Images

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=B64C147DF79D6D347E558030F91B25D69DA91A6B80A9A9C9C92FF6537E1A3DAE&s=24247294&se=568095605&v=6&f=1967.77_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=AC23CDEB0002DDF809FA8E36854AAB9DBE82D16BD4C4AAD729067ED46142CB13&s=24247294&se=568095605&v=1&f=%5C1967.77_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=AC23CDEB0002DDF81F8089B944125F29B582348CB88EEA62A644388A2E662365&s=24247294&se=568095605&v=1&f=%5C1967.77det01_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=1BAC240BD082F6D4CB754D7C60DED40861879CA107437C099EC3681247AB44A4&s=24247294&se=568095605&v=1&f=%5C1967.77det02_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=1BAC240BD082F6D4224B3C33DD2BF8488CDC9BED7EC63F8E429D69BA1E9C190F&s=24247294&se=568095605&v=1&f=%5C1967.77det03_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=1BAC240BD082F6D4FCB485E5D1E2440F9DD5904C01FE869329EE672C0F78459C&s=24247294&se=568095605&v=1&f=%5C1967.77det04_o2.jpg

https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=B84C904845493B7668384FA7C26DA8B27826B4FDD871F669FE7BF7B7C455FE3B&s=24247294&se=568095605&v=1&f=%5C1967.77det05_o2.jpg

Additional Views

Nov 7, 2008

Untitled

1961

Lee Bontecou

(American, 1931–2022)

America, 20th century

Welded steel, canvas, and wire

Overall: 132.1 x 121.6 x 30.5 cm (52 x 47 7/8 x 12 in.)

Contemporary Collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art 1967.77

Location

229C Contemporary

Did you know?

In the early 1960s, Lee Bontecou often used found objects to create her hanging sculptures, including canvas from conveyor belts discarded by a laundry below her East Village apartment and salvaged metal and wire.

Description

In the early 1960s, Bontecou challenged artistic conventions through her creation of three-dimensional wall constructions that were neither sculpture nor painting, but a hybrid of the two. To construct this work, Bontecou used found objects such as welded steel, wire, and various types of canvas. An abstract form, riddled with dark openings that allude to bodily orifices, lunar craters, and gas masks, the work explores the relationship between the living and the machine.

Provenance

Collection of the artist

1968

(Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1967-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Cleveland Museum of Art. “Lee Bontecou, Untitled.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 2 (February 1969). Reproduced p. 79; mentioned p. 78-80 www.jstor.org

Cleveland Museum of Art. "Year in Review, 1967," The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54 (December 1967). Reproduced p. 331, no. 134, mentioned p. 346. www.jstor.org

“Accessions of American and Canadian Museums: October - December, 1967.” Art Quarterly 31, no. 2 (Summer 1968). Reproduced p. 230; mentioned p. 226

Cleveland Museum of Art. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Dept. of Art History & Education, CMA, 1969. Mentioned: p. 4 Reproduced: p. 6 archive.org

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 114

Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced p. 327; mentioned p. 326.

Henning, Edward B. Art of the Twentieth Century in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced p. 6.

Henning, Edward B. “The Art Museum and the Avant-Garde.” Art Journal 30, no. 1 (Autumn 1970): 20-26. Reproduced p. 22.

Huntley, David C., ed. Decade .7: Contemporary American Art, 1967. Exh. Cat. Edwardsville, IL: Southern Illinois University, 1967 Cat. No. 5

Smith, Elizabeth A. T., ed. Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective. Exh. Cat. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, published in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2003. Reproduced pgs. 39 and 225, Plate 28.

Exhibition history

Sculpture and Relief. Leo Castelli Gallery, New York (May 23-June 1961).

Decade .7. Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL (April 16 -May 16, 1967).

Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).

Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Chicago, IL (organizer) (co-organizer) (March 25-May 7, 1972).

Vitality of Vision: Works by Women in Sculpture. Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (March 20-May 10, 1987).

Contemporary Gallery Reinstallation 2021. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Untitled|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1967.77|author=Lee Bontecou|year=1961|access-date=25 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.

You are here:

Images

Untitled

Untitled

Lee Bontecou

Location

Download and Share

Did you know?

Description

Contact us