Pat Steir and Pat Steir
Untitled
1984
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Charcoal, graphite, black crayon, and pen and blue-green ink, with stumping and erasing, on paper, Sheet: 1522 x 2132 mm. (59 15/16 x 83 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection
Object Number
1987.40
Steir’s fascination with the violent force of waves and their potential for destruction informs this powerful composition. Here Steir works with the full extension of her arm, mimicking the swirl of the wave with her sweeping and gestural mark making. Her sources are numerous: in addition to an interest in the Japanese artist Hokusai, known for his wave imagery, Steir admires calligraphy’s ability to embody the expressive and representational potential of the drawn line. Dripping ink and written words at the top of the page allude to the qualities of script suspended against a grid.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1987; Michael Klein, Inc., NY
BMA, "BMA Collects: Landscape Drawings from the T.E. Benesch Memorial Collection," 8 May - 17 June, 1990.
BMA, "Making the Decades: Drawings 1960-1990," 5 February - 19 April, 1992.
BMA, "Major Modern Drawings from the Collection," 8 October - 18 December 1994.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
BMA, "Making the Decades: Drawings 1960-1990," 5 February - 19 April, 1992.
BMA, "Major Modern Drawings from the Collection," 8 October - 18 December 1994.
BMA, "Select Views: Drawings from the Benesch Collection," 21 May - 30 July 2006.
Nancy Patz, "Edward Benesch: The Drawing Master." Newsletter of the Print, Drawing & Photograph Society (Spring 2006), illus. p. 21.
Inscribed: upper center in graphite: "sea Every Angel"
