Zen Study 5
1991
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
etching and sugarlift aquatint in black on Whatman wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 52.3 × 69.1 cm (20 9/16 × 27 3/16 in.) sheet: 69.5 × 89.5 cm (27 3/8 × 35 1/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Florian Carr Fund and Gift of the Print Research Foundation
Accession Number
2008.115.208
Art Historical Context
**Zen Study 5** by Brice Marden, created in 1991 exemplifies the artist's late-20th-century exploration into contemplative abstraction. A master print from the National Gallery of Art's Reba and Dave Williams Collection this etching and sugarlift aquat in black ink on Whatman wove paper measures 52.3 × 69.1 cm on the plate, with a larger sheet of 69.5 × 89.5 cm. Marden, renowned for his minimalist paintings of the 1960s and 1970s, shifted toward fluid, calligraphic lines inspired by Asian art traditions, evoking a sense of meditative calm in this "Zen Study" series. The medium's ingenuity shi...
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...