Untitled 12
1986
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
etching with sugarlift aquatint on Rives BFK paper
Dimensions
plate: 20.3 x 17.5 cm (8 x 6 7/8 in.) sheet: 49.7 x 40.3 cm (19 9/16 x 15 7/8 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Collectors Committee and the New Century Fund - Gift of The William Stamps Farish Fund
Accession Number
1998.77.19
Art Historical Context
Brice Marden's *Untitled 12* (1986) is a striking example of the artist's exploration into printmaking during the mid-1980s, a period when he expanded his signature monochromatic abstractions from canvas to paper. As a key figure in Minimalism and later process-oriented abstraction, Marden created this etching with sugarlift aquatint on luxurious Rives BFK paper measuring a modest plate size of .3 x 17.5 cm. The sugarlift technique, which involves applying a sugar solution to "lift" areas of ink for painterly, textured effects, allowed Marden to mimic the subtle tonal shifts and organic gestur...
About the Artist
Brice Marden
Brice Marden (1938–2023) was born in Bronxville, New York, and grew up in nearby Briarcliff Manor. He studied at Florida Southern College before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Boston University in 1961 and a Master of Fine Arts from Yale School of Art in 1963, where he worked alongside future artists Richard Serra, Chuck Close, and Vija Celmins. His teachers at Yale included Jack Tworkov and...