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Brice Marden

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Brice Marden
Marden in 1975
Born
Nicholas Brice Marden Jr.

(1938-10-15)October 15, 1938[1]
Bronxville, New York,U.S.[2]
DiedAugust 9, 2023(2023-08-09)(aged 84)
Tivoli, New York,U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationBoston University
Yale University
Known forPainter
Notable workCold Mountainseries
Basel Window Studyseries
The Propitious Garden of Plane Image
Movementminimalism,abstract expressionism,color field,lyrical abstraction
AwardsMember,American Academy of Arts and Letters

Nicholas Brice Marden Jr.(October 15, 1938 – August 9, 2023) was an American artist generally described asminimalist,although his work has roots inabstract expressionism,color field painting.andlyrical abstraction.He lived and worked inNew York City;Tivoli, New York;Hydra, Greece;andEagles Mere, Pennsylvania.

Early life[edit]

Marden'sBriarcliff Manorchildhood home

Nicholas Brice Marden Jr. was born inBronxville, New York,and grew up in nearbyBriarcliff Manor.[3]He attendedFlorida Southern Collegefrom 1957 to 1958 before receiving hisB.F.A.from theBoston UniversitySchool of Fine and Applied Artsin 1961.[citation needed]Thereafter, Marden earned hisM.F.A.from theYale School of Artin 1963, where he studied withEsteban Vicente,Alex Katz,Jon Schueler,Jack Tworkov,Reginald Pollack,Philip Pearlstein,andGabor Peterdi.Among his fellow students were the future artistsRichard Serra,Chuck Close,Janet Fish,Vija Celmins,Nancy Graves,Gary Hudson, andSylviaandRobert Mangold.As he studied art, Marden was also immersed in theCambridge, Massachusetts-basedAmerican folk music revivalscene. His first wife, Pauline Baez, whom he married in 1960, wasJoan Baez's sister.[4]He metBob DylanandPete Seegerand lived for a while at Joan Baez's house inCarmel, California.[5]

It was atYalethat 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 palette. In his early work of the 1960s and 1970s, he used simplified means, typicallymonochromecanvases either alone or in series of panels,diptychsortriptychs.These include the worksThe Dylan Painting,1966; "1986" (now in the collection ofSan Francisco Museum of Modern Art); 1969'sFave(the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art,University of Texas at Austin); andLethykos (for Tonto),1976 (The Museum of Modern Art,New York).

Career[edit]

Early work[edit]

Brice Marden,Gulf (from the New York 10/69 portfolio),1969, Lithograph, 20 × 25½ in

Marden relocated toNew York Cityin 1963, where he came into contact with the work ofJasper Johnswhile employed as a guard at theJewish Museumduring the museum's 1964 retrospective of Johns' oeuvre. The following summer, Marden traveled toParis,where he began to make compressed charcoal and graphite grid-patterned drawings. Marden's graphic works are a corollary to his paintings, and he would transfer ideas into even his most recent paintings and drawings. Marden made his first monochromatic single-panel painting in the winter of 1964.[6]It was also in Paris that he admired the work ofAlberto GiacomettiandJean Fautrier,although masters such asFrancisco de Zurbarán,Diego Velázquez,andÉdouard Manetalso informed Marden's artistic practice.

In 1966, atDorothea Rockburne's suggestion, Marden was hired byRobert Rauschenbergto work as his assistant. That same year, he had his first solo show in New York at theBykert Gallery,which exhibited the first of his classic oil-and-beeswax paintings. Prior to that he had worked at Chiron Press as an assistant to Steve Poleskie. Marden created the lithographGulf (from the New York 10-69 portfolio)in 1969 while at Chiron Press.[7]

In the late 1960s and early '70s, a moment when painting was widely considered moribund, Marden gained international fame as the master of the monochrome panel.[8]In 1971, Brice and his wife,Helen Harrington,visited the Greek island ofHydra,to which they returned every year thereafter. The couple bought their first home there in 1973.[9]The light and landscape greatly influenced Marden's work (see, for instance, the fiveGrove Grouppaintings, 1972–1980;Souvenir de Grèceworks on paper, 1974–1996). Executed in oil on marble fragments, he made a total of 31 paintings on marble on Hydra.[10]

