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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

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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by Alfonso Ossorio" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2004), Unpublished, pp. 1-19 passim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

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