COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000727
image_record_id
aahi0000727
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Blanco Sobre el Negro
Image Title:
full view
Work Dates (display):
1966
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Jesús Rafael Soto (Venezuelan, 1923-2005)
Work Creator gender:
male
work_creator_or_agent_gender
male
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
Venezuelan painter, sculptor and kinetic artist. He studied at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas in Caracas from 1942 to 1947, and from 1947 to 1950 he was director of the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Maracaibo. At first he painted principally under the influence of Cézanne and Cubism and to a lesser extent under that of Mondrian and the Soviet Constructivists, whose work he knew from reproductions. In 1950 he settled in Paris, where he began producing abstract paintings composed of serialized and geometric forms that suggested effects of motion. These revealed Soto's affinities with other artists later associated with Op art. His first kinetic work, Spiral (1955; priv. col., see Joray and Soto, p. 57), consisted of two overlapping perspex sheets, each painted with a spiral to produce an apparently vibrating image. The exhibition Le Mouvement at the Galerie Denise René, Paris, in 1955, at which Spiral was shown along with works by Victor Vasarely, Yaacov Agam, Jean Tinguely, Pol Bury and others, marked the official birth of Kinetic art. Soto favoured industrial and modern synthetic materials such as perspex, nylon, steel, thin metal rods and industrial paint in the series of works incorporating real and apparent movement that he began in 1955. In the early 1960s he explored the textures of objets trouvés, including old wood, discarded and rusty wire and unravelled rope, in such works as Old Timber (1960; untraced, see Joray and Soto, p. 93). His kinetic works created oppositions between static and dynamic elements so as to invite the spectator's active participation both visually and intellectually. His Penetrables of the 1960s took this involvement one step further by inviting the spectator into a transparent, fluid and moving mass of suspended nylon threads. The transparent perspex Cube with Ambiguous Space, which he exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in 1968 (see Joray and Soto, pp. 22026), deliberately dislocated the spectator's ability to distinguish between solid objects and open space, between reality and illusion. This was followed in 1969 by two murals executed for the UNESCO buildings in Paris. Soto pursued his investigation of brain and eye in the 1970s in such works as Suspended Apparent Volume (1976; Toronto, Royal Bank of Canada), a monumental assemblage of aluminium tubes painted yellow and white and suspended from the ceiling so as to form part of the architecture. Other works of this period that reveal Soto's interest in the relation between architecture and sculpture include monumental environmental installations intended to occupy space in an urban setting, such as the Monument to the Nationalization of Steel (180×120 m), commissioned in 1975 by the Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez for Ciudad Guayana. In his kinetic works of the 1980s, such as the Ambivalences series, Soto introduced a variety of colours (in contrast to the deliberately restricted colour range that had dominated his early works) arranged almost arbitrarily to create an impression of vibrating movements and a destabilized physical structure (e.g. Ambivalence on a Rhombus, 1981; priv. col., see Joray and Soto, p. 136). Other important works of the 1980s include the large kinetic sculpture (1983) at the Chacaito metro station at Caracas; the ceiling (1983) of the Teresa Carreño Theatre, Caracas; and Nylon Cube (1983), a cube formed of nylon threads that disappears, reappears and becomes transparent in front of the spectator, demonstrating Soto's interest in the apparent conversion of physical matter into energy. (Grove Art Online Accessed 2007-10-22)
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Worktype:
paintings (visual works)
work_type
paintings (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
paintings
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
paintings
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
canvas
Work Measurements (display):
157 cm (H) x 107 cm (W)
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Basel, Switzerland
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
SASKIA, LTD.: WHO CAN USE THIS SOFTWARE: (a) Licensee, including faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may use the Licensed Software to display and or print the corresponding graphic images without limitation for teaching and research purposes at the defined Sites, or at remote locations having electronic access to your Site(s). (b) This license include permission to use the Licensed Software on a multi-user network at the defined Site, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your Site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the Site is also permitted. (c) Licensee agrees to employ reasonable security measures designed to limit access to your faculty, staff and currently enrolled students. PROHIBITED USES AND LIMITATIONS: (a) Saskia hereby reserves all rights not expressly granted herein. (b) the License Software may not be used for preparaiton of any publication, scholarly or otherwise; or for any purpose other than teaching or research. Publication of an image from the Licensed Software requires a separate license from Saskia. (c) Licensee agrees not to resell, lease, transfer, sub-license or otherwise distribute a copy of the Licensed Software, or any image taken from the Licensed Software, in whole or in part. (d) Licensee also agrees not to modify, corrupt or alter any digital image graphic content or "digital watermark" or the like in the software provided by Saskia under this Agreement. (e) Licensee agrees not to remove, alter, cover or distort Saskia's copyright notice, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice placed by Saskia in the Licensed Software itself, or in the associated packaging, media or documentation. (f) And Licensee agrees to notify users of the Licensed Software, in writing or by sign-on screen display, of their obligations under this Agreement and solicit their cooperation and compliance with such obligations.
Work Rights (display):
© Jesus Rafel Soto
Terms of Agreement and Conditions of Use:
YOU AGREE: Luna Imaging's Insight Software and the digital image collection associated with it (the Software) are being provided by the University of Colorado under the following license. By obtaining, using, and/or copying this work, you (the Licensee) agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with the following terms and conditions. 1. The Software contains the University of Colorado's Department of Art and Art History's implementation of a digital image collection; 2. Any images obtained through use of the Software will be used only for non-profit, educational purposes; 3. The use of images obtained through the software will only be used while the Licensee is either: a) an employee of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver, or b) an enrolled student at the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver; 4. When the Licensee is no longer an employee or student of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or Community College of Denver, either by an action of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or the Community College of Denver or due to actions of the Licensee, the licensee will cease to use any images exported from the Department of Art and Art History's digital image collection; 5. The Licensee agrees to indemnify the University for claims and liability arising out of the use of the Software or for any violations of this license; 6. THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SUPPLIES THE SOFTWARE WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
CU Copyright Statement:
The contents of the University of Colorado Digital Library are available for your use in research, teaching, and private study. Some of these items are protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) and some items may have additional restrictions. If you use the items in this collection, make sure you abide by any restrictions stated in the descriptive data window. The nature of these collections often makes it difficult to determine the copyright status of an item. We have made every effort to provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions in the descriptive data window. Ultimately, however, it is your responsibility to use the item according to the terms governing its use. If you are a copyright holder and the information is either not listed or listed incorrectly, please let us know so that we can update the information on our site.
Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see