Whiteness 6
Richard Tuttle
American, born 1941
1994
A T‑shaped wall work in which Tuttle assembles painted plywood, paper, Styrofoam, cloth, nails, and hand‑made marks in colored pencil and graphite to create an intimate, improvised painting‑sculpture that shrinks monumental language into a humble tactile gesture.
On the wall it reads like a floating, handmade cross: two warm beige sheets dotted with small colored‑pencil circles flank a pale, ghostly center above a saturated red panel with diagonal bands, while a rolled strip of cloth at the base underscores the piece’s fragility and craft.
By privileging everyday materials, small scale, and visible process, Tuttle undermines heroic modernist conventions and helped nudge painting and sculpture toward postminimal, process‑oriented practices that celebrate modesty, touch, and the hand of the maker.
Medium
Styrofoam, paper, colored pencil, graphite, latex paint, plywood, enamel, nails, cotton cloth, galvanized metal, and masking tape
Dimensions
Overall 6' 7 1/2" x 71 3/4" x 2 3/4" (201.9 x 182.3 x 6.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Marcia Riklis Fund
Accession
45.1997.a-u
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
