Brice Marden is an
American artistContemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, generally described as Minimalist, although his work defies specific categorization. He lives in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and
Eagles MereEagles Mere is a borough in Sullivan County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 120 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
.
Marden is represented by the
Matthew Marks GalleryMatthew Marks is an art gallery located in the New York City neighborhood of Chelsea. Founded in the early 1990s by Matthew Marks, it specializes in modern and contemporary art in a variety of media: including painting, sculpture, photography, installation art, film, and drawings and prints...
.
Life
Marden was born in Bronxville,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and grew up in nearby Briarcliff Manor. He attended Florida Southern College, Lakeland (1957 to 1958), receiving his
BFAIn the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
from the
Boston UniversityBoston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1961. Marden earned his
MFAA Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from the
Yale School of Art and ArchitectureThe Yale School of Art is one of twelve constituent schools of Yale University. It is a professional art school, granting only Masters of Fine Arts degrees to those completing studies in graphic design, painting/printmaking, photography, or sculpture....
(1963), where he studied with
Esteban VicenteEsteban Vicente Pérez , was an American painter born in Turégano, Spain. He was one of the first generation of New York School abstract expressionists.-Early life:...
,
Alex KatzAlex Katz is an American figurative artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints and is represented by numerous galleries internationally.-Life and work:...
,
Jon SchuelerJon Schueler was an American artist.-Biography:Schueler was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He first had the desire to become a writer, and after he acquired his Masters degree at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1940, he worked for a short time as a journalist...
,
Jack TworkovJack Tworkov was a Polish born American abstract expressionist painter.He was born in Biała Podlaska, Russian Empire and immigrated to the United States in 1913 with his mother and younger sister who would later become known as Janice Biala...
,
Reginald PollackReginald Murray Pollack was an American painter known for metaphorical and theme based works of art. He was also a veteran of World War II having served in the Pacific Theater of Operations.-Early Life:...
,
Philip PearlsteinPhilip Pearlstein is an American painter, and part of the contemporary Realist school.-Biography:Pearlstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and received his Masters in art history at New York University. He was a friend of Andy Warhol from...
, and
Gabor PeterdiGabor Peterdi was a Hungarian-American painter and print-maker . He emigrated to the United States in 1939 and taught print-making at Yale. He was a major influence on younger American print-makers including Robert Bero...
. Among his fellow students were the future artists
Richard SerraRichard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
,
Chuck CloseCharles Thomas "Chuck" Close is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits...
,
Nancy GravesNancy Graves was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and sometime-filmmaker known for her focus on natural phenomena like camels or maps of the moon...
, and
Robert MangoldRobert Mangold is an American minimalist artist.- Works :“Robert Mangold’s paintings,” wrote Michael Kimmelman in the New York Times in 1997, “are more complicated to describe than they seem, which is partly what’s good about them: the way they invite intense scrutiny, which, in the nature of good...
.
It was at
YaleRapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
that Marden developed the formal strategies that would characterize his drawings and paintings in the proceeding decades: a preoccupation with rectangular formats, and the repeated use of a muted, extremely individualized palette. In his early work of the 1960s and 1970s, he used simplified means, typically
monochromeMonochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
canvases either alone or in series of panels,
diptychA diptych di "two" + ptychē "fold") is any object with two flat plates attached at a hinge. Devices of this form were quite popular in the ancient world, wax tablets being coated with wax on inner faces, for recording notes and for measuring time and direction.In Late Antiquity, ivory diptychs with...
s or
triptychA triptych , from tri-= "three" + ptysso= "to fold") is a work of art which is divided into three sections, or three carved panels which are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all multi-panel works...
s. He thereby achieved what he considered highly emotional and subjective representations. These include the noted works
The Dylan Painting, 1966; "1986" (now in the collection of
San Francisco Museum of Modern ArtThe San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
); 1969's
Fave (the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art,
University of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
); and
Lethykos (for Tonto), 1976 (The Museum of Modern Art, New York).
Early years
Marden relocated to
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1963, where he came into contact with the work of
Jasper JohnsJasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
, an artist whom he studied in depth while employed as a guard at the
Jewish MuseumThe Jewish Museum of New York, an art museum and repository of cultural artifacts, is the leading Jewish museum in the United States. With over 26,000 objects, it contains the largest collection of art and Jewish culture outside of museums in Israel. The museum is housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
during the museum's Johns's 1964 retrospective. The following summer Marden traveled to Paris where he began to make compressed charcoal and graphite grid-patterned drawings. Marden's graphic works have always constituted an important corollary to his paintings, and he would transfer ideas ignited by these early works into even his most recent paintings and drawings. It was also in Paris that he admired the work of
Alberto GiacomettiAlberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
and
Jean FautrierJean Fautrier was a French painter and sculptor. He was one of the most important practitioners of Tachisme.He was born in Paris. Given his unwed mother's surname, he was raised by his grandmother until her death in 1908, when he went to live with his mother in London.In 1912 he studied at the...
