Number 319

Anne Ryan

1949 · Cut and torn papers, fabrics, gold foil, and bast fiber pasted on paper, mounted on black paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

A self-taught writer, painter and printmaker, Ryan took up her preferred medium, collage, only at the age of 58. Though she died a mere six years later, she managed to create approximately 400 examples, mostly in a diminutive scale. Ryan’s conversion to collage was prompted by a visit in 1948 to an exhibition in New York of the recently deceased German poet, sculptor and collagist, Kurt Schwitters. Ryan collected a variety of fabrics, preferably worn, even tattered or frayed, and combined these fragments with other ephemeral materials, such as torn paper, foil or cellophane, into compact, subtly textured arrangements.

Artist

Anne Ryan

Date

1949

Medium

Cut and torn papers, fabrics, gold foil, and bast fiber pasted on paper, mounted on black paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Bequest of Elizabeth McFadden, 1986