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Untitled

Artist Herbert Matter (American, born Switzerland, 1907 - 1984)
Dateca. 1945
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 6 3/4 × 11 1/4 inches (17.15 × 28.58 cm)
Mount: 11 3/8 × 17 1/4 inches (28.91 × 43.82 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2015.8.31
SignedOn mount verso, bottom, black stamp: "foto / herbert matter / Estate of Herbert Matter"
Inscribednone
MarkingsOn mount verso, bottom, in pencil: "5650"
On View
Not on view
Collections
DescriptionAbstract image that extends beyond the frame and is composed of overlapping lines of varying thickness that range in tone from black to white.Exhibition History
Rotation 25. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October 19, 2018- March 17, 2019, no cat.
Gallery Label
The organic forms of this dynamic composition recall the paintings of Jackson Pollock. Herbert Matter befriended Pollock in the 1940s and found inspiration in the painter’s expressive brushwork. He experimented frequently during this decade with a similar visual vocabulary. To make this camera-less image, Matter likely poured a thick, liquid substance on a piece of glass and then exposed a sheet of light-sensitive paper beneath.
Provenance
Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2015;   
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2015.
Copyright© The Matter Family / Alex Matter
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