Marden’s early monochromatic paintings exist as single panels, diptychs, and triptychs. In each of the fourRed Yellow Bluepaintings (1974), the artist painted slabs of dense yet nuanced color on three adjoined canvas panels, using oil paint mixed on the spot with meltedbeeswaxand turpentine and applied with a knife andspatula.[11]He gradually increased the number of panels, arranging them into post-and-lintel configurations.[8]

Brice Marden,For Pearl,1970, 96 1/2 x 98 3/4 x 2 1/8 in,Glenstone

In 1977 Brice Marden was commissioned (after an invited art competition with artists Samuel Buri, Joseph Beuys, Alfred Jensen, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Penck, Robert Ryman,Antoni Tàpies,and Jim Turrell) to design the windows lining theapseof theBasel Cathedral,a project that he labored on continuously from 1978 to 1985.[12]Influenced in part by theRothko ChapelinHouston, Texas,which the artist visited in 1972, Marden painted with the aim of fostering a heightened spiritual environment through abstraction.

Occupying the space above the altar, these windows would be central to the ritual activity of the space, and the artist spent the next seven years honing his concept to address the spiritual weight of the installation context, culminating in a limited group of Window Study paintings. After preparing designs for stained-glass windows for Basel Cathedral, he became interested in expressing in his paintings the conditions of colour and light in architecture. The Basel commission saw the artist move away from the understated encaustic monochromes that dominated his output during the 1960s and 1970s to embrace a new, vibrant palette and set of linear compositional devices. In part influenced by his growing interest in alchemy, he decided to work with combinations of colors limited to three (the Trinity) for the linear components and four (the elements - earth, air, fire, water) for the monochrome panels.[13] While the windows were never physically fabricated, Marden’s paintings for the Basel Cathedral endure as masterworks of his oeuvre because of their conceptual aims.[14]

In 1977, Marden traveled to Rome andPompeii,where he strengthened his interest in Roman and Greek art and architecture, which would influence his work of the late 1970s and early 1980s.[6] Between 1981 and 1987, Marden made a total of 31 paintings on marble, all of them produced in Hydra.[15]

Later work[edit]

In 1983, Marden and family traveled toThailand,Sri Lanka,andIndia;the artist became fascinated by the art, landscape, and culture of parts of Asia. Marden subsequently incorporated numerous elements of certain Asian traditions into his work, making them one key to his process (theShell Drawings,1985–87). A visit in 1984 to the exhibitionMasters of Japanese Calligraphy, 8th-19th Century,encouraged Marden to use form, a predominant influence in his recent work—which can be seen in his acclaimedCold Mountainseries, both paintings and works on paper, 1989-1991. Combining airy calligraphic scaffoldings of line with whitish or palely tinted backgrounds, these 9-by-12-foot paintings were the biggest Marden had created up to that point.[8] An infatuation withChinese calligraphyand poetry helped spark the change in his art toward line and gesture, works inspired by the free-spirited eighth-century Chinese hermit and poet of that name (en: Cold Mountain - Han Shan, in Chinese). At first, lines in Marden's paintings and drawings were arranged in neat rows, like Chinese writing. But the lines have got looser, and hence more evocative of landscapes and figures. As a Minimalist, Marden was concerned with grids and patterns. Looking to add freedom to his work without abandoning order, he found Chinese calligraphy inspiring, with its system of drawing characters in rows.[16]

In 2000, Marden embarked onThe Propitious Garden of Plane Image,the longest two of which measure 24 feet.[17]Writing inThe New Yorkerin 2006, the criticPeter Schjeldahldescribed Marden as "the most profound abstract painter of the past four decades".[18]

Exhibitions[edit]

