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Taxi Cab III

Al Held American
1959
Not on view
In 1959 the painter Sam Francis (1923–1994), whom Held had met in the early 1950s while studying on the G. I. Bill in Paris, lent him his spacious, well-lit New York studio for six months. There Held created six monumental "Taxi Cab" paintings, of which this is the largest. To keep the studio clean, Held unrolled large sections of photographers’ backdrop paper. He eventually adopted the paper as a support, realizing his dynamic gestural style in unmixed color—newly developed Liquitex acrylic paints. Spanning thirty-one feet, the geometric forms of Taxi Cab III tumble, collide, and overlap, like jazzy abstract analogs for the careening traffic and cacophonous soundtrack of Held’s native city.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Taxi Cab III
  • Artist: Al Held (American, Brooklyn, New York 1928–2005 Todi)
  • Date: 1959
  • Medium: Acrylic on paper, mounted on canvas
  • Dimensions: 8 ft. 11 1/2 in. × 30 ft. 8 1/2 in. (273.1 × 936 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Robert Miller and Purchase, George A. Hearn Fund, 1987
  • Object Number: 1987.156
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

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