Image provided by donor - not for public use

P(S)-12 Edward Teller’s Dream

Artist Joan Witek (American, born 1943)

Date1982

MediumOil stick and graphite on canvas

DimensionsOverall: 68 1/8 × 119 3/4 × 1 1/2 inches (173.04 × 304.17 × 3.81 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund

Object number2025.7

SignedSigned and titled verso: Titled, dated, and numbered verso [twice]: "Edward Teller's Dream / Joan Witek / P(S)-12"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Contemporary Art

Terms

DescriptionThis large, horizontally oriented work is an abstract composition of rows of mostly short black vertical columns with rounded tops and bottoms set against a neutrally colored background. In top left and right corners of the canvas, there are thicker, longer lines that span four rows of the shorter vertical lines with rounded edges. At the bottom edge of the canvas at the center is a short stack of elongated horizontal lines, the height of which spans four rows of the short vertical lines.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Joan Witek: Paintings, 1980–1983 and Drawings, 1976–1984. Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, March 3 – April 29, 1984 (as Edward Teller’s Dream).

Joan Witek, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York, NY, June 1–23, 1984.

Joan Witek: Paintings from the 1980s, Minus Space, Brooklyn, NY, September 12–October 24, 2020.

Joan Witek & Gio Pomodoro, The Armory Show / Secci Gallery, New York, NY, September 7–10, 2023.

Provenance

With the artist, 1982–2024;

Purchased from the artist though Artist Estate Studio (New York, NY) by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2025.

Published References

Joan Witek: Paintings, 1980–1983 and Drawings, 1976–1984 (Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Institute, 1984), 17.

Bell, Jane. “Joan Witek at Rosa Esman.” ARTnews (October 1984).

Daly, Ann. “Joan Witek: Her Art is More Than Designs.” The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), March 22, 1984, as Edward Teller’s Dream.

Witek at the Armory Show (Sep 8-10), Jason Andrew (New York, NY), August 30, 2023, https://www.joanwitek.org/news/2023/8/30/witek-at-the-armory-show-sept-8-10/#available-works.

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