Painted canvas fragment | Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Recorded Ownership History: Collection of Barnett and Annalee Newman
Estate of Annalee Newman
The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Gift of the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation
Copyright: © The Barnett Newman Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Object Number: ARCH.2007.9.31.2
Contact: am_straus@harvard.edu
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Description: Painted plain weave cotton duck canvas fragment with irregular knife cut edges, with folded tacking margin. White artist applied priming extends the depth of the margin and staple holes are visible in the unprimed canvas beyond the primed margin. The face of the fragment has two broad diagonal strokes (with respect to the canvas weave) of glossy crimson paint, applied by a wide brush, with dry brush effect at the inner edge of each stroke, framing a diagonal area of white priming that is left unpainted. The crimson passage that extends to the fold edge appears to be partially coated with a matte medium, or matte paint of the same color, which runs along the length of the stroke about one inch in from the dry brush edge.

Barnett Newman: The Late Work, Menil Collection, Houston, 03/27/2015 - 08/02/2015