Untitled

Maker

(artist)
1928-2011

Title

Untitled

Date of Production

1959

Medium

graphite on paper

Dimensions

Height: 60.9 cm
Width: 90.9 cm

Accession Number

LD.2020.HK.14

Mode of Acquisition

Karshan Collection, long-term loan, 2020

Credit

Promised gift by Linda Karshan in memory of her husband, Howard Karshan. On long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery, London

Copyright

Location

Not currently on display

Label Text

Sweeping across this large sheet is an array of softly made marks, symbols, and what might be scribbled notations. The more one looks, the more this graphic constellation reveals itself, but it remains tantalisingly mysterious. It is as if Twombly is offering us his personal sketches and notes, but invites the viewer to create their own interpretation of them. The work’s combination of subtlety, scale and complexity makes it an impressive early example of Twombly’s highly original approach to drawing.

Provenance

Vrej Baghoomian, Inc., New York [sticker on back of frame]; anonymous sale, Sotheby's, New York, 9 May 1996, lot 268 (repr., excerpt in file); purchased there by Howard Karshan (1933-2017); Promised gift by Linda Karshan in memory of her husband, Howard Karshan. On long-term loan to The Courtauld Gallery, London.

Exhibition History

Modern Drawings: The Karshan Gift, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 19/11/2021-09/01/2022

New Words, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, 21/01/1989-18/02/1989

Cy Twombly, Vrej Baghoomian, New York, 1988

Literature

Modern Drawings: The Karshan Gift, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 20 Nov. 2021 - 9 Jan. 2022
cat. no. 14
Fig. p. p. 83, detail on p. 84

del Roscio, Nicola, Cy Twombly Drawings, catalogue raisonné. 5 vols., Munich and New York 2011-2015
vol. 2, 1956-1960 (2012), p. 115, no. 94
Fig. p. repr.

Cy Twombly, Vrej Baghoomian, New York, 1988
cat. no. no number
Fig. p. repr.

Inscriptions

Label: Several labels on frame verso including from Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Josef Framing and Sotheby's, but only visible from a photograph in the object file so not here recorded in full.

Inscription: Recto: lower left, graphite, signed and dated: "Cy Twombly nyc 59".

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