Marden participated in hundreds of group exhibitions, and his work has also been the subject of numerous one-person shows and retrospectives. His first solo show in New York was held at theBykert Galleryin 1966. In 1972, his work was showcased atDocumenta5 inKassel,Germany.[19]His first museum show was the 1975 retrospective at theSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum,in New York City. In 1991, Marden was a participant in the Connections series of theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston,for which the artist juxtaposed about three dozen of his abstract canvases and works on paper and marble with works from the permanent collection by the likes ofÉdouard Manet,Paul Gauguin,Goya,James Ensor,andFrancisco de Zurbarán.[20]In the fall of 2006, New York'sMuseum of Modern Art,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."[21]The show traveled to theSan Francisco Museum of Modern Artin early 2007, and finally to Berlin'sHamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwartin 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. However in the end it allowed the artist to reassess his previous works and focus on future works.[22]

Personal life[edit]

In 1960, Brice Marden married Pauline Baez (sister ofJoan) and together they had a son, Nicholas.[23][5]The marriage to Pauline ended a few years later and by 1968 he was remarried to artistHelen Marden.He and Helen Marden have two daughters, Mirabelle and Melia.[24][25]Brice Marden's son, Nick Marden, is abassistwho has participated in theNew York punkscene since the late 1970s playing in bands such asthe StimulatorsandFalse Prophets.[4]The Mardens' daughter Mirabelle Marden was a proprietor ofRivington Arms,an art gallery in New York. She is also a photographer.[26]Melia Marden is the chef of the New York restaurant group The Smile.[27]

From 1987 to 2000 Marden’s studio was located on theBowery.[9]At the time of his death the artist had a Manhattan studio in a 10th-floor[5]penthouse duplex onWest Streetwith around 5,000 square feet of space and one two-story window looking onto theHudson River.The Mardens bought an estate inTivoli, New York,called Rose Hill, in 2002. At its center is a stately 1843 main house on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River.[9]The studio was carved out of an oldcarriage houseand has been converted into a large, light-filled space with western and northern exposures. At Rainbow Farms, the family's 400-acre summer residence inEagles Mere, Pennsylvania,since 1991, an old barn was converted to a third workspace with almost no natural light. On Hydra, Marden and his wife traded up houses (as they did elsewhere), moving into the current one in 1989.[9]In 2006, the couple bought a fifth property, Golden Rock Inn, on theCaribbean islandofNevis,with plans to build yet another studio there.[28]

Death[edit]

Brice Marden died at his home in Tivoli, New York, on August 9, 2023, at the age of 84.[29]

Honors[edit]

In 1988, Marden became a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters.In 2000,Brown Universityawarded the artist an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.[30]

Art market[edit]

Marden was represented by theGagosian Galleryfrom 2017 on. He had previously worked with theMatthew Marks Galleryfor more than twenty years.[31]

One of Marden's paintings sold for nearly $3 million atChristie'sin May 2006.[32]Marden’sCold Mountain I (Path)(1988–89), managed to almost double his auction record from May 2008 when it sold atSotheby'sfor $9,602,500 on an $10–15 million estimate.[citation needed]In 2013,Steven A. CohensoldThe Attended(1996-9) for $10.9 million at Sotheby's New York.[33] On 10 July 2020 an abstract painting by Brice MardenComplements(2004-2007) sold at Christie´s for $30,920,000[34]The result brought a new auction record for Marden, almost tripling the artist´s previous milestone of $10.9 million, which had been paid for his striped canvas Number 2 at Sotheby´s in November 2019.[35]Auction prices for Marden are now almost as high as those for an old master likeRembrandt,whose current auction record is $33.2 million.

References[edit]

