Construction, 1948-1960 Painted wood Burgoyne Diller Born: 1906 The Bronx, New York Died: 1965 New York, New York A leader in the development of geometric abstraction in American art, Burgoyne Diller began making reliefs in 1938 as a three-dimensional corollary to his flat drawings and paintings. Diller was inspired by the purity of the Dutch De Stijl movement, characterized by discrete forms – squares and rectangles – rendered in primary colors set against black and white. Here, an open frame construction and the absence of a background plane facilitates ambiguous spatial interplay. The elements of Diller’s perpendicular scaffolding overlap. Yet, unlike drawn or painted lines that demarcate planar boundaries, the colored wooden pieces become planes themselves, overlapping and casting shadows to add even greater spatial play. Diller’s masterful balance and precision of scale exude a delicate, radiant confidence. Given in Memory of Marion Priest Joslin, by exchange, and Edward Joseph Gallagher III Memorial Fund, 1986.176