Primeval wall ("A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."), from the series Great Ideas of Western Man.
Object Details
- Luce Center Label
- William Baziotes created Primeval Wall for the advertising campaign “Great Ideas of Western Man” for the Container Corporation of America. He didn’t want to clarify the meaning of the imagery, but preferred to evoke “strangeness and otherworldliness” with his choice of titles (“An Interview with William Baziotes,” Perspective No. 2, 1956-57). Here, the two pale forms resemble microscopic cells enlarged to vast proportions. The soft outlines and subdued, blurred colors create a dreamlike scene of twisting shapes, floating in some ethereal substance.
- Luce Object Quote
- “A few brushstrokes start me off on a labyrinthian journey [and] I am led to a more real reality.” Baziotes, William Baziotes: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1978
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America
- Data Source
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Date
- 1959
- Object number
- 1984.124.30
- Artist
- William Baziotes, born Pittsburgh, PA 1912-died New York City 1963
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 24 1/4 x 30 3/8 in. (61.6 x 77.1 cm.)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor, 42A
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Luce Foundation Center, 4th Floor
- Topic
- Abstract
- Record ID
- saam_1984.124.30
