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View at the museum ↗Grey Diamond
Ilya Bolotowsky1955
- Attribution
- Ilya Bolotowsky (American, born Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, now Russia, 1907–1981)
- Medium
- Oil on canvas, mounted on panel
- Physical dimensions
- 129.5 × 129.5 cm (51 × 51 in.); At center: W.: 182.9 cm (72 in.)
- Credit line
- Walter Aitken and Hyacinth Drechney funds
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: © Estate of Ilya Bolotowsky/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
View the museum record ↗From the museum
A devotee of Neo-Plasticism—the geometric, nonobjective style espoused by Piet Mondrian—Ilya Bolotowsky began to include the diamond shape in his art in 1947. Bolotowsky believed that this unusual means of presentation created a more spacious composition compared to a square canvas of the same size. Grey Diamond contains many principles of Neo-Plasticism: a lack of depth, the elimination of all representational forms, and carefully balanced color. In embracing the movement, Bolotowsky explained, “Nowadays, when paintings torture the retina, when music gradually destroys the eardrum, there must, all the more, be a need for an art that searches for new ways to achieve harmony and equilibrium.”
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0