Modern Art on View during Renovation: West Building

Densely spaced lines and splatters in black, white, pale salmon pink, teal, and steel gray crisscross a rectangular cream-colored canvas in this abstract horizontal painting. The lines move in every direction. Most are straight but some curve slightly. The density eases a bit near the edges. Two sets of ghostly white handprints are visible at the upper corners. The artist signed and dated the painting in black paint in the lower left corner: “Jackson Pollock ’50.”

Jackson Pollock, American, 1912 - 1956, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), 1950, oil, enamel, and aluminum on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund 1976.37.1

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A broad swath of brilliant, crimson-red paint sweeps down from the top edge of this canvas to fill most of this abstract, vertical composition. The sides of the red field are straight, and the bottom edge is irregular. The red is mottled and streaked. The areas to each side of the red field and along the bottom of the canvas are coffee brown. A slender drip of the brown has fallen down the red area, near the right bottom corner. The artist signed and dated the painting near the lower right corner of the red field: “Barnett Newman 1952.”

Barnett Newman, American, 1905 - 1970, Achilles, 1952, oil and acrylic resin on canvas, Gift of Annalee Newman, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art 1988.57.5

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Mark Rothko, American, born Russia, 1903 - 1970, Untitled, 1955, oil on canvas, Collection of Mrs. Paul Mellon, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art Copyright © 1997 Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel 1992.51.14

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Layers of rust-red and bronze-brown, textured paint cover this vertical, abstract canvas. The layers give way to a patch of scarlet-red streaks near the top left corner. A red vein drifts about three-quarters of the way down the canvas. A narrow swipe canary-yellow lines the upper edge of the painting above the red streaks, which are about a quarter of the way across from the left edge. A few minuscule spots of lapis-blue nearly go unnoticed along the right edge of the canvas near the bottom right corner. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “Clyfford.”

Clyfford Still, American, 1904 - 1980, PH-571 (1951-N), 1951, oil on canvas, Collection of Robert and Jane Meyerhoff, Gift in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art 1989.87.1

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Rectangles in ash brown and ruby red float against a background of deep, eggplant purple in this vertical, abstract painting. One narrow, dark brown band runs parallel to the top edge of the painting. The rectangle below the band is the same width, and is nearly square. That shape takes up more than half the composition, and is mottled with bronze brown and murky green. A vivid red rectangle floating below is not as wide as the band and the large rectangle. The edges of the shapes are blended, giving it a blurry look. Some brushstrokes are visible and the paint has dripped in a few places. For instance, a couple drops of the eggplant purple drop into the largest brown form.

Mark Rothko, American, born Russia, 1903 - 1970, No. 1, 1961, oil and acrylic on canvas, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc. Copyright © 1997 Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel 1986.43.151

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Five rectangles, each in a single, saturated hue of canary yellow, watermelon pink, blood orange, bright white, or ink black, fit together to make a nearly square abstract painting. In rectangles of descending sizes, the yellow, pink, and orange shapes create a band across the top of the composition. The bottom three-quarters of the composition is made up of the white and black vertical rectangles. The white form takes up two-thirds of the left side, and is topped by the yellow shape. The black rectangle is narrower, and it fills in the space below the pink and orange forms above.

Ellsworth Kelly, American, 1923 - 2015,Tiger, 1953, oil on canvas (five joined panels), Gift of the Artist 1992.85.1

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