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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
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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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.
Sea Painting I

Sea Painting I

1973–74

Brice Marden

(American, 1938–2023)
America, 20th century

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