4 from the series 1,2,3,4
Brice Marden
American, 1938–2023
1983
A screenprint by Brice Marden that reduces a painted frame to four broad, calligraphic black strokes on a grey field, testing the boundary between painterly gesture and printed form.
You first notice the heavy, almost wet-looking black bands that form a square—their ragged edges, drips, and brush tails sit against an even grey ground so the work reads like a single bold brushstroke captured in a mechanical print.
Dating from 1983 and one of a set of four, the piece shows Marden’s interest in translating spontaneous, painterly mark-making into the precise process of screenprinting, highlighting tensions between chance and control and making the ‘frame’ itself the subject.
Medium
One from a series of four screenprints
Dimensions
composition (irreg.): 32 13/16 × 29 9/16" (83.3 × 75.1 cm); sheet (irreg.): 38 3/16 × 29 9/16" (97 × 75.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Barbara Pine (through the Associates of the Department of Prints and Illustrated Books)
Accession
621.1983.4
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
