Elizabeth Murray - Untitled
American, 1940 - 2007
Untitled, 1982
Screenprint on three sheets of handmade Kurofani Kozo paper, 48.5 x 31.75 inches
Edition 50/50
The artist and Simca Print Artists, Inc.
03.006

Gift of William J. Lutz and Karen Wicklund Lutz (MBA '78)

Elizabeth Murray was first recognized in the early 1980’s as a distinguished painter associated with a new type of American abstraction. In contrast to a previous generation of geometric and minimalist abstraction, the new art was characterized by more expressive gesture, elusive figurative elements, and, especially in Murray’s work, by eccentrically shaped and dimensional canvases. It was also far more personal and autobiographical. Murray’s art explores the drama and humor of everyday domestic life. It often presents objects in swirling motion that seem like caricatures of cartoon forms.

Untitled dates to the beginning of her printmaking career. On three joined sheets of paper that create an unusual polygon format, she screenprinted a series of animated black ovoids. They wittily dance about on a splattered field of greens and pale reds. Although Murray establishes an abstract pattern of color and form, the collective shapes have the quality of some bouncing animal – perhaps a fluffy pet terrier or spaniel.