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Cy Twombly

Untitled, 1968

Now On View

Description

Maker

Title

Untitled

Year

1968

Medium

Oil and crayon on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Materials

Supports

Dimensions

200.7 x 261.6 cm (79 x 103 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed and dated reverse UL: Cy Twombly'68

Type

Credit

The Albert Pilavin Memorial Collection of 20th-Century American Art

Object Number

69.060

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Phantom of Liberty

May 4 - December 30, 2018

It’s more like I’m having an experience than making a picture. So I’ve never had anyone around. I never have. People are different, but I have to really be with no interference. And it takes me hours.

Painting a picture is a very short thing if it goes well, but the sitting and thinking. . . . I usually go off on stories that have nothing to do with the painting, and sometimes I sit in the opposite room to where I work. If I can get a good hot story I can paint better, but sometimes I’m not thinking about the painting, I’m thinking about the subject. Lots of times I’ll sit in another room and then I might just go in. It takes a lot of freedom. –Cy Twombly

Modern and Contemporary Galleries

Here, white crayon applied on gray oil paint creates layers of scrawls reminiscent of chalk on a school chalkboard. These rhythmic scribbles suggest both the development of a narrative and a record of the artist’s gestural performance.

Twombly’s experience as a cryptologist in the U.S. Army prompted a fascination with drawing and calligraphy that is evident in Untitled and other works from his Blackboard series of paintings created between 1967 and 1971.

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 Untitled with the accession number of 69.060. To request a higher resolution file, please submit an online request.