Sean Scully’s characteristic stripe paintings have a rugged, inelegant beauty and an intensely physical, almost sculptural, presence. He works on a large scale with colors that cannot be easily characterized, allowing strong underpainting to merge with the surfaces of his works. The wavering edges of his lushly painted bands structure imperfect compositions. This canvas’s title, Heart of Darkness, refers to the novella first published in 1899 by Polish-born British author Joseph Conrad (1857–1924). Reflecting on the story, which depicts colonial exploitation in the Belgian Congo, Scully said, “Conrad writes that the heart of the twentieth century is black.”
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.
Paul Bonaventura, “Sean Scully: Hay que ligar la abstacción a la vida,” Revista Trimestral del Centro de Arte Reina Sofia 2 (Oct. 1989): 28 (color ill.).
David Carrier, “Spatial Relations,” Art International 147 (Autumn, 1989): 81.
Richard Dorment, “Scully Earns His Stripes,” Daily Telegraph, May 17, 1989.
William Feaver, “Starring in Stripes,” Observer, May 7, 1989, 42.
Carter Ratcliff, Sean Scully, exh. cat. (London: Whitechapel, 1989), 14, 35 (color ill.).
Carter Ratcliff, Sean Scully Gemälde und Arbeiten auf Papier 1982-1988, exh. cat. (Munich: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, 1989), 14, 15, 39 (color ill.).
Carter Ratcliff, Sean Scully: Pinturas y Obra sobre Papel, 1982-88, exh. cat. (Madrid: Palacio de Velázquez, 1989), 16, 39 (color ill.).
Maurice Poirier, Sean Scully (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1990), 7, 97, 99, 106, cat. 60 (color ill.).
Armin Zweite, Sean Scully: Paintings and Works on Paper, exh. cat. (Munich: Bernd Klüser, 1993), 18, 19.
Hank Burchard, “Sean Scully’s Severe Stripes,” Washington Post, June 30, 1995, N58.
Hans-Michael Herzog, ed., Sean Scully: The Catherine Paintings, exh. cat. (Bielefeld: Kunsthalle Bielefeld; Ostifildern: Cantz Verlag, 1995), 61 (color ill.).
Ned Rifkin, Sean Scully: Twenty Years: 1976–1995, exh. cat. (Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1995), 14, 27, 34, 63–64, 68, 72, 96, 97, cat. 16 (color ill.), 145.
Ned Rifkin, Sean Scully: Zwanzig Jahre, 1976–1995, exh. cat. (Frankfurt: Schirn Kunsthalle, 1996), 10, 21–22, 29, 58–59, 63, 68.
Ned Rifkin, Sean Scully: Vinat anys, 1976–1995, exh. cat. (Barcelona: Fundació la Caixa, 1996), 22, 95, 97, fig. 28 (ill.), 137, cat. 16 (color ill.), 185.
Mark Glazebrook and Irving Sandler, Sean Scully: Paintings, ex. cat. (Manchester: Manchester City Art Galleries, 1997), 14 (color ill.).
Martin Tschechne, “Strenge Form, grosse Gefühle,” Art: Das Kunstmagazin, no. 7 (July 1998), 23 (color ill.).
Sean Scully: Prints: Catalogue Raissoné 1968–1999 (Wien: Graphische Sammlung Albertina; Gravelines, France: Musée du Dessin et de l’Estampe Originale; Wuppertal, Germany: Von der Heydt-Museum, 1999), 20.
Karin Henning and Hans-Michael Herzog, “Sean Scully,” Künstler: Kritsches Lexikon der Gegenwartskunst, 54, no. 15 (2001), 5, no. 4 (color ill.).
Armin Zweite, “Abstraction and Authentic Experience: Double Strategies in the Oeuvre of Sean Scully,” in Sean Scully: Paintings, Pastels, Watercolors, Photographs, 1990–2000, (Düsseldorf: Richter Verlag, 2001), 36 (color ill.).