, although masters such as Francisco de Zurbarán,
Diego VelázquezDiego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, and
Edouard ManetÉdouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....
have also informed Marden's artistic practice.
In 1966, at
Dorothea RockburneDorothea Rockburne is an abstract painter drawing inspiration primarily from her deep interest in mathematics and astronomy. In 1950 she moved to the United States to attend Black Mountain College, where she studied with mathematician Max Dehn, a lifelong influence on her work...
's suggestion, Marden was hired by
Robert RauschenbergRobert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
to work as his assistant. That same year he had his first solo show in New York at the Bykert Gallery, which exhibited the first of his classic oil-and-beeswax paintings.
Mature work
Marden's paintings are often born from a particular experience, or in reaction to having spent time in a specific place. In 1971, he and his wife, Helen Harrington, visited the Greek island of
HydraHydra is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece, located in the Aegean Sea between the Saronic Gulf and the Argolic Gulf. It is separated from the Peloponnese by narrow strip of water...
, to which they have returned every year since, and the light and landscape have greatly influenced his work (see, for instance, the five
Grove Group paintings, 1972–1980;
Souvenir de Grèce works on paper, 1974–1996). After preparing designs for stained-glass windows for Basle Cathedral in 1977, he became interested in expressing in his paintings the conditions of colour and light in architecture. Between 1981-87, Marden made a total of 31 paintings on marble, all of them produced in Hydra.
In 1983, Marden and family traveled to Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India; the artist became fascinated by the art, landscape, and culture of Asia. Marden has subsequently incorporated numerous elements of these traditions into his work, making them one key to his process (the
Shell Drawings, 1985–87). A visit in 1984 to the exhibition
Masters of Japanese Calligraphy, 8th-19th Century, encouraged Marden to master the form, a predominant influence in his recent work—which can be seen in his acclaimed
Cold Mountain series, both paintings and works on paper, 1989-1991.
In 2000, Marden embarked on the most ambitious paintings of his career:
The Propitious Garden of Plane Image, the longest two of which measure 24 feet. Marden is considered to rank among the most important American painters of
contemporary periodContemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
. Writing in
The New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
in 2006, the critic Peter
SchjeldahlSchjeldahl is a surname and may refer to:*Gilmore Schjeldahl*Peter Schjeldahl...
described him as "the most profound abstract painter of the past four decades.".
Collections, retrospectives
Marden has participated in hundreds of group exhibitions, and has also been the subject of numerous one-person shows and retrospectives. His first solo show in New York was held at the
Bykert GalleryBykert Gallery was an influential contemporary art gallery in New York City between 1966 and 1975, run by Klaus Kertess and Jeff Byers, who had been classmates at Yale College, class of 1958...
in 1966. In 1972, his work was showcased at
Documentadocumenta is an exhibition of modern and contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau which took place in Kassel at that time...
5 in Kassel. His first museum show was the 1975 retrospective at the
Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumThe Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
, in New York. In the fall of 2006, New York's
Museum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, New York, presented "Brice Marden: A Retrospective of Paintings and Drawings". The MoMA called the exhibition "an unprecedented gathering of [Marden's] work, with more than fifty paintings and an equal number of drawings, organized chronologically, drawn from all phases of the artist's career." The show traveled to the
San Francisco Museum of Modern ArtThe San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
in early 2007, and finally to Berlin's
Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für GegenwartHamburger Bahnhof is a former railway station in Berlin, Germany, on Invalidenstraße in the Moabit district opposite the Charité hospital. Today it serves as the Museum für Gegenwart , a contemporary art museum....
in the summer of that year. Originally, Marden was not enthusiastic about the idea. The works were divided into two periods: from the mid-sixties to the mid-eighties and then the mid-eighties up to the present. It allowed the artist to reassess his previous works and focus on future works.
Honors
In 1988, Marden became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
In 2000,
Brown UniversityBrown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
awarded the artist an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.
Art market
One of Marden's paintings sold for nearly $3 million at
Christie'sChristie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
in May 2006 already. Marden’s elegant signature
Cold Mountain I (Path) (1988-89), managed to almost double his auction record from May 2008 when it sold at
Sotheby'sSotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
for $9,602,500 on an $10-15 million estimate.
Personal
His daughter, Mirabelle Marden, is a proprietor of
Rivington ArmsRivington Arms was an art gallery in New York City.Melissa Bent and Mirabelle Marden founded the gallery as a small storefront on Rivington Street in 2001, part of a new wave of galleries opening in the Lower East Side...
, an art gallery in New York. She is also a photographer.
His son, Nick Marden, by his first wife, Pauline Baez (sister of
JoanJoan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
), is a punk musician who participated in the New York punk scene of the 1970s and '80s.
External links