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Bold lines in saturated earthy brown, moss green, harvest yellow, raspberry red, topaz and royal blue slice across an eggshell-white background in this horizontal, abstract painting. Most of the brustrokes are horizontal but there are some diagonal and vertical lines. All are evenly spaced across much of the composition but are more sparce at the edges. Some of the paint drips like rain pouring down a windowpane, especially across the bottom. The artist signed the canvas near the lower right corner, “j. mitchell.”

Joan Mitchell

Piano mécanique, 1957

East Building, Mezzanine — Terrace

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 198.12 × 318.77 cm (78 × 125 1/2 in.)

framed: 199.4 x 326.4 x 4 cm (78 1/2 x 128 1/2 x 1 9/16 in.)
gross weight: 41.731 kg (92 lb.)

Credit Line

Gift of Addie and Sidney Yates

Accession Number

1996.142.1

Artists / Makers

Joan Mitchell (painter) American, 1925 - 1992

Image Use

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Inscription

lower right: j.[?] mitchell

Provenance

The artist; purchased 1965 through (Stable Gallery, New York) by Mr. and Mrs. Sidney R. Yates, Chicago and Washington, D.C.; gift 1996 to NGA.

Associated Names

Yates, Sidney R., Mr. and Mrs.

Exhibition History

1958: Joan Mitchell, Stable Gallery, New York, 1958, repro. on exhibition poster.

1959: 1959 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1959-1960, no. 83.

1961: Joan Mitchell, Holland-Goldowsky Gallery, Chicago, 1961.

2008: Joan Mitchell - Eine Entdeckung der New York School [Emden title], Joan Mitchell. La pittura dei Due Mondi / La peinture des Deux Mondes [Reggio Emilia title], Joan Mitchell, Peintures [Giverny title], Kunsthalle Emden; Palazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia; Musée des impressionnismes, Giverny, 2008-2009, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2014: Make it New: Abstract Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, 1950-1975, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 2014, no. 2, repro.

2017: Mitchell/Riopelle: Nothing in Moderation, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Québec City; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Fonds Helene et Edouard Leclerc, Landerneau, 2017-2019, not in catalogue (shown only in Québec City and Toronto).