Room for Leaving
1975
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
airbrush with black ink, graphite, and colored pencil on Strathmore wove paper
Dimensions
image: 99.85 × 74.61 cm (39 5/16 × 29 3/8 in.) sheet: 101.6 × 76.2 cm (40 × 30 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection
Accession Number
2015.19.2943
Art Historical Context
**Room for Leaving** (1975) by American artist Ed McGow is a striking drawing from the mid-1970s, a period when artists increasingly explored precision and subtlety in works on paper. Measuring nearly 40 by 30 inches (: 99.85 × 74.61 cm), it was crafted with airbrush and black ink, graphite, and colored pencil on Strathmore wove paper—a smooth, high-quality support ideal for detailed layering. Now part of the National Gallery of Art's Corcoran Collection (Department: CG-W), this piece reflects the innovative spirit of postwar American draftsmanship. McGowin's technique masterfully combines ai...
About the Artist
Ed McGowin
Ed McGowin, born William Edward McGowin on June 2, 1938, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is an American painter, sculptor, and conceptual artist now based in New York City and Miami Beach, Florida. His early life is not well documented, but he drew from Southern roots throughout his career. McGowin earned a B.A. from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1961 and an M.A. in painting from the Univ...