Dorothy Hood
Gray Flora

Gray Flora

© Estate of Dorothy Hood

Gray Flora
Gray Flora
ArtistAmerican, 1918–2000
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Gray Flora
Datec. 1978
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 90 × 70 in. (228.6 × 177.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of Kiko Kikkawa
Object number2018.227
Non exposé

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Object Type
Description

Dorothy Hood balances the
drama of the red wash that bisects this painting with a more nuanced treatment
of the gray areas. On the right margin, in particular, she added an opaque band
of gray to subtly define the edge of the composition. This may have been in
response to advice she received from the art critic Clement Greenberg, who
wrote to her in 1977: “the [paintings] rely too much on hard contour lines.” In
another letter he suggested, “You might, just for fun, fool around some with the
way you apply paint.”




ProvenanceThe artist; Harwood Taylor, Houston; Kiko Kikkawa through bequest; given to MFAH, 2018.
Exhibition History"Kindred Spirits: Louise Nevelson and Dorothy Hood," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 2, 2018–February 2, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Signed, upper right corner: D. Hood
Verso: Signed on stretcher bar: Dorothy Hood - Gray Flora
Recto: Signed, upper right corner: D. Hood
Verso: Signed, stretcher bar: Dorothy Hood - Gray Flora
N.A.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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