Ceaseless investigation underpins Ryman’s approach to painting. Any one work by the artist represents the culmination of "trials" conducted previously. Since the 1960s, Ryman has restricted himself to a limited array of formal and material options. Paradoxically, this is precisely what allows him to experiment as widely as he does, creating endless optical and compositional variations by means of adjustments to primer, medium, scale, material, support, and structure. Versions IV is one of sixteen paintings composed of short delicate brushstrokes that seem to swarm and disperse. The paint is applied to a slender fiberglass panel; at its upper edge the artist attached a fragile sheet of wax paper. Every element conspires to create an impression of weightlessness and extension beyond the painting’s external limits.
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the artist (1992–93; sold in 1993 through Pace Gallery, New York to Polsky); Cynthia Hazen Polsky, New York (1993–2013; on extended loan to MMA, 2000–2013; her gift to MMA)
Schaffhausen. Hallen für neue Kunst. "Robert Ryman: Versions," May 10–October 31, 1992, unnumbered cat. (p. 49).
New York. Pace Gallery. "Robert Ryman: Versions," December 4, 1992–January 9, 1993, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible," March 18–September 4, 2016, unnumbered cat. (pl. 168).
Christel Sauer inRobert Ryman: Versions. Ed. Christel Sauer and Urs Raussmüller. Exh. cat., Hallen für neue Kunst. [Schaffhausen], 1992, pp. 6–11, 73, ill. p. 49 (color).
Gerhard Mack. "Farblandschaften in Weiss." Badische Zeitung (August 21, 1992), p. 13.
Robert Ryman and Urs Raussmüller inRobert Ryman: Versions. Ed. Christel Sauer and Urs Raussmüller. Exh. cat., Hallen für neue Kunst. [Schaffhausen], 1992, pp. 12–15, 31–38, discuss the "Versions" series.
Catherine Kinley and Lynn Zelevansky in Robert Storr. Robert Ryman. Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1993, p. 204.
Barbara MacAdam. "Reviews: New York. Ryman's New Romanticism." Art News 92 (March 1993), p. 107, discusses the "Versions" series.
Michael Kimmelman. "Art in Review: Robert Ryman." New York Times (January 8, 1993), p. C18, discusses the "Versions" series.
Arne Glimcher. Adventures in Art: 40 Years at Pace. Ed. Mildred Glimcher. Milan, 2001, ill. p. 446 (color; installation photo, Exh. New York 1992–93).
Suzanne Perling Hudson. "Robert Ryman: Painting Pragmatism." PhD diss., Princeton University, 2006, vol. 1, pp. 189–90 n. 395, fig. 16.
Susan Sollins. Art: 21. Art in the Twenty-First Century. Ed. Marybeth Sollins. Vol. 4, New York, 2007, p. 148, ill. (color), includes an interview with the artist about the "Versions" series.
Marla Prather in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 2012–2014." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 72 (Fall 2014), p. 80, ill. (color), dates it 1991–92.
Kelly Baum inUnfinished: Thoughts Left Visible. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. New York, 2016, pp. 318–19, colorpl. 168, dates it 1991–92.
Vittorio Colaizzi. Robert Ryman. London, 2017, pp. 275–76, 328, ill. p. 294 (color).
Christel Sauer. "A Creative Process: Robert Ryman's Versions." raussmueller-insights.org. August 2022.
Kerry James Marshall (American, born Birmingham, Alabama, 1955)
2014
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