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Additional Views

Aug 14, 2023

Jun 28, 2007

Aug 14, 2023

Aug 15, 2023

Sea Painting I

1973–74

Brice Marden

(American, 1938–2023)

America, 20th century

Oil and wax on canvas

Unframed: 182.8 x 137.2 cm (71 15/16 x 54 in.)

Gift of Agnes Gund given in honor of the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Centennial 2017.127

Location

not on view

Did you know?

Later in his career, Marden dispensed with the wax technique used in Sea Painting I and developed a new method of mixing terpineol with oil to produce a pigment better suited to conveying the physicality of the canvas.

Description

Brice Marden made his first monochromatic, single-panel painting in the winter of 1964. During the next 20 years, he created spare, abstract, often multipaneled paintings that won national acclaim. In Sea Painting I, two rectangular canvases were painted with a mixture of beeswax and oil—known as encaustic—creating a smooth, dense surface with a matte finish.

Marden tested the reductionist tendencies of Minimalism by reintroducing references to landscape into a seemingly abstract painting. Here, he used subtle tones of gray-green that suggest water and atmosphere. The sharp split of color alludes to the division between sky and ocean and a limitless view to the horizon.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Signed, titled, and dated 1973–74 on reverse of the top panel;

Inscription

Written in black marker (verso): Top Panel: SEA PAINTING I 2 PANELS 36" X 54" EACH 72" X 54" 1973-74 B. Marden

Inscription

Written in black marker (verso): Bottom Panel: 72" X 54" 1973-74 B. Marden

Inscription

titled and dated on the reverse of the bottom panel.

Provenance

1973–?

Collection of the artist

Bykert Gallery, New York, NY

John Weber Gallery, New York, NY

Collection Parasol Press, New York, NY

Charles Kriwin, Brussels, BE

John Weber Gallery, New York, NY

by 1984–before 1991

Saatchi Collection

1990

Gagosian Gallery, New York, NY

April 30, 1991

(Sotheby’s, New York, NY, Sale #6164, Contemporary Art Part I, April 30, 1991, Lot 30)

1991–2017

Agnes Gund, New York, NY

2017

Agnes Gund, New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art

2017–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Ellenzweig, Allen. Selection of American Art: The Skowhegan School 1946–1976. Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1976. Reproduced: P. 121

Roque, Georges, Karel J. Geirlandt, and Monique Verken. American Art in Belgium: [Exhibit Held at Palais Des Beaux-Arts De Bruxelles 25.5-28.8.1977]. Bruxelles: Société des expositions du Palais des beaux-arts, 1977. Mentioned and reproduced, P. 133, no. 95; p. 166 reproduced.

Saatchi Collection, and Peter Schjeldahl. Art of Our Time: The Saatchi Collection, vol. 1. London: Lund Humphries, 1985. Mentioned: p. 7; Reproduced: Pl. 70.

Gohr, Siegfried, and Johannes Gachnang. Bilderstreit: Widerspruch, Einheit und Fragment in der Kunst seit 1960. Köln: DuMont, 1989. Catalogue No. 444; mentioned: p. 521

Lewison, Jeremy, and Brice Marden. Brice Marden: Prints, 1961–1991 : a Catalogue Raisonné. London: Tate Gallery, 1992. Reproduced: P. 33

Franz, Erich. In Quest of the Absolute. New York: Peter Blum, 1996. Mentioned and reproduced in color: p. 66–67.

Sims, Lowery Stokes. The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content, and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 75, no. 110.

Griswold, William M. “Recent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93–104. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 101, no. 16; mentioned: P. 93

Exhibition history

New Paintings, Brice Marden. Bykert Gallery, New York, NY (March 23–April 17, 1974)

Continuing Abstraction in American Art. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY [Downtown Branch] (September 19–November 1, 1974)

A Selection of American Art: The Skowhegan School 1946–1976. Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (June 16–September 5, 1976; Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, ME, (October 1–30, 1976)

American Art in Belgium. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (May 25–August 28, 1977)

Bilderstreit: Iconoclasm – Appeal, Unity and Fragment in Art Since 1960. The Rheinhallen, Cologne, Germany (April 8–June 28, 1989)

In Quest of the Absolute. Blumarts Inc., New York, NY (April 6–June 8, 1996)

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, OH (June 9– August 20, 2006)

The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).

Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Sea Painting I|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2017.127|author=Brice Marden|year=1973–74|access-date=21 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Sea Painting I

Sea Painting I

Brice Marden

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