The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 24, 2024
Atomic Mystic Cosmic 16
2017
(American, b. 1955)
Image: 81.7 x 53.5 cm (32 3/16 x 21 1/16 in.); Sheet: 92.5 x 63.8 cm (36 7/16 x 25 1/8 in.)
Gift of Margaret and Peter Dobbins 2020.273
© Polly Apfelbaum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The “rainbow roll” printing technique is responsible for the gradient effect of many of the colors seen on this print.Description
Polly Apfelbaum’s work builds upon the American abstract tradition of color field, pop, and abstract expressionist painting, while rejecting what she calls the “aggressive masculinity” of these movements. Atomic Mystic Cosmic 16 was stimulated by a year Apfelbaum spent in Italy, when she became fascinated with drapery and colored fabrics depicted in Renaissance and Baroque paintings, as well as the decorative inlay of medieval mosaic floors. For the color, she employed the “rainbow roll” technique, in which multiple colors are partially mixed to achieve a continuous gradient effect. The effect is one of dazzling color and pattern, while also creating spatial relationships that complicate the composition’s hard-edged geometry.- (Durham Press, Durham, PA)December 7, 2020The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Women in Print: Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-June 19, 2022).
- {{cite web|title=Atomic Mystic Cosmic 16|url=false|author=Polly Apfelbaum|year=2017|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2020.273