Agua y Acero
Best known for his welded steel sculptures, Edwards has also long worked as a printmaker. This work and Fragments and Shadows (MMA 2001.290) were created while the artist was in residence in the studio of the New York nonprofit Dieu Donné Papermill, during which Edwards experimented with papermaking techniques. The large black shapes that fill the compositions were made by laying objects such as chains and auto parts on sheets of fresh cotton pulp that were then washed, leaving behind the "shadows" of the objects. Relating to Edwards’ Lynch Fragments series of sculptures (MMA 1991.71 and 1991.202), the silhouettes are ambiguous yet suggest historically and emotionally resonant narratives.
Artwork Details
- Title: Agua y Acero
- Artist: Melvin Edwards (American, born Houston, 1937)
- Date: 2000
- Medium: Stenciled cotton rag pulp on paper
- Dimensions: 37 1/4 × 56 in. (94.6 × 142.2 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Purchase, Gift of Hyman N. Glickstein, by exchange, 2001
- Object Number: 2001.291
- Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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