Ocean: 7 Steps #1, detail.
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Title
Ocean : 7 Steps #1 , detail .
Creator
Celmins, Vija (American painter and sculptor, born 1939)
Date
1972-1973
Cultural Context
American North American
Style/Period
Contemporary Postmodern
Subject
Seascape drawings Seascapes Seas Oceans Water
Description
"[…] Vija Celmins uses nature as a starting point . In her re-creations of the heavens and earth , Celmins prods the viewer into an expanded awareness of both her sources and the process of artistic vision . […] In 1968 Celmins's preferred medium changed from paint to graphite on paper with a series based on satellite photographs of the lunar surface . By choosing drawing as her primary means of expression , Celmins conferred a new importance on what was then a devalued medium . In the 1970s drawing became the major expressive vehicle for Celmins , Agnes Denes , Dottie Attie , and a number of other women who accorded new status to the medium . Celmins used her own photographs of the ocean , taken from the Venice pier , as catalysts for a major series of drawings . These snapshots provided her with certain givens - namely , a fixed point of view and a 'found ' composition . Working within these parameters , Celmins has reinvented the surface of the sea with thousands of tiny , precise marks . In Ocean : 7 Steps #1 , she paces the viewer through seven versions of the same image , each one executed with a progressively softer , and hence darker , lead. " (Excerpt , p.62)
Material
Graphite on acrylic-sprayed paper Graphite (mineral) Paper (fiber product) Acrylic (plastic) Acrylic resin Acrylic paint
Measurements
12 5/8 x 99 ¼ in.
Technique
Drawing (image-making)
Work Type
Drawings Graphite drawings Pencil works
Repository
Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, New York)
Source
Rosen, Randy, and Catherine C. Brawer. Making Their Mark: Women Artists Move into the Mainstream, 1970-85. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989. (p.64, pl.39)
Rights
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase, with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Joshua A. Gollin. Photography credit: Geoffrey Clements. Compilation [of Rosen] copyright © 1989 Maidenform, Inc.
Digital Publisher
University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center
Format
image/jpeg
Digital File Name
VRC 898-05.jpg
Rating
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