Al Held (1928-2005)

Phoenicia V

Details

Al Held (1928-2005)
Phoenicia V
signed 'Al Held' (on the reverse)
acrylic on canvas
96 x 138¼ in. (243.8 x 351.1 cm.)
Painted in 1969.

Provenance

André Emmerich Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1973

Literature

I. Sandler, Al Held, New York, 1984, p. 89 (illustrated in color).

Exhibited

New York, André Emmerich Gallery, Inc., Al Held, New Paintings, March-April 1970.
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Al Held, October-November 1974.
Lincoln, Sheldon Art Gallery, 1975-2005 (extended loan).
New York, Robert Miller Gallery, Geometry as Image, May-July 2008.

Lot Essay

"I am not an all over painter. The rigid logic of two-dimensional aesthetic binds us to the canvas surface making it an end in itself, not a means to an end. I would like to develop from this not by going inwards towards the old horizon, but outwards towards the spectator. The space between the canvas and the spectator is real-emotionally physically and logically. It exists as an actual extension of the canvas surface. I would like to use it as such and thus bridge the gulf that separates the painting from the viewer"
(Al Held, as quoted in It is, Fall 1958, A. Forge, Al Held, New Paintings, exh. cat., New York, 1978).

Phoenicia V

Lot Essay

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