Abstraction

Abraham Walkowitz

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Abstraction evokes the entangled forms of two figures in an embrace using a Cubist language of faceted geometric shapes and patterned hatchings. Abraham Walkowitz probably took his inspiration from a drawing by Pablo Picasso that was exhibited at Alfred Stieglitz’s progressive 291 gallery in New York. Like many modernists, Walkowitz used the human figure as a vehicle for aesthetic experimentation.

Caption

Abraham Walkowitz American, born Russia, 1878–1965. Abstraction, 1912. Graphite on medium, cream, moderately textured, laid paper, Sheet: 19 x 12 5/8 in. (48.3 x 32.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the artist, 39.655. Orphaned work (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 39.655_IMLS_PS3.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

American Art

Title

Abstraction

Date

1912

Medium

Graphite on medium, cream, moderately textured, laid paper

Classification

Drawing

Dimensions

Sheet: 19 x 12 5/8 in. (48.3 x 32.1 cm)

Signatures

Signed in ink, lower right: "A. WALKOWITZ 1912"

Markings

Round stamp embossed at upper right: "STRATHMORE / PAPER" around thistle

Credit Line

Gift of the artist

Accession Number

39.655

Rights

Orphaned work

After diligent research, the Museum is unable to locate contact information for the artist or artist's estate, or there are no known living heirs.Copyright for this work may be controlled by the artist, the artist's estate, or other rights holders. A more detailed analysis of its rights history may, however, place it in the public domain. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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