Untitled

Leon Polk Smith

1957 · Paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

Polk Smith arrived in New York from his native Oklahoma in 1936 and, thanks to an early encounter with the work of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944), began to develop his own distinctive style of geometric abstraction. Between 1956 and 1964 he produced a group of uncharacteristically gestural drawings, consisting simply of ripped and scraped sheets of coated paper. By tearing the black sheet in one continuous, irregular line, and revealing the white, uncoated layer underneath, Polk Smith created a dramatic image—like a bolt of lightning in a dark field—with one decisive stroke.

Artist

Leon Polk Smith

Date

1957

Medium

Paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Gift of Leon Polk Smith Foundation, 2011