguishes Pousette-Dart's artistic project from other, similar efforts is his intensified focus upon the complexities of paint surfaces and his highly developed sense of color harmonies coordinated to convey emotional and spiritual content. (1)When "Blue Presence" was produced, the artist was executing two basic types of compositions, each possessing different visual dynamics and poetic implications. Works belonging to the Hieroglyph series include an assortment of relatively naturalistic symbols incorporated into an allover setting that allows the viewer's eye to wander across the canvas without fixating on a distinct point or specified area. "Blue Presence" is one of a second--arguably more intense--group of paintings that contain an elliptical or circular shape that rivets the beholder's eye to a particular portion of the work. In the New Britain picture, the dominant circular image appears to be radiating outward as if it were the painterly equivalent of a celestial or cosmic event. The work is composed of particles of paint that decrease slightly in size toward the center of the canvas. The sublime overtones are a consequence of the complex surface aspects and the powerful physical impact that occurs when the viewer's field of vision is completely saturated with tiny radiant strokes of blue and green. (2) The circular form, in all its simplicity, might be interpreted as exemplifying a condition of heavenly perfection or, perhaps, as a psychological statement of wholeness that has been projected out of the artists' integrated psyche. Regardless of the multitudes of possible readings, after an initial glance at Pousette-Dart's work, the beholder is left with an aftereffect of solitude and well-being.
DA
Bibliography:
John Gordon, "Richard Pousette-Dart", exhib. cat. (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1963); Sam Hunter, ed., "Transcending Abstraction: Richard Pousette-Dart: Paintings", 1939-1985, exhib. cat. (Fort Lauderdale: Museum of Art, 1986); Robert Hobbs and Joanne Kuebler, eds., "Richard Pousette-Dart", exhib. cat. (Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1990); W. Jackson Rushing, "Pousette-Dart's Spirit-Object," Art Journal 50 (summer 1991): 72-75; Lowery Stokes Sims and Stephen Polcari, "Richard Pousette-Dart", exhib. cat. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997).
Notes:
1 . Monte, "Richard Pousette-Dart", pp. 5-10; and Joanne Keubler, "Concerning Pousette-Dart," in Hobbs and Keubler, Richard Pousette-Dart, pp. 54-62.
2. Hunter, ed., "Transcending Abstraction", p. 30; and Hobbs and Kuebler, eds., Richard Pousette-Dart, pp. 154-60.
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