  1. ^Greenberger, Alex (10 August 2023)."Brice Marden, Painter Who Redefined Abstraction, Dies at 84".ARTnews.com.Retrieved11 August2023.
  2. ^Geoffrey T. Hellman (9 May 1942). "Abstract King".Life.pp. 11–12.
  3. ^Garrels, Gary (2006).Plane Image: A Brice Marden Retrospective.New York: The Museum of Modern Art. p. 106.ISBN087070446X.
  4. ^ab"Hydra and Brice Marden's AbstractArt star at Gagosian's new Athens premises".Athens Insider. 23 September 2020.Retrieved6 February2021.
  5. ^abcBarbara Isenberg (October 15, 2006),For Marden, seeing is creatingLos Angeles Times.
  6. ^abBrice MardenArchivedJanuary 15, 2012, at theWayback MachineSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum,New York.
  7. ^"MOMA online archive".moma.org.Retrieved5 October2022.
  8. ^abcRoberta Smith(October 20, 1991),Brice Marden Moves Ahead by Turning BackThe New York Times.
  9. ^abcdTed Loos (October 29, 2006),A Subtle Sense of PlaceThe New York Times.
  10. ^Brice Marden: Paintings on Marble, May 8 - June 27, 2004Matthew Marks Gallery,New York.
  11. ^Brice Marden: Red Yellow Blue, January 17 - February 23, 2013Gagosian Gallery,New York.
  12. ^Rey, Karin (31 May 2019)."Farbenkräftig, würdevoll".Basler Zeitung(in German).Retrieved10 August2023.
  13. ^Brenda Richardson, “Even a Stone Knows You,” in Exh. Cat., New York, Museum of Modern Art, Plane Image: A Brice Marden Retrospective, 2006 p. 82
  14. ^"Chevron".Sothebys.com.Retrieved10 August2023.
  15. ^Paintings on Marble, May 8 - June 27, 2004Archived26 July 2011 at theWayback MachineMatthew Marks Gallery, New York.
  16. ^Michael Kimmelman (June 24, 1994),https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/24/arts/at-the-met-with-brice-marden-a-tour-that-moves-from-calligraphy-to-pollock.htmlThe New York Times.
  17. ^Brice Marden: Prints, 1983 - 1998, November 14, 2010 - February 6, 2011Archived22 July 2011 at theWayback MachineDanforth Museum of Art.
  18. ^Schjeldahl, Peter (6 November 2016)."True Colors".New Yorker.Retrieved6 November2016.
  19. ^Brice MardenArchivedJanuary 15, 2012, at theWayback MachineGuggenheim Collection.
  20. ^Michael Kimmelman(April 14, 1991),Brice Marden Reveals His ConnectionsThe New York Times.
  21. ^"Brice Marden: A Retrospective".Retrieved10 August2023.
  22. ^Robert Ayers (31 October 2006),A Resistant Brice Marden Agrees to Major Retrospective,BLOUINARTINFO,retrieved16 April2008[permanent dead link]
  23. ^Spence, Rachel (18 May 2012)."Painting that could cure diseases".Financial Times.Retrieved24 April2017.
  24. ^"More to Love: Mirabelle Marden's Family Retreat in Greece".Lonny.Retrieved24 April2017.
  25. ^"Artist's Wife: Yeah, I Slapped My Husband's Mistress at Bar Pitti. What?".New Yorker Magazine, Daily Intelligencer.Retrieved24 April2017.
  26. ^Sokol, Brett (2006-12-17), "The Marden Family".The New York Observer,[1].
  27. ^Colman, David (10 October 2012)."Feeding Artists, Not Becoming One".The New York Times.
  28. ^Paul O'Donnell (January 10, 2012),Helen and Brice Marden's Caribbean HotelGarden Design.
  29. ^Greenberger, Alex (10 August 2023)."Brice Marden, Painter Who Redefined Abstraction, Dies at 84".ARTNews.Retrieved10 August2023.
  30. ^"Commencement 2000".Brown University.Retrieved6 February2021.
  31. ^Robin Pogrebin (January 12, 2017),Brice Marden Joining Gagosian GalleryThe New York Times.
  32. ^Jacob Hale Russell (October 28, 2006),Brice Marden on Becoming an Artist And Looking at Abstract PaintingsThe Wall Street Journal.
  33. ^Peter Lattman and Carol Vogel (November 14, 2013),Speculation Looms Over Sale of Cohen’s Artworks at AuctionThe New York Times.
  34. ^Scott Reyburn (July 10, 2020),Christie’s New Auction Technique: The Global GavelThe New York Times.
  35. ^"(#9) Brice Marden Number Two".Sothebys.com.Retrieved10 August2023.

External links[edit]

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