Ad Reinhardt
American, 1913-1967
Black and White
INV-6176
Ad Reinhardt
American, 1913-19671947
Black and White
Ad Reinhardt American, 1913-1967 →paintingmodern and contemporary art
Date
1947
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
152.4 × 101.6 cm (60 × 40 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by Dr. and Mrs. Edwin J. De Costa and the Walter E. Heller Foundation
This visually electric work demonstrates Ad Reinhardt’s early exploration of the ways black and white paints
reflect and absorb light, appear when applied in thin washes or thick impasto, adhere to a canvas, and
respond to a brush. Black and White also reveals Reinhardt’s nuanced understanding of the sometimes surprising material and perceptual effects of color, which he rigorously addressed through the color black’s multiple optical possibilities. Although the artist largely abandoned gestural abstraction by the early 1950s in favor of rigid geometric structures, Reinhardt continued to pursue a robust argument in his paintings against the commonly perceived emptiness or invisibility of black.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Abstract Painting, 1960-65
Ad Reinhardt American, 1913-1967
Untitled, from X + X (Ten Works by Ten Painters)
Ad Reinhardt (American, 1913-1967) printed by Sirocco Screenprinters, Inc. (American, 20th century), under the supervision of Ives-Sillman (American, 20th century) published by Wadsorth Atheneum (American, 20th-21st century)
Untitled
Ad Reinhardt American, 1913-1967