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Portfolios%3D%22563%22%20and%20Sort_Artist%3D%22Graves,%20Nancy%20S.%22
Painting
Fragment
Nancy S. Graves, 1940 - 1995
Graves, Nancy S.
United States
1940 - 1995
Female
64 x 76 in. (162.6 x 193 cm)
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overall
frame
Oil
Oil
1977
1977
1977
1900-2000, 20th century, paintings
Painting
Nancy Graves worked in many media, including sculpture, printmaking, film, and painting. This fact may be one reason why this important and influential artist is not as well known today as she might otherwise be. Graves’ work is so varied in subject and material that it can be difficult to grasp the totality of her accomplishment. For paintings like this from the late 1970s, the artist found inspiration in topographical maps, including of the ocean floor, lunar photographs, fossil records, and other records of the natural world to create ebullient, whimsical, and layered abstract paintings.
[Summer 2015]
By incorporating scientific research and popular imagery into her practice, Nancy Graves sought to emphasize the amorphous relationship between reality and representation. In Fragment, Graves distorts recognizable patterns one might come to expect from a map—constructing a painting as much about visual expectations as it is about vibrant abstraction. From a distance, Fragment can be viewed as a jumbled topography, with distinct regions of colorful mark-making clashing or blending together. Upon closer inspection, the abstraction of the work takes over, denying a tangible reference to a specific place.
[Summer 2023, Adam Ranz]
lower left centerverso
1985.27
item
Memorial Art Gallery
9/8/1999
85.27TR1
Transparency
Memorial Art Gallery
4 x 5
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85.27CNEG1
negative
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85.27SL1
slide
full
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85.27DI1
digital image
Memorial Art Gallery
Imaging complete
6/23/2000
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85.27TR2
transparency
4 x 5
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