Building the House of Knowledge, empty

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 number2020.9.4

Signed"Hugh Merrill 2012" in graphite pencil at right

InscribedInscriptions immediately below the platemark in graphite pencil read: “sequence 2/state 2” (two lines) followed by “5/8” at left, “Building The House of Knowledge/#4” (two lines) at center, and “Hugh Merrill” at right.

Edition/State/ProofEdition 5/8

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 with a pointed, triangular roof. The lower half of the tower is mostly black and the upper half, below the roof, is transparent with black edges. As the tower rises, more and more of the white paper shows through, creating transparent effect for the tower just below the roof. The tower 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. Black ray lines intersect the tower and other black marks scattered across it. Immediately outside the top and upper sides of the trapezoid, more of the white of the paper shows through, but this is punctuated with thick black dashes that continue into the surrounding dark black areas. 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 Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2020.

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