The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

The Surge

1958

Conrad Marca-Relli

(American, 1913–2000)
America
oil and collage on canvas
Unframed: 137.1 x 180.3 cm (54 x 71 in.)
Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1960.58
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The artist changed his surname from Marcarelli, feeling that an added hyphen made it easier to pronounce.

Description

At the time Conrad Marca-Relli created The Surge, he held a teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley. This painting, which drew inspiration from the Pacific coast, is made from cut-out shapes of fabric, some overlapping, that adhere to a backing canvas.
  • (Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, Inc.)
  • Henning, Edward. "Exhibition Paths of Abstract Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 47, no. 8 (October 1960): 199-201. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 200-201, fig. 1 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” October 25, 1960, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
  • CMA: Works from the Contemporary Collection, July 1-mid-October, 1969
    Works from the Contemporary Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1-October 15, 1969).
    Marca-Relli. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 3-November 12, 1967); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (December 3, 1967-January 28, 1968).
    Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
    Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).
    Paths of Abstract Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 5-November 13, 1960).
  • {{cite web|title=The Surge|url=false|author=Conrad Marca-Relli|year=1958|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.58