Untitled (Ocean)

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Untitled (Ocean)

Artist Vija Celmins (American, born 1939)

Publisher Cirrus Editions, Ltd.

DateJuly 1975

Dimensions16 1/2 x 20 1/8 in. (42 x 51.01 cm)

MediumLithograph

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineFrederick B. and Kate L. Shoemaker Fund

Object number

1976.64

Not on View

Label TextCelmins’ meticulous renderings of the natural environment in a reduced palette of gray represent the physical world at its most impersonal and neutral. Though her elemental views of vast space resist romantic notions of nature, they nevertheless retain an inherent elusive mystery and poetic resonance. Untitled (Ocean) is one of four lithograph scenes that Celmins made from pencil drawings of a day sky (Sky), a night sky (Galaxy), and an area of rocky desert earth (Desert). As exemplified by both Ocean and The View (1978), a rare mezzotint print that accompanies Czeslaw Milosz’s book of melodic poems displayed nearby, Celmins’ remarkable attention to detail imbues her subject matter with a sense of tranquility and stillness.Published Referencescf. Print Collector's Newsletter, VI, No. 6, Jan.-Feb. 1976, p. 160.Exhibition HistoryTMA Persistent Realities, Contemporary Prints: Sept. 2, - Nov. 12, 1978