4:1 (For David Novros)

1966

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

Marden is devoted to the ongoing process of discovery, and the uncertainties that accompany it, rather than to the achievement of definitive conclusions. Featured in his first solo exhibition, at New York’s Bykert Gallery in 1966, 4:1 consists of a unified field of modulated brown-gray—an indeterminate color characteristic of his early work—that tapers off at the bottom edge near a channel of exposed canvas. Drips and slim, tapered brushstrokes reach into this channel, serving as evidence of both gravity and the artist’s labor. 4:1 is painted with encaustic, a mixture of oil and beeswax that records the movement of the artist’s brush, spatula, and palette knife across the canvas as well as the irregular marks these implements leave behind.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: 4:1 (For David Novros)
Artist: Brice Marden (American, born Bronxville, New York, 1938–2023 Tivoli, New York)
Date: 1966
Medium: Oil and beeswax on canvas
Dimensions: 60 × 65 1/4 in. (152.4 × 165.7 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Glenstone
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art