Building the House of Knowledge, logic

Artist Hugh J. Merrill (American, born 1949)

Printer Guanlan Original Printmaking Base

Date2012

MediumEtching in ink on Stonehenge paper

DimensionsSheet: 35 1/4 × 26 1/2 inches (89.54 × 67.31 cm)
Image: 27 1/2 × 19 1/4 inches (69.85 × 48.9 cm)

Credit LineGift of Rebecca and Emmett Merrill

Object number2020.9.1

Signed"Hugh Merrill 2012" signed in graphite pencil at right

InscribedImmediately below the platemark in graphite pencil read: "8/8" at left, "Building The House OF Knowledge/Logic" (two lines) at center, and "Hugh Merrill 2012" at right

Edition/State/ProofEdition 8/8

On View

Not on view

Collections

Contemporary Art

Terms

DescriptionThe focus of this vertically-oriented black and white print is a tower-like structure that is transparent and four-sided with a pointed, triangular roof. Black outlines form the edges and three floors are visible in the structure. It stands along the vertical midline of the image, its bottom sits just below center, and its roof peak is within the topmost quarter of the image. Immediately around and behind the sides and top of the structure, the background is mostly white with a few black marks scattered across it. Outside of this area, the image is mostly black with smaller areas of white. The black area forms a rectangular-ish frame around the tower. A rectangular area forming something like a pathway toward the tower extends backward in perspective from its edge near the bottom of the image. This pathway has a border decorated with a grid and a darker area within the border. The ground on either side of the pathway and tower is covered in a pattern of overlapping groups of parallel black and white lines.Provenance

Provenance

The artist, Kansas City, MO, 2012-September 30, 2020 [1];

Her gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2020.

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