Four Triangles Within a Square # 2
1974
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
yellow pencil over graphite on brown wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 55.8 x 56 cm (21 15/16 x 22 1/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, Patrons' Permanent Fund and Gift of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel
Accession Number
1991.241.97
Art Historical Context
Robert Mangold's *Four Triangles Within a #2* (1974) exemplifies the artist's commitment to Minimalist geometry during the 1970s, a period when he explored pure form and subtle asymmetries on paper. A key figure in American Minimalism Mangold drew inspiration fromist predecessors like Piet Mondrian while infusing his work with a handmade imperfection—slight wavers in lines that reveal the human touch amid mathematical precision. This drawing, square at 55.8 x 56 cm, presents four triangles nested within a larger square, creating a dynamic interplay of positive and negative space that challenge...
About the Artist
Robert Mangold
Robert Mangold, born on October 12, 1937, in North Tonawanda, New York, grew up in a working-class family near Buffalo, where his father toiled in an organ factory and his mother worked as a department store buyer. From an early age, he showed artistic talent, borrowing art books from the library and pursuing illustration in high school. Mangold trained at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1956 ...