White Painting (with Red, Blue, Violet and Ochre)
About this artwork
This work was painted in 1964 at the beginning of a new period of abstraction for Mellis. Made by eye and hand rather than rule or compass, the artist’s intention was to not adhere to the rules of geometry associated with Constructivism. Instead, she was interested in building up layers of paint in order to make the colours move and shiver. Mellis’s primary concern as an artist was to understand colour, declaring, ‘I wanted the colours to find the kind of strength which would simultaneously let them work at full strength and integrate with themselves and the shapes of the structure.’
Updated before 2020
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artist:Margaret Mellis (1914 - 2009) Scottish
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title:White Painting (with Red, Blue, Violet and Ochre)
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date created:1964
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materials:Oil on hardboard
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measurements:122.00 x 101.60 cm; Framed: 124.20 x 104.00 x 3.20 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased 1975
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accession number:GMA 1499
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Margaret Mellis
Margaret Mellis
Mellis was born in China to Scottish parents and moved to Britain when she was one year old. She studied at Edinburgh College of Art under SJ Peploe, winning a scholarship to study in Paris in 1933. In 1939 Mellis moved to St Ives with her husband, the writer Adrian Stokes. There, she became part...