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Artworks
Betty Parsons
Untitled, 1950Gouache on paper20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.64 cm)
22 7/8 x 19 x 1 5/8 in framed (58.1 x 48.3 x 4.1 cm framed)BP155Though trained as a landscape painter, in 1947, Parsons began to paint abstractly. She described this shift as an effort to capture not what a place or event “looked like,...Though trained as a landscape painter, in 1947, Parsons began to paint abstractly. She described this shift as an effort to capture not what a place or event “looked like, but what it made [her] feel.” This untitled gouache from 1950 is a playful medley of rectangular forms that recalls the legacy of Cubism. By employing a loose sgraffito technique, using the end of her paintbrush to scratch through the pigment and reveal the paper’s surface beneath, Parsons contrasts the dense confluence of turquoise boundaries. Early in her transition to abstraction, Parsons already shows a masterful balance of line, color variety, and composition.
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