1959.50 Danilo Di Prete, Cosmic Landscape, 1958

Cosmic Landscape is one of Danilo di Prete’s first attempts at controlled gestural abstraction. The Italian native began painting in Brazil in 1946 and struggled professionally until winning a national painting prize at the inaugural São Paulo Biennial in 1951. As di Prete’s practice evolved, he experimented with paint application and adhering mixed media onto the surfaces of his canvases and other supports. This tactile exploration is evident in the raised surfaces of Cosmic Landscape. Curved planes and delicate lines suggest overlaid celestial bodies along the upper and central areas of the picture. These ethereal elements are balanced by the heavy, dark band extending along the right edge.

Erin Piñon, Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Label text, 2017.

Di Prete_Danilo: ULAN: 500371899

Pisa (province / Tuscany / Italy): TGN: 7003166

Italy (nation): TGN: 1000080

Brazil: TGN: 1000047

São Paulo (state / Brazil): TGN: 1001945

São Paulo (inhabited place / Brazil): TGN: 7017121

oil paint: AAT: 300015050

paper (fiber product): AAT: 300014109

board: AAT: 300014616

composition wood board (composition board): AAT: 300411316

painting (visual works): AAT: 300033618

works on paper: AAT: 300189621

landscapes (representations): AAT: 300015636

landscapes (environments): AAT: 300008626

cosmology (cosmological / disciplines): AAT: 300054294

celestial (concepts): AAT: 300404122

sky: AAT: 300263064

gesture: AAT: 300056179

prizes (social recognition): AAT: 300225692

biennials (exhibitions): AAT: 300266309

layers (components): AAT: 300226788

paint (coating): AAT: 300015029

paint layers: AAT: 300178450

applied decoration: AAT: 300229940

mixed media (artists' materials): AAT: 300163347

surface texture: AAT: 300219406

canvas: AAT: 300014078

tactile values: AAT: 300056361

raised (form attribute): AAT: 300010354

brush strokes: AAT: 300185434

darkness (concepts): AAT: 300056031

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

form (composition concepts): AAT: 300056272

geometric shape: AAT: 300263819

geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764

geometric abstraction: AAT: 300056509

curves (geometric figures): AAT: 300378887

curvilinear (shape): AAT: 300154222

planes (mathematics): AAT: 300055640

lines (geometric concept): AAT: 300056279

circles (plane figures): AAT: 300055627

squares (geometric figures): AAT: 300055637

bands (decorative): DMA

abstract: AAT: 300108127

abstraction: AAT: 300056508

From 1959: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.  

[2] The main source for this provenance is letter (inventory list) (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1959.50