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Untitled

An abstracted work made of irregular pieces of stretched canvas bonded together, creating a funnel shape that protrudes out to form a dark hole.

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  • An abstracted work made of irregular pieces of stretched canvas bonded together, creating a funnel shape that protrudes out to form a dark hole.

Date:

1960

Artist:

Lee Bontecou
American, 1931-2022

About this artwork

While studying in Rome on a Fulbright Fellowship, Lee Bontecou learned to weld the steel frames that became the basis of her acclaimed three-dimensional work. In 1959 she incorporated canvas that she salvaged from used conveyor belts discarded by a neighboring laundry, inaugurating a body of monumental wall reliefs. In Untitled fragments of natural canvas and burlap are tautly stretched and attached with wire to an armature and welded framework. Every element seems directed toward the deep, velvet-lined opening, which suggests geographic and biological references, such as a volcano, a black hole, or an anatomical orifice. Untitled was originally exhibited in the artist’s one-person exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York; Bontecou was one of only two women given one-person exhibitions there during this period.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Lee Bontecou

Title

Untitled

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

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.

1960

Medium

Steel, canvas, and copper wire

Dimensions

182.9 × 182.9 × 45.7 cm (72 × 72 × 18 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Society for Contemporary American Art

Reference Number

1965.360

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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