The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Sea Painting I

Sea Painting I

1973–74
(American, 1938–2023)
America, 20th century
oil and wax on canvas
Unframed: 182.8 x 137.2 cm (71 15/16 x 54 in.)
Gift of Agnes Gund given in honor of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Centennial 2017.127
© Brice Marden / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Later in his career, Marden dispensed with the wax technique used in Sea Painting I and developed a new method of mixing terpineol with oil to produce a pigment better suited to conveying the physicality of the canvas.

Description

Brice Marden made his first monochromatic, single-panel painting in the winter of 1964. During the next 20 years, he created spare, abstract, often multipaneled paintings that won national acclaim. In Sea Painting I, two rectangular canvases were painted with a mixture of beeswax and oil—known as encaustic—creating a smooth, dense surface with a matte finish.

Marden tested the reductionist tendencies of Minimalism by reintroducing references to landscape into a seemingly abstract painting. Here, he used subtle tones of gray-green that suggest water and atmosphere. The sharp split of color alludes to the division between sky and ocean and a limitless view to the horizon.
  • 1973–?
    Collection of the artist
    ?
    Bykert Gallery, New York, NY
    ?
    John Weber Gallery, New York, NY
    ?
    Collection Parasol Press, New York, NY
    ?
    Charles Kriwin, Brussels, BE
    ?
    John Weber Gallery, New York, NY
    by 1984–before 1991
    Saatchi Collection
    1990
    Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY
    April 30, 1991
    (Sotheby’s, New York, NY, Sale #6164, Contemporary Art Part I, April 30, 1991, Lot 30)
    1991–2017
    Agnes Gund, New York, NY
    2017
    Agnes Gund, New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2017–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ellenzweig, Allen. Selection of American Art: The Skowhegan School 1946–1976. Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1976. Reproduced: P. 121
    Roque, Georges, Karel J. Geirlandt, and Monique Verken. American Art in Belgium: [Exhibit Held at Palais Des Beaux-Arts De Bruxelles 25.5-28.8.1977]. Bruxelles: Société des expositions du Palais des beaux-arts, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced, P. 133, no. 95; p. 166 reproduced.
    Saatchi Collection, and Peter Schjeldahl. Art of Our Time: The Saatchi Collection, vol. 1. London: Lund Humphries, 1985. Mentioned: p. 7; Reproduced: Pl. 70.
    Gohr, Siegfried, and Johannes Gachnang. Bilderstreit: Widerspruch, Einheit und Fragment in der Kunst seit 1960. Köln: DuMont, 1989. Catalogue No. 444; mentioned: p. 521
    Lewison, Jeremy, and Brice Marden. Brice Marden: Prints, 1961–1991 : a Catalogue Raisonné. London: Tate Gallery, 1992. Reproduced: P. 33
    Franz, Erich. In Quest of the Absolute. New York: Peter Blum, 1996. Mentioned and reproduced in color: p. 66–67.
    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. 75, no. 110.
    Thüring, Reto and Liebert, Emily. “Acquisition Highlights: Contemporary Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 58. no. 2 (March/April 2018): 24-25. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 24.
    Griswold, William M. “Recent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93–104. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 101, no. 16; mentioned: P. 93
  • Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).
    The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, OH (June 9– August 20, 2006)
    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).
    In Quest of the Absolute. Blumarts Inc., New York, NY (April 6–June 8, 1996)
    Bilderstreit: Iconoclasm – Appeal, Unity and Fragment in Art Since 1960. The Rheinhallen, Cologne, Germany (April 8–June 28, 1989)
    American Art in Belgium. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (May 25–August 28, 1977)
    A Selection of American Art: The Skowhegan School 1946–1976. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (June 16–September 5, 1976; Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, (October 1–30, 1976)
    Continuing Abstraction in American Art. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY [Downtown Branch] (September 19–November 1, 1974)
    New Paintings, Brice Marden. Bykert Gallery, New York, NY (March 23–April 17, 1974)
  • {{cite web|title=Sea Painting I|url=false|author=Brice Marden|year=1973–74|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.127