Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • Collection
  • Collection Research
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Watch / Listen / Read

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

Vija Celmins

Untitled (Desert)

Description

Maker

Vija Celmins (American, b. 1939), designer
Cirrus Editions, publisher

Title

Untitled (Desert)

Year

1971

Medium

  • Lithograph on Arches paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Lithograph on Arches paper

Materials

lithograph

Supports

  • Medium weight cream Arches wove paper

Dimensions

Plate: 53.7 x 70.2 cm (21 1/8 x 27 5/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Original--Recto:numbered in pencil in LL:60/65; signed and dated in LR:V. Celmins' 71Verso:in pencil in LL:38C - VC71

Marks: Partial watermark:[A]RCHES/[F]RANCE Blindstamp in LR:(cirrus clouds) = Cirrus Editions chopmark

Identification

Edition

60/65

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum purchase with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts

Object Number

73.101

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Primacy of Paper
Recent Works from the Collection
Jan 15, 2010 – Jun 20, 2010

Label copy

In the early 1970s, Celmins began creating highly detailed images of small patches of a rock-strewn desert floor. These joined a repertoire of subjects from the natural world which remain central to her work to this day, including ocean waves, clouds, the night sky, and the surface of the moon. Based on black-and-white photographs, these pencil drawings and lithographs emphasize both the individuality of each closely scrutinized bit of terrain, seen in the unique shapes of each rock and shadow, as well as a vast abstract pattern of texture, stretching beyond the page in every direction.

A Special Genius
Contemporary American Graphics from the Museum's Collection
Sep 01, 1976 – Oct 03, 1976

Use & Feedback

Image 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

Tombstone

Vija Celmins (American, b. 1939), designer
Cirrus Editions, publisher
Untitled (Desert), 1971
Lithograph on Arches paper
Plate: 53.7 x 70.2 cm (21 1/8 x 27 5/8 inches)
Museum purchase with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts 73.101

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use