Mitila III
1975
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
brown and black pastel with incised lines on wove Arches paper
Dimensions
overall: 34.3 x 34.3 cm (13 1/2 x 13 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection
Accession Number
2007.6.313
Art Historical Context
**Mitila III** (1975) by Edda Renouf is a captivating square-format drawing that exemplifies subtle abstraction in late 20th-century art. Created on high-quality wove Arches, this 34.3 x 34.3 cm work employs brown and black pastel layered with incised lines—delicate scratches etched directly into the surface. This technique produces a tactile, luminous quality, where light catches the grooves to reveal faint, rhythmic patterns emerging from minimal marks. Renouf, an American artist active in the 1970s New York scene, favored such restrained processes to explore perception and materiality. The...
About the Artist
Edda Renouf
Edda Renouf was born in Mexico City in 1943 to an artistic family — her father, Edward Renouf, was himself a painter. She moved to the United States in 1957 and began her formal training at Sarah Lawrence College in 1961, later earning her Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University, where she studied under the painter Richard Pousette-Dart. A year spent at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Mu...