Red and Green on Blue Field
1973-1975
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gouache and graphite on blotting paper
Dimensions
overall: 48 x 29.2 cm (18 7/8 x 11 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Regina Slatkin, Carole and Laura Slatkin
Accession Number
1990.58.13
Art Historical Context
Theodoros Stamos (1922–1997) was a Greek-American painter and one of the youngest members of New York’s Abstract Expressionist circle. His early biomorphic abstractions, inspired by nature and ancient forms, gradually gave way in later decades to quieter, more expansive color-field works that emphasized mood and spatial depth through simplified shapes and resonant hues. Created between 1973 and 1975, *Red and Green on Blue Field* is a modest yet luminous drawing in gouache and graphite on blotting paper. Gouache’s opaque, velvety pigment allowed Stamos to lay down rich, matte areas of color, ...