From the Series: Rubbings from the Calcium Garden . . . Firechildren

Currently not on view

From the Series: Rubbings from the Calcium Garden . . . Firechildren

1973

Irving Petlin (American, 1934–2018)

Irving Petlin began the series Rubbings from the Calcium Garden in 1969, producing one painting a year until 1977. In the series, the artist uses a distended oval to contain the paintings' allegorical worlds. In Firechildren, a landscape that resembles calcium deposit formations frames a scene in which shapes evoke rocks and stalagmites and amorphous human figures emerge from the fiery depths of the foreground. Petlin's repetitive pressing of various materials soaked with paint onto the surface of the canvas results in a formless yet evocative composition. This technique recalls decalcomania, an image transfer method adopted by Surrealist artists earlier in the century.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

From the Series: Rubbings from the Calcium Garden . . . Firechildren

Date:

1973

Artist:

Irving Petlin (American, 1934–2018)

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

8 feet × 8 feet 6 inches (243.8 × 259.1 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Gift of Alexia Quadrani, 2006

Accession Number:

2006-166-1

Geography:

Made in United States, North and Central America

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Currently not on view