GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Dramatically large in scale and bold in color and execution, this painting is both a dazzling example of Ilya Bolotowsky's artistic concerns and a testimony to the rich interchange between European and American modernism in the 20th century. Marked by the influence of Piet Mondrian, the painting also represents an important transition in the development of American art, when artists sought to develop a language of abstraction in contrast to the popular and critical taste for American Scene painting prior to the Second World War.
Open Diamond was painted in the early 1950s at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, where Bolotowsky taught for nearly a decade. During this period, he increasingly avoided using black paint in his work and his interest in experimental canvas shapes led from triangular and diamond-shaped canvases such as this, to the ovoid forms of the 1960s and 1970s. Instead of representing visible objects, he used color juxtapositions and rhythmic placement of shapes to give his paintings a sense of action and vibration.
Drawn from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 283.
- Ilya Bolotowsky, "On Neoplasticism and My Own Work: A Memoir," Leonardo, vol 2 (1969): 221-230.
NOTES
No label currently in gallery. No text entries in TMS apart from 2012 guide entry.
Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Confirmed note updated in GDrive. Tagged completed and moved GDoc to Queta folder. (1/24/2017)
FUN FACTS source: Ilya Bolotowsky, a catalogue published by the Washburn Gallery, NYC to accompany "The Memorial Exhibition" held from Jauary 6 to February 23, 1983.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Laramie (Wyoming): TGN: 7013874 (produced)
Process/materials
oil paint: AAT: 300015050
board: AAT: 300014616
canvas: AAT: 300014078
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
American Scene: AAT:
geometric abstraction: AAT: 300056509
De Stijl: AAT: 300021259
primary colors: AAT: 300056138
American Scene: AAT: 300164372
abstract: AAT: 300108127
geometry: AAT: 300054529
Piet Mondrian: ULAN
Neo-Plastic: AAT
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Before d. 1981: Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981)
After d.1981: Estate of the artist, Joan T. Washburn Gallery, New York
From 2006: Dallas Museum of Art
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- Ilya Bolotowsky was nicknamed "Boly" by his close friends.
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 2006.6
Category
rules_operator
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General Description
Dramatically large in scale and bold in color and execution, this painting is both a dazzling example of Ilya Bolotowsky's artistic concerns and a testimony to the rich interchange between European and American modernism in the 20th century. Marked by the influence of Piet Mondrian, the painting also represents an important transition in the development of American art, when artists sought to develop a language of abstraction in contrast to the popular and critical taste for American Scene painting prior to the Second World War.
Open Diamond was painted in the early 1950s at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, where Bolotowsky taught for nearly a decade. During this period, he increasingly avoided using black paint in his work and his interest in experimental canvas shapes led from triangular and diamond-shaped canvases such as this, to the ovoid forms of the 1960s and 1970s. Instead of representing visible objects, he used color juxtapositions and rhythmic placement of shapes to give his paintings a sense of action and vibration.
Drawn from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 283.
- Ilya Bolotowsky, "On Neoplasticism and My Own Work: A Memoir," Leonardo, vol 2 (1969): 221-230.
Fun Facts
- Ilya Bolotowsky was nicknamed "Boly" by his close friends.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
No label currently in gallery. No text entries in TMS apart from 2012 guide entry.
Adding "draft" tag back to note, Dec 19, 2016, as part of the revised harvest/route procedure. This note will be pulled into GDrive and manually moved to Queta's folders for final review. Update- January 18, 2017- Adding #routed tag so that I can easily keep track of this note in Evernote to confirm that it is eventually pushed into GDrive. As of January 18, 2017 the content is in Brain but not in GDrive so I am unable to finish revisions and mark it complete in Evernote or move the GDoc to Queta's folder.
Confirmed note updated in GDrive. Tagged completed and moved GDoc to Queta folder. (1/24/2017)
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
2006.6
source file
object_notes_3_c-0211.xml.nores