SOLD BY THE ORDER OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE DAYTON ART INSTITUTE TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITIONS FUND

Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967)

Abstract Triptych, Blue

Details

Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967)
Abstract Triptych, Blue
signed three times, titled twice and dated twice 'Ad Reinhardt ABSTRACT TRYPTYCH, BLUE 1953' (on the reverse of the backing board)
oil and acrylic on three attached canvases in artist's frame
painting: 45 x 15 in. (114.3 x 38.1 cm.)
overall: 47 5/8 x 17 1/8 in. (121 x 43.4 cm.) (including artist's frame)
Painted in 1953.

Provenance

Stable Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1965

Literature

B. Wasserman, "Reinhardt: The Positive Power of Negational Thinking," Art Education, vol. 18, December 1965, p. 35, fig. 4.
Bulletin, The Dayton Art Institute, vol. 24, no. 3, January 1966 (illustrated).
T. C. Colt, Jr., "How Dayton Built Its Imaginable Museum," Art News, vol. 67, February 1969, p. 49 (illustrated).
Fifty Treasures of the Dayton Art Institute, 1969, no. 48, pp. 124-125 (illustrated in color).

Exhibited

New York, Stable Gallery, Paintings, Blue, 1950-53, March-April 1965.
Buffalo, Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Dayton Art Institute and Cleveland Museum of Art, Color and Field 1890-1970, September 1970-March 1971, p. 44, no. 40 (illustrated).
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Ad Reinhardt and Color, 1980, p. 50, no. 18 (illustrated in color).
Columbus Museum of Art; Tokyo, The Isetan Museum; The Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art; The Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art; The Takamatsu City Museum of Art and Osaka, Daimaru Museum Umeda, A Nations Legacy: 150 Years of American Art from Ohio Collections, January 1991-October 1992, cat. no. 83, p. 118 (illustrated in color) and p. 187 (illustrated).

Lot Essay

"Painting is special, separate, a matter of meditation and contemplation, for me, no physical action or social sport. 'As much consciousness as possible.' Clarity, completeness, quintessence, quiet. No noise, no schmutz, no schmerz, no fauve schwärmerei. Perfection, passiveness, consonance, consummateness. No palpitations, no gesticulation, no grotesquerie. Spirituality, serenity, absoluteness, coherence. No automatism, no accident, no anxiety, no catharsis, no chance. Detachment, disinterestedness, thoughtfulness, transcendence. No humbugging, no button-holing, no exploitation, no mixing things up. No lack of loftiness, no humourlessness. Ad Reinhardt New York 1954"

Ad Reinhardt's statement for the catalogue of the exhibition The New Decade: 35 American Painters and Sculptors, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1955

Abstract Triptych, Blue

Lot Essay

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