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"Color Solid" device, a color chart in three dimensions (view 2)

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

c. 1977

Artist:

Artist unknown
active mid-20th century

About this artwork

Through his New York gallery in the 1930s and 1940s, Julien Levy played a pivotal role in introducing European avant-garde art to America. Levy had studied fine art at Harvard under Arthur Pope, a color theorist who invented the “color solid” device pictured in this photograph. The mathematical model, rendered here in wood, was designed to describe a spectrum of colors arranged according to their saturation and intensity. In his 1977 Memoir of an Art Gallery, for which this photograph was likely taken, Levy wrote that the model appealed to his love of gadgetry and—to the dismay of his conservative professor—his interest in abstraction.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Unknown

Title

"Color Solid" device, a color chart in three dimensions (view 2)

Place

Unknown Place (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1972–1982

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

23.4 × 17.2 cm (9 1/4 × 6 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Patricia and Frank Kolodny in memory of Julien Levy

Reference Number

1990.565.48

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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