Fireman
Artist
Red Grooms
(American, b. 1937)
CultureAmerican
Date1959
MediumMixed media on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 72 x 39 in. (182.9 x 99.1 cm)
InscribedSigned and dated on reverse: ;
Red GROOMS;
59
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.2096
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a mixed media on canvas painting. It shows a fireman in profile; he walks toward the left with a hose in his hand. Black cardboard cutouts form the body of the fireman and his gear; the background is red with dripping and smeared black, framing the fireman. The ground is made of three lines.Label TextRed Grooms American, b. 1937 Fireman, 1959 Mixed media on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2096 ProvenanceWalter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to The Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"The Burning Building," A Play by Red Grooms, Delancey Street Museum, New York, N.Y., December 4 - 11, 1959. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "American Figure Painting, 1950-1980," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., October 17 - November 30, 1980. “Happenings: New York, 1958-1963,” The Pace Gallery on West 25th Street, New York, NY, February 10 – March 17, 2012 "The Nexus," Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA, January 25 - April 28, 2013.Published ReferencesDennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975. Thomas W. Styron, _American Figure Painting 1950-1980_, exh. cat., The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1980, 26, 112. Carter Ratcliff, _Red Grooms_ (New York: Abbeville Press, 1984), 40-48. ISBN: 0896594033 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 216-217, no. 133. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6
