Untitled
Artist: Lee Mullican (American, 1919-1998)
Date: 1971
Dimensions:
74 3/4 × 74 3/4 in. (189.9 × 189.9 cm)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Museum Art Fund
Object number: 2018.28
Label Text:"I am concerned with the essence of nature; its behavior, its contour, and exploitation, as in the discovery of a new planet with its phases of light, growth, weather… a vista built for meditation…."
Upon graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1942, Lee Mullican was drafted into the US Army corps of engineers, where he learned map-making and topographical draftsmanship. Cartography later influenced his artwork when he painted abstract patterns inspired by aerial photographs of nature. Through Dyn magazine, Mullican discovered art by Indigenous cultures, including pre-Columbian, Native American, and African societies, which impacted his own artistic direction. He was also greatly influenced by Surrealism and its attempts to connect with the unconscious. Ultimately, he sought to express a kind of transcendence through his work.
When creating many of his paintings, including this one, Mullican used a printer’s ink knife to apply paint to the canvas. This technique gives the painting texture and is responsible for the many small lines, or striations, seen here. The zig-zag pattern is strongly reminiscent of Native American textiles from the Southwest.
Upon graduating from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1942, Lee Mullican was drafted into the US Army corps of engineers, where he learned map-making and topographical draftsmanship. Cartography later influenced his artwork when he painted abstract patterns inspired by aerial photographs of nature. Through Dyn magazine, Mullican discovered art by Indigenous cultures, including pre-Columbian, Native American, and African societies, which impacted his own artistic direction. He was also greatly influenced by Surrealism and its attempts to connect with the unconscious. Ultimately, he sought to express a kind of transcendence through his work.
When creating many of his paintings, including this one, Mullican used a printer’s ink knife to apply paint to the canvas. This technique gives the painting texture and is responsible for the many small lines, or striations, seen here. The zig-zag pattern is strongly reminiscent of Native American textiles from the Southwest.
On view