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Accession #	88.122
Artist	Manierre Dawson
Title	Xdx
Date	1910
Medium	Oil on paperboard attached to particleboard
Dimensions	19 1/8 x 14 7/16 in. (48.6 x 36.7 cm)
Signed	Initialled lower center: "M.D."; dated lower left: " '10 "
Credit Line	Purchased with funds given by an anonymous donor and Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Location	Visible Storage: Case 16, Screen E (Paintings)

Curatorial Remarks:

Manierre Dawson's education in civil engineering contributed to his early experiments with abstract visual language. Well versed in mathematics and trained to design two-dimensional plans that would translate into three-dimensional objects, Dawson here seems to use imaginary mathematical symbols (suggested by the title of the painting and by the grid of lines and the series of contained shapes) to arrive at a form of pure abstraction. Xdx is one of a series of small paintings executed by Dawson in 1910 that are probably the first completely abstract works created by an American artist.