Image

Z0021355.jpg
RISDM 1996-11-43 silho.jpg
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Ad Reinhardt

No. 18, 1956

Description

Maker

Title

No. 18

Year

1956

Medium

Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

203.2 x 81.3 cm (80 x 32 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Unsigned

Type

Credit

Gift of Richard Brown Baker

Object Number

1996.11.43

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The New York School

November 7, 2003 - January 25, 2004

I am very skeptical about most of what people say pictures mean or paintings mean. I lean very much toward, way over toward a guy like Ad Reinhart, although I think he exaggerated, when he said pictures don’t mean anything. I have a kind of feeling that a work of art is something that you can never put your finger on in terms of meaning. I think that’s its essential quality.
(Siskind in audiotaped interview with Don Anderson, Louisville, Kentucky, April 29, 1970, Oral History Center, University Archives and Records Center, University of Louisville.)

Waterman Galleries

No. 18 comprises rectangles that vary just enough, on close scrutiny, to become distinguishable bands of black and deep blue. The use of color fields and the seeming absence of brushstrokes create an effect that encourages intense visual concentration. Reinhardt’s statement that “there is a black which is old and black which is fresh . . . lustrous black and dull black, black in sunlight and black in shadow” is exemplified by No. 18’s presentation of different shades of color, leading us towards a deeper consideration of tone, affect, and how we perceive the world.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is No. 18 with the accession number of 1996.11.43. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.