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Artwork Details
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Title:City Crowd–Cop and Ear
Artist:A. Robert Birmelin (American, born Newark, New Jersey, 1933)
Date:1980
Medium:Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions:48 x 96 in. (121.9 x 243.8 cm.)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Federico Quadrani, 1981
Object Number:1981.510
Inscription: Signed and dated (verso): A.R. Birmelin / 1980
the artist, New York (1980–81; sold in 1981 through the Odyssia Gallery, New York to Quadrani); Mr. and Mrs. Fredérico Quadrani (1981; their gift to MMA)
Brunswick, Me. Bowdoin College Museum of Art. "Robert Birmelin: Recent Paintings, Maine and New York," March 14–May 25, 1980.
New York. Odyssia Gallery. "Robert Birmelin: 'In the City'," March 14–April 10, 1981, no. 11 [as "City Crowd–Cop and Ear (2nd version)"].
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale. "New Narrative Painting: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," February 9–26, 1984, no. 4 (as "City Crowd—Cop and Ear [2nd version]").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Aspects of the City," July 31–September 30, 1984, no catalogue.
Mexico City. Museo Rufino Tamayo. "Nueva Pintura Narrativa: Coleccion del Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York," November–December 1984, no. 4.
Bronx Museum of the Arts. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 2–March 24, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," April 17–June 2, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Queens. Jamaica Arts Center. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 15–July 27, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Staten Island Museum. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 8–October 20, 1985, unnum. brochure.
New York. City College of New York. "The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," October 25–December 13, 1985, unnum. brochure.
Phoenix Museum of Art. "New Narrative Painting: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art," March 14–April 27, 1986, unnum. brochure.
Virginia Beach Center for the Arts. "Made in America," April 5–June 11, 1989, unnumbered cat. (p. 33; as "City Crowd—Cop and Ear [2nd Version]").
Roslyn Harbor, N. Y. Nassau County Museum of Art. "American Narrative Painting and Sculpture: The 1980's from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," August 4–November 3, 1991, unnumbered cat. (p. 11).
Lisa M. Messinger in William S. Lieberman. Nueva Pintura Narrativa: Coleccion del Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York. Exh. cat., Museo Rufino Tamayo. Mexico City, 1984, pp. 9, 41, ill. (color).
Mark Riebling. "'Aspects of the City' Mixes Variety of Artists and Styles." Columbia Daily Spectator (September 7, 1984), p. 5.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inNew Narrative Painting: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale . Fort Lauderdale, 1984, unpaginated, no. 4, ill. (overall and detail).
Lowery S. Sims. The Artist Celebrates New York: Selected Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. brochure, Bronx Museum of the Arts. New York, 1985, unpaginated.
Piri Halasz. "Manhattan Museums: The 1940s vs. the 1980s; Part Two: The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Arts Magazine 59 (March 1985), pp. 97–98.
Robert S. Cauthorn. "Canvas Sirens: Alarming Show from New York is on View in Phoenix." Arizona Daily Star (April 6, 1986), p. E1.
George H. Roeder, Jr. "What Have Modernists Looked At? Experiential Roots of Twentieth–Century American Painting." American Quarterly 39 (Spring 1987), p. 75.
Lowery S. Sims inMade in America. Exh. cat., Virginia Beach Center for the Arts. Virginia Beach, 1989, pp. 13, 33, calls it "City Crowd–Cop and Ear (2nd Version)".
Helen A. Harrison. "The Rothko Legacy, Plus Some Works That Relate Stories." New York Times (September 29, 1991), p. LI12.
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