Tu Fu Dog 2

“This drawing is one of four works Brice Marden made between 1986 and 1993, each executed in ink on top of an early-state proof of the etching entitled Tu Fu, printed in 1986. The first of the four drawings in this group, Tu Fu Dog 1, is in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery…The works take their name from the poetry of Tu Fu, another Tang dynasty poet, and from Betty, the artist’s char pei, whose many folds of flesh the artist saw echoed in his compositions. In Tu Fu Dog 2, Marden’s line begins to break out of the rectangular field designated by the etching plate and expand into the liminal space around it, brushing against the edge of the sheet. Within a few short years, Marden’s dialogue with the perimeter became a central concern in all his compositions.” — M. Marks quoted in “Don’t Look.” Contemporary Drawings from an Martina Yamin's Collection, exh. cat., Davis Museum , Wellesley College, 2007, p. 76.