Harvard Art Museums > 1993.265: Fantastic Octopus Drawings Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Fantastic Octopus (Alfonso Ossorio) , 1993.265,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 18, 2025, https://hvrd.art/o/264858. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 1993.265 People Alfonso Ossorio, American (Manila, The Philippines 1916 - 1990 East Hampton, NY) Title Fantastic Octopus Classification Drawings Work Type drawing Date 1942 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/264858 Physical Descriptions Medium Transparent and opaque watercolor and black ink on blue wove paper Dimensions 57.8 x 47 cm (22 3/4 x 18 1/2 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: l.l., black ink: 28 / IV / 19 / AO [monogram] / 42 / Greenwich / Conn. inscription: verso: lower right, graphite, inscribed: 3 1/2 - 4 - off white mat, blk line / [illegible] scoop silver watermark: upper right: G WILMOT Provenance Recorded Ownership History Agnes Mongan, Cambridge, Massachusetts, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1993. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Agnes Mongan Copyright © Robert U. Ossorio Foundation Accession Year 1993 Object Number 1993.265 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History Scott Homolka, "Horror Vacui and the Process of Expression: A Technical Explanation of Drawings by Alfonso Ossorio" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2004), Unpublished, pp. 1-19 passim Joachim Homann, Margaret Morgan Grasselli, and Miriam Stewart, ed., American Watercolors, 1880–1990: Into the Light, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2023), pp. 45, 118, repr. as figs. 2 and 3 [detail] on p. 45, pl. 49 on p. 118 Penley Knipe and Miriam Stewart, Material Matters (A Watercolor Treasury, Support, Reserve, Opacity, Intervention, Resist, Impermanence), American Watercolors, 1880–1990: Into the Light, ed. Joachim Homann, Margaret Morgan Grasselli, and Miriam Stewart, Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2023), Pages 40-67, Figure 2, Page 45; Figure 3, Page 45 Exhibition History The Body Politic: Surrealism on Both Sides of the Atlantic 1924 - 1947, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 10/21/1995 - 01/07/1996 American Watercolors, 1880–1990: Into the Light, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/20/2023 - 08/13/2023 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
