Two Circles

Alexander Liberman American, born Ukraine

1950

Not on view

Alexander Liberman had a rich and varied career as a photographer, painter, sculptor, and, for 31 years, editorial director of Condé Nast publications. At the time this work was created, few others in New York were painting such explicitly geometric forms. This particular painting was chosen in 1954 for the exhibition "Younger American Painters" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, becoming the first and only work by Liberman to be publicly exhibited until 1960. In sharp contrast to the Abstract Expressionists' desire for unique, expressive paintings, Liberman noted later that his "whole theory" about his geometric works of this period were that they were endlessly "repeatable and renewable."

Artwork Details

Title: Two Circles
Artist: Alexander Liberman (American (born Ukraine), Kiev 1912–1999 Miami, Florida)
Date: 1950
Medium: Enamel on Masonite
Dimensions: 40 1/8 × 40 1/8 in. (101.9 × 101.9 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Tomkins, 1993
Object Number: 1993.452
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

By Alexander Liberman

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Untitled, Alexander Liberman American, born Ukraine, Lithograph and silkscreen with embossed plate — Untitled
Alexander Liberman
Printer 2RC Edizioni d’Arte
Publisher The Committee to Endow a Chair in Honor of Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University, New York
1973

Gray and Brass, John Sloan American, Oil on canvas, American — Gray and Brass
John Sloan
1907

History Refused to Die, Thornton Dial American, Okra stalks and roots, clothing, collaged drawings, tin, wire, steel, Masonite, steel chain, enamel, and spray paint — History Refused to Die
Thornton Dial
2004

Untitled, Alexander Liberman American, born Ukraine, Polished steel, welded — Untitled
Alexander Liberman
1968

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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