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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2001.16
People
Brice Marden, American (Bronxville, New York 1938 - 2023 Tivoli, New York )
Title
Untitled (Work Book Drawing, Page 2)
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1983-1984
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/174319

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink on white wove paper
Dimensions
28 x 22.2 cm (11 x 8 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: black ink, center bottom edge: B. Marden 83.4
  • inscription: verso, u.r., graphite, in artist's hand: BM 23, 2
  • inscription: verso, u.l. corner running from bottom to top, graphite, in artist's hand: XXIII
  • inscription: verso, l.l., graphite, in artist's hand: 23.2
  • inscription: verso, center bottom edge, graphite, in artist's hand: 2

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Brice Marden, New York, New York, 1983, partial sale, partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2001, through [Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, New York].

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of the artist and purchase from the Margaret Fisher Fund and through the generosity of The Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, John F. Cogan, Jr., Donald and Doris Fisher, Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, and Irving and Charlotte Rabb in honor of Neil and Angelica Rudenstine
Copyright
© Brice Marden / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
2001
Object Number
2001.16
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary
In 1972, Brice Marden began to replace his conventional drawing tools with twigs that he picked from an ailanthus tree near his house. In drawing with twigs, some as much as two feet long, Marden distanced himself not just literally from the image but also from the mundane and routine virtuoso concerns of traditional draftsmanship. He found the quasi-calligraphic process curiously meditative and spiritual, a means not only to explore a long-standing interest in gesture and touch, but also a means to connect more closely with nature: "I am seeing my life as part of the struggle between man and nature. I know there is the possibility of some sort of union. This is why I have been forced to take nature as my inspiration." [1] Much of the exploration of his relationship to nature has taken place in a remarkable series of Work Books, in which Marden creates whole sequences of drawings. Sometimes the drawings are made in rapid succession, one after another, other times they are created over a period of years such that the individual drawings are independent, although not isolated, from one another.

1: As quoted in Harry Cooper, "Brice Marden: Work Books," gallery handout, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1998), n.p.

Publication History

  • Dieter Schwarz and Michael Semff, Brice Marden: Work Books 1964-1995, exh. cat., Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München (Munich, Germany, 1997), cat. no. 25, p. 223, repr. p. 166 (color)

Exhibition History

  • Brice Marden: Work Books 1964-1995, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, 09/26/1997 - 11/23/1997; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, 01/31/1998 - 04/02/1998; Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/18/1998 - 09/27/1998
  • Acquisitions in Honor of Neil and Angelica Rudenstine, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/04/2001 - 05/06/2001
  • Under Cover: Artists' Sketchbooks, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 08/01/2006 - 10/22/2006

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu