Conrad Marca-Relli
Figure Form
1958
Not on View
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Karel Appel
1956
Karel Appel, like Asger Jorn, was a member of the COBRA group, which emphasized material and its spontaneous application. Although the group was short-lived, its concerns endured in Appel's work. The single standing figures of humans or animals he developed during the 1950s are rendered in a deliberately awkward, naive manner, with no attempt at modeling or perspectival illusionism. Thus, the crocodile in this painting is presented as a flat and immobile form, contoured with heavy black lines in the manner of a child’s drawing. Appel’s handling of paint activates a frenzy of rhythmic movement, despite the static monumentality of the subject. The physicality of the impasto and its topographic variety allow it to reflect light and cast shadows dramatically, increasing the emotional intensity of violent color contrasts.
Not on View
Artist | Karel Appel |
Date | 1956 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 145.5 x 113.1 cm |
Credit line | Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York) |
Accession | 76.2553 PG 174 |
Collection | Peggy Guggenheim Collection |
Type | Painting |
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Not on View
Conrad Marca-Relli
1958
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Chuck Close
2003
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Jean Dubuffet
1969
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Unrecorded Salampasu artist
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