 | This 1975 work by Henry Elinson, created in felt-tip pen, is among the works on view in the Yale University Art Gallery exhibit, which opens May 1. |
The ways in which artists have defined, challenged and reflected upon the role of "the line" in drawing is the focus of a new exhibition in the Yale University Art Gallery's newly renovated Louis Kahn Building.
Titled "What Is a Line? Drawings from the Collection," the exhibit will be on view May 1-July 22.
The show will include more than 60 drawings by 53 artists, including Carl Andre, Trisha Brown, Philip Guston and Agnes Martin, among others. Highlights will include an original wall drawing by Sol LeWitt, specially loaned by the artist.
"What Is a Line?" is being organized by a curatorial team of Yale students who are responsible for all aspects of the project, including exhibition design and interpretive materials, as well as installation of LeWitt's drawing.
Organized thematically, "What Is a Line?" is divided into seven sections, each of which offers an answer to the broad question posed by the exhibition title.
The first section, called "Space and Contour," considers traditional challenges related to how best to create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional surface. The works on view reveal how artists have found unexpected, non-traditional solutions to the problem, note the organizers. These include Ellsworth Kelly's "Magnolia" (1966), in which simple pencil outlines of a flower leave the viewer's eye to complete the full picture, and Henry Elinson's "Untitled" (1975), in which a felt-tip pen captures the topography of an abstract, seemingly mathematical shape.
Other sections take on the constraints of drawing. "Frame and Boundary," for example, explores the limitations presented by the four edges of a piece of paper, each in itself an immovable line. Jo Baer repeats the borderlines of the page in the drawing "Agent" (1962), while in "May 13th, 2001" (2001), Julia Mangold similarly mimics the effect of the border.
The artists represented in the section titled "Text" pay homage to the complex connection between writing and drawing and also explore the tension between these two concepts -- for example, the question of where does writing end and drawing begin? Some artists in this section, such as Cy Twombly, refuse to make the distinction, note the organizers, while others use line to explore or comment on texts. Jay Kelly, for example, uses short vertical lines to suggest the barcode -- a different kind of text.
In the drawings on view in "Grids and Networks," line is used as both a mechanical, systematized form of organization and as a more flexible network showing the unique touch of the human hand. Philip Guston's "Untitled" (1951), in brush and black ink, suggests both structured grid and the unstructured motion of the artist's hand. Other sections of the exhibition include "Layer," "Cuts, Impressions and Incisions" and "Gesture."
LeWitt's wall drawing underscores the diversity of effects possible when an artist stretches a line to its naturally expansive conclusion. The instructions for the drawing are simple: "131 lines of random length and direction, each drawn from the end of a previous line. They may cross." As the artist reveals through his work, note the organizers, the possibilities are endless.
The curatorial team of Yale students worked under the direction of Yale Art Gallery staff members Anna Hammond, deputy director for education, programs and public affairs, and Pamela Franks, curator of academic initiatives, as well as with Christine Mehring, assistant professor of the history of art at Yale.
This exhibition is made possible by the Florence B. Selden Fund, and the Jane and Gerald Katcher and the Nolen-Bradley Family Funds for Education, with additional support provided by Drs. Joseph L. Koerner, B.A. 1980 and Margaret L. Koster, and by Carol and Sol LeWitt in memory of Robert Rosenblum.
Exhibition talks by the student-curators take place on Wednesdays, May 23, June 6 and June 27, at 12:20 p.m. The talks are free and open to the public.
The Yale University Art Gallery, located at 1111 Chapel St., is open to the public free of charge 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday (until 8 p.m. on Thursday between September and June) and 1-6 p.m. on Sunday. It is closed Monday and major holidays. For information, call (203) 432-0600 or visit http://artgallery.yale.edu.
T H I S
Art exhibit explores the question:
'What Is a Line?'
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