The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

First Theme

First Theme

1963
(American, 1906–1965)
America, 20th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 231 x 99 x 4 cm (90 15/16 x 39 x 1 9/16 in.); Unframed: 228.6 x 96.5 cm (90 x 38 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1973.211
© Estate of Burgoyne Diller / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

During the Great Depression, while trying to support his education at the Art Students League, Diller painted signs for restaurants in exchange for meals.

Description

For much of his long and productive career, Burgoyne Diller sought to create the illusion of volume and space through colors on a flat surface. He pursued this effort by exploring three themes, all involving geometric forms against contrasting backgrounds. In "First Theme" paintings, floating rectangular shapes are dominant. In "Second" and "Third Theme" works, these elements become part of increasingly complex grid systems. The controlled and ordered tensions in this First Theme painting result from a long and painstaking process of creation. Diller composed his works by arranging colored paper rectangles on a canvas. When satisfied with their placement, he removed them and painted the shapes in primary colors, as well as black, white, and gray. He often rubbed the surface with fine sandpaper to avoid the distraction of glare and remove any indication of brushmarks, along with all evidence of emotional expressiveness.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 253 archive.org
    Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 66-67, no. 102
  • The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    MOCA Cleveland (6/9/2006 - 8/20/2006): "The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art", no. 102, p. 122, color repr. p. 66.
    "Burgoyne Diller," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Sept. 14 - Nov. 26, 1990).
    Year in Review: 1973. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 30-March 17, 1974).
    "Year in Review 1973," CMA (1974).
    Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (Spring 1973).
    "Burgoyne Diller Exhibition," Walker Art Center, Minn. (Dec. 1971 - Jan.16, 1972), Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (Feb. 16 - March 26, 1972), Pasadena Art Museum (May 9 - July 2, 1972).
  • {{cite web|title=First Theme|url=false|author=Burgoyne Diller|year=1963|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.211