Robert Ryman

About

At the heart of the paintings of Robert Ryman (b. 1930) is a concern with the materiality of painting. Since the 1950s he has reduced his work to a simple equation of canvas (or other support) plus white or off-white paint. Ryman’s concentration on the components of painting set him apart from his contemporaries. During the 1960s he integrated aspects of seriality associated with Minimalism and Conceptualism and he is frequently assessed in terms of these movements. 'Untitled (Study for Brussels)' was made at the time of the artist’s solo exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels in 1974. The ten panels exemplify Ryman’s non-objective style in which the choice of white, support and visible fixings offer the possibility for unlimited experimentation. The artist has said ‘Sometimes I use warm white because I wanted to have a warm absorbing light. At other times I’ve used colder white … it has to do with light – softness, hardness, reflection and movement – all these things.’