Mary Mandala
Maker
(artist)
1939-2024
1939-2024
Title
Mary Mandala
Date of Production
1973
Dimensions
Height: 50 cm
Width: 50 cm
Width: 50 cm
Accession Number
D.2021.XX.1
Mode of Acquisition
Deanna Petherbridge, gift, 2021
Credit
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Copyright
© The Estate of Deanna Petherbridge
Location
Not currently on display
Label Text
In the 1970s, when Deanna Petherbridge worked primarily in pen and ink, she explored the threshold between figuration and abstraction and perspective and patterning, taking inspiration from the geometries of Islamic architecture and Asian mandalas (geometric configurations of symbols used in various spiritual traditions). The repetitive pen work produced forms which spin outward from the centre and which could be hung in any orientation. Adopting such imagery allowed her to experiment with an alternative to the narrow formal preoccupations of Pop Art and Minimalism, which dominated British art at the time.
Notes
About this work, Deanna Petherbridge said:
In the 1970s, when I turned to pen and ink as the main medium of my drawing practice, I explored the liminal territory between figuration and abstraction, perspective and patterning in drawings inspired by the geometries of Islamic architecture and Asian mandalas. These challenged the parochial preoccupations of Pop-Art and Minimalism of mainstream British culture where women artists were fighting for recognition. The repetitive pen work served an incantatory practice where the dominant centre controlled the spatial variations of concentric spinning activity in drawings that could be hung in any orientation. Mary Mandala was an ironic title as often happened with these austere works.
Provenance
Gift of the artist, 2021
Exhibition History
From the Baroque to Today: New Acquisitions of Works on Paper, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 23/02/2024-27/05/2024
Literature
'Deanna Petherbridge, Drawing and Dialogue,' with a preface by A. Griffiths, Circa Press Ltd., 2016.
pp. 15, 35
Deanna Petherbridge, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, December 2016 – June 2017
pp. 15, 35
Deanna Petherbridge, Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, December 2016 – June 2017
Inscriptions
Inscription: recto : artist's monogram, Delta/Pi
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