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Constellations

2015
Not on view
Rather than striving for pure non-objectivity, Pindell combines abstraction with patterns and decorative elements such as numbers, arrows, and other personal references that reflect her influences (such as African art), life experiences, and political activism. Forms associated with Minimalist and Post-Minimalist art, such as grids and numbers, become endowed with personal meaning, as her father was a mathematician. Constellations was inspired by Pindell’s fascination with star charts and astrological maps. She began working with circles, dots, arrows, and vectors in the early 1970s. The arrows and vectors here suggest multiple, often contradictory directions and, by association, meanings. The circular form, a recurring shape in Pindell’s oeuvre, refers to the ability to shift negative experiences into something positive.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Constellations
  • Artist: Howardena Pindell (American, born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1943)
  • Publisher: Center for Contemporary Printmaking
  • Date: 2015
  • Medium: Open bite etching
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 30 × 22 in. (76.2 × 55.9 cm)
    Image: 18 in. (45.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of the artist and the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.748
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Howardena Pindell
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
Untitled #87b, Howardena Pindell American, Cut and torn pasted paper, punched paper, acrylic, watercolor, board, and thread on board, mounted on board
Untitled #87b
Howardena Pindell
1977
Gray and Brass, John Sloan American, Oil on canvas, American
Gray and Brass
John Sloan
1907
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal), Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Italian, Etching; undivided plate, only state
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal)
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)
Dedicatee Joseph Smith
1741
Flight/Fields, Howardena Pindell American, Color lithograph and etching with collage
Flight/Fields
Howardena Pindell
Printer Solo Impressions, Inc.
Publisher Mezzanine Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art
1988–89
Necklace, Meta Overbeck American, Gold, emeralds, Montana sapphires, topazes, enamel, American
Necklace
Meta Overbeck
Louis C. Tiffany
Manufacturer Tiffany & Co.
ca. 1914–15

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