Bar Decoration II
Artist
Jack Tworkov
(American (b. Poland), 1900 - 1982)
Date1963-64
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 51 x 74 in. (129.5 x 188 cm)
ClassificationsModern art
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.736
Terms
- Abstract
- Black
- Red
On View
Not on viewLabel TextJack Tworkov American, b. Poland, 1900–1982 Bar Decoration II, 1963–64 Oil on canvas In Bar Decoration II, broad bands of saturated blue and red race headlong across the lower edge of the canvas while ragged strokes of blue shoot up and side-to-side. Although often described as pure abstraction with no connection to the visible world, it is hard not to feel the pulse of a busy city in the painting’s heavy “bars” and gestural “decoration.” More than a representation of a city, however, the tension between the painting’s solid, grid-like structure and the busy action it supports—that is, the tension between order and randomness—gives the painting its edgy, urban feel. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.736