Robert Ryman
Born – Nashville, USA 1930
Robert Ryman is credited with having bridged the gap between Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism. A leading figure in American abstract painting, with his “white” canvases he has pushed out the boundaries of picture-making by focusing on light, material and surface as his subjects. He reduces the painting’s content to a specific enquiry, in which the medium and the meaning of painting itself becomes the act of intellectual and physical creativity. He studied at Tennessee Polytechnic from 1948-1949 and at the George Peabody College for Teachers, in Nashville, until 1950. In 1952 he moved to New York City, making a living as a gallery attendant at the Museum of Modern Art. The process of painting has been, from the start of his career, a central concern. Ryman’s exploration of the variety of visual effects made possible by combining different materials is seemingly inexhaustible. The numerous ways in which he applies his concoctions and displays them continues to be a preoccupation. The square format, shown in Ledger, painted in pigmented shellac (or enamelac), became fixed in the late 1950s and the whiteness dominated by the mid-1960s. According to Ryman, “White enables other things to become visible”.
Masterpieces:
- Delta III
- Surface Veil III
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About robert ryman
Robert Ryman: Used Paint (October Books)
Suzanne P. Hudson
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Robert Ryman: Variations and Improvisations (Phillips Collection)
Vesela Sretenovic
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Robert Ryman
Charles Wylie
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