Dusk
Artist
William Baziotes
(1912 - 1963)
Date1954
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions34 x 17 in.
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineA. W. Stanley Fund and Charles F. Smith Fund
Terms
Object number1984.31
DescriptionIn the early 1950s several of Baziotes's fellow Abstract Expressionists had firmly adopted the belief that a quicker, overtly gestural mode of painting would provide an artist with a more substantial release from consciousness than one could experience with a slower method of working. However, unlike Pollack, Willem deKooning, and others, Baziotes did not subscribe to the notion that the violence of one's technique would facilitate a more direct participation in the unconscious. Instead, he became determined to represent creatures and forms that never appear ostensibly dramatic or animated in their movements but that nevertheless seem to hover or float within a pictorial space that abounds with allusions to strange, otherworldly environments. (1)"Dusk" testifies to the consistently powerful, suggestive, and mysterious qualities of the artist’s mature style and his upholding of Surrealist-inspired subject matter. The expansive central form of the painting is typical of Baziotes's later period; it is painted in a pale greenish hue but in a high tonal key that provides the fishlike figure with a shimmering glow against its murky surroundings.(2). The combined effect if the color scheme, the horizonless picture plane, and the family outlined hovering central form - complete with a circular eye-lends itself to interpretations emphasizing an underwater scene of some kind. However, the generalized character of the slender main figure and the addition of the decidedly nonmarine curving and zigzag linear elements running through the canvas contribute to an open-endedness that discourages any clear-cut readings of this intriguing work. DA
Bibliography:
Lawrence Alloway, "William Baziotes: A Memorial Exhibition", exhib. cat. (New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1965); Clifford Still, "William Baziotes: Late Work", 1946-1962, exhib. cat. (New York: Marlborough Gallery, 1971); David S. Rubin, "William Baziotes: A Commemorative Exhibition", exhib. cat. (Chicago: Richard L. Feigen and Company, 1987); Michael Prebble, "William Baziotes: Paintings and Works on Paper", 1952-1961, exhib. cat. (New York: Blum Helman Gallery, 1988).
Notes:
1. Rubin, William Baziotes, p. 10; Prebble, William Baziotes, pp. 5-13; and Alloway, William Baziotes, pp. 11-17.
2. For a more detailed visual analysis, see Paula Franks and Marion White, "An Interview with William Baziotes," Perspective No. 2 (New York: Hunter College, 1956-57): 29-30.
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