Building the House of Knowledge, consciousness

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 number2020.9.5

Signed"Hugh Merrill 2012" in grpahite pencil at right

InscribedInscriptions immediately below the platemark in graphite pencil read: “sequence 5/state 5” (two lines) followed by “4/8” at left, “Building The House of Knowledge/Consciousness” (two lines) at center, and “Hugh Merrill 2012” at right.

Edition/State/ProofEdition 2/8

On View

Not on view

Collections

Contemporary Art

Terms

DescriptionThe focus of this vertically-oriented black and white print is a four-sided, tower-like structure that is darker at the bottom and gradually gets lighter towards the top. The tower stands along the vertical midline of the image, its bottom sits just below center. In the upper third of the composition above the tower-like structure, float animal forms and human faces. There is a rectangular area in the bottom third of the image forming something like a pathway toward the tower. It extends backward in perspective from its edge near the bottom. This pathway has a border decorated with a grid. The ground on either side of the pathway and below it is accented with thick black dashes that continue into the darker areas near the edges of the composition.Provenance

Provenance

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

His gift to The Nelson-Atkins Msueum of Art, Kansas City, MO 2020.

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