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Gallery Text

Delsarte’s print is a cacophony of color and noise, vibrating with the unique energy of free experimentation that so often defines artist residencies at the Brandywine Workshop and Archives. The multiple Mylar sheets he used to form and revise the layered image leave the ghosts of outlines and overlapping colors throughout: the boy’s outstretched hand, the mother’s head resting on a shoulder, the father’s stern expression. These details reveal Delsarte’s decision-making, immortalizing the infinite possibilities of composition. Primarily a painter and muralist, Delsarte also had an affinity for dominating figures and eye-catching hues, both abundantly clear in this work. The print itself exists in a strange middle ground between grandiose mural and intimate portrait—a synthesis perfectly suited to Brandywine’s ethos of artistic experimentation.

Identification and Creation
Object Number
2018.33.5
People
Louis Delsarte, American (Brooklyn, NY 1944 - 2020 Atlanta, GA)
Title
Unity
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1995
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/361185
Location
Level 3, Room 3500, Special Exhibitions Gallery
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Physical Descriptions
Medium
Offset lithograph on white wove paper
Technique
Offset print
Dimensions
73.7 × 54.6 cm (29 × 21 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.r., in graphite: Louis Delsarte
  • watermark: top left edge: RCHES / FRANCE [infinity sign] [partial]
Provenance
Louis Delsarte, created 1995; [Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA], sold; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2018.
State, Edition, Standard Reference Number
Edition
32/100
Acquisition and Rights
Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund
Copyright
© Estate of Louis Delsarte
Accession Year
2018
Object Number
2018.33.5
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
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Exhibition History

States of Play: Prints from Rembrandt to Delsarte, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/02/2022

Prints from the Brandywine Workshop and Archives: Creative Communities, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/04/2022 - 07/31/2022

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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