Untitled (Mantlepiece)
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
charcoal and acrylic polymer emulsion on composition board
Dimensions
overall size: 44.9 x 63.2 cm (17 11/16 x 24 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection
Accession Number
2016.11.1
Art Historical Context
Richard Artschwager's *Untitled (Mantlepiece)* (1972) captures the everyday allure of a domestic hearth in a deceptively simple yet profoundly conceptual way. Created with charcoal and acrylic polymer emulsion on composition board—a rough, industrial material the artist favored for its textured absorbency—this 44.9 x 63.2 cm painting exemplifies Artschwager's signature style. Associated with Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism, he blurred the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and furniture, often rendering ordinary objects like tabletops or bookshelves with photographic flatness and e...
About the Artist
Richard Artschwager
Richard Artschwager (1923–2013) was a singular American artist whose sculptures, paintings, and installations blurred the lines between everyday objects and high art, evoking associations with Pop Art, Minimalism, and Conceptualism. Born in Washington, D.C., to a Prussian botanist father and a Ukrainian-Jewish mother who instilled in him a love of art through her own studies at the Corcoran School...