Terry Barret, Interpreting Art: Reflecting Wondering, and Responding (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003), 102, no. 4-4 (color ill.).
David Carrier, Sean Scully (London; New York: Thames & Hudson, 2004), 112, 143–44, 145 (color ill.) 152.
Arthur C. Danto, Mia Fineman, and Edward Lucie-Smith, The Color of Time: The Photographs of Sean Scully (Göttingen: Steidl, 2004), 9 (color ill.).
William Feaver, Sean Scully: Paintings and Works on Paper, exh. cat. (Kendal: Abbot Hall Art Gallery, 2005), 10.
Florence Ingleby, ed., Sean Scully, Resistance and Persistence: Selected Writings, (London; New York: Merrell, 2006), 21, 48 (color ill.).
Brian Kennedy, Sean Scully: The Art of the Stripe, exh. cat. (Hanover, NH: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2008), 55, 77.
Richard Ingleby, Sean Scully: Iona, exh. cat. (Edingurgh: Ingleby Gallery, 2010), 52, 53 (color ill.).
Tanja Pirsig-Marshall, Arthur C. Danto, and Armin Zweite, Sean Scully: Works from the 1980s, exh. cat. (Vienna: Czernin Verlag, 2010), 33, pl. 4 (color ill.).
Gregory J. Perry, Simon Martin, and Sean Scully, Sean Scully: Triptychs, exh. cat. (Chinchester, England: Pallant House Gallery, 2013), 16 (color ill.).
Kelly Grovier and Leina González, Sean Scully: Bricklayer of the Soul: Reflections in Celebration (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 205), 52 (color ill.).
Kelly Grovier, ed., Inner: The Collected Writings and selected Interviews of Sean Scully (Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2016), 77 (color ill.).
Deborah Solomon, Sean Scully: The Eighties, exh. cat. (New York: Mnuchin Gallery, 2016, 13, fig. 3 (color ill.).
Maria Price, Sean Scully: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume II, 1980–1989 (Fort Worth, Texas: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Berlin: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2018), 79, 80–81 (color ill.).
Timothy Rubb and Amanda Sroka, Sean Scully: The Shape of Ideas, exh. cat. (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art ; New Haven: in association with Yale University Press, 2020),34, 44-45, 46, 47, 51, 52, 54, 59,122-123 (color ill.), 224.
New York, William Beadleston Gallery, Sean Scully, Dec. 1, 1982–Jan. 8, 1983, no cat.
Allentown, Muhlenberg College Center for the Arts, Contemporary Abstract Painting, Sept. 12–Oct. 23, 1988, no cat. no.
Pittsburgh, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, Sean Scully, May 4–June 30, 1985, cat. 1; Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, July 17–Oct. 13, 1985.
Art Institute of Chicago, Sean Scully, Dec. 15, 1987–Feb. 7, 1988, no cat. no.
London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Sean Scully: Paintings and Works on Paper, 1982–88, May 5–June 25, 1989, no cat. no.; Munich, Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, July 12–Aug. 27; Madrid, Palacio de Velázquez del Retiro, Sept. 14–Nov. 12, 1989.
Washington D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Sean Scully: Twenty Years, 1976–1995, June 14–Sept. 10, 1995, cat. 16; Atlanta, High Museum of Art, Oct. 10, 1995–Jan. 7, 1996; Barcelona, Fundació “la Caixa,” Centre Cultural, Feb. 14–Apr. 7, 1996; Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, May 23–Aug. 24, 1996; Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle, Sept. 21–Dec. 1, 1996 (Washington D.C. and Atlanta only).
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Sean Scully: The Shape of Ideas, June 20–Oct. 10, 2021, no cat. no.; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Apr. 11–July 31, 2022, cat.
The artist; sold through David McKee Gallery, New York, to Society for Contemporary American Art, Chciago, 1988; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1988.
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.
