Bridget Riley. Cataract 3. 1967. Emulsion on canvas, 221.9 x 222.9 cm. British Council, London.
M.C. Escher. (BRM)
Louise Bourgeois (American, born France. 1911-2010). The Maternal Man (for Parkett no. 82). 2008. (MoMA)
William Henry Fox Talbot (British, 1800-1877). Trafalgar Square, London, during the Erection of the Nelson Column. (MoMA)
In 1912 Max Weber wrote of his creative process: “We shall not be bound by visible objects—only the essence we as humans get out of them… . Memories are visible things.” Weber saw a performance of the famous Russian Ballet in New York in 1914 and shortly afterward executed a watercolor recording his impressions of the dancers. Two years later he painted this oil, which shows the crystallization of this memory in even greater abstraction.
Max Weber (American, 1881-1961). Russian Ballet. 1916. Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in. (76.2 x 91.4 cm). (Brooklyn Museum)
Sheet music cover of Kinky / words by Mord Allen & Ed. Green; music by Will Marion Cook. (NYPL)
sheet music of The fireman’s quadrille / compos’d by Jullien. (c1854) (NYPL)
Untitled (Dandelion in Grass). Consuelo Kanaga (American, 1894-1978). Photography. Gelatin silver print, 4 x 2 7/8 in. (10.2 x 7.3 cm). (Brooklyn Museum)
Sharecropper. Elizabeth Catlett (American, born 1915). 1952, printed 1970. Color linocut on cream Japanese paper, 450 x 431 mm (block); 544 x 513 mm (sheet). (AIC)
Selected and altered from description:
Sharecropper is probably Elizabeth Catlett’s most famous work. She was influenced by the spirit of activism at People’s Graphic Arts Workshop in Mexico, which inspired her to produce images of the hardships endured by African American women. Sharecropper, like many of her other works, shows Catlett’s activism on behalf of African American women in the South, who she believed maintained their dignity in the face of great adversity.
The Creation of Adam. Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Italian, 1609-1664). 1642. Prints and drawing. Monotype (dark manner) in black on ivory laid paper, 303 x 203 mm (image/sheet) (AIC)
Wrong. John Baldessari (United States, California, National City, born 1931-06-17). 1966-68. Painting, Photoemulsion with acrylic on canvas, 59 x 45 in. (149.86 x 114.3 cm). (LACMA)
When Los Angeles artist John Baldessari made this work in 1969, he was intentionally questioning the conventions of picture-making, among other things. Baldessari created this work after looking at an art instruction book about how to properly compose images. He said:
The person that did the book had sketches of the scene, of let’s say a landscape-but there would be two. And one would be right, according to him, and one would be wrong. And I loved the idea that somebody would just say that this is right and this is wrong. So I decided I would have a painting that was wrong, a work of art that was wrong-which seemed right to me.
Baldessari was more interested in communicating his concept than he was in creating something precious or unique. To emphasize this point, he hired a professional sign painter to letter the word “wrong” you see on this work.
