Flat Surfaces
Arthur G. Dove
American Art
Flat Surfaces, Arthur G. Dove’s last major canvas, serves as a poignant summation of his longtime quest for the “elimination of the non-essential.” Basing the composition on the view of the pond from his Long Island home, he distilled the landscape into flat, hard-edged geometric shapes that approach pure abstraction.
Although an intimate of the photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s circle of modern artists, Dove preferred to live and work outside the city in proximity to nature. Considered the first American artist to produce purely nonrepresentational pictures (in 1910), he used form and color to express his deep spiritual feelings about the natural world.
Although an intimate of the photographer Alfred Stieglitz’s circle of modern artists, Dove preferred to live and work outside the city in proximity to nature. Considered the first American artist to produce purely nonrepresentational pictures (in 1910), he used form and color to express his deep spiritual feelings about the natural world.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1946
DIMENSIONS
27 x 36in. (68.6 x 91.4cm)
Frame: 29 1/4 x 38 x 2 1/4 in. (74.3 x 96.5 x 5.7 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
lower center
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
55.21
CREDIT LINE
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Arthur G. Dove (American, 1880–1946). Flat Surfaces, 1946. Oil on canvas, 27 x 36in. (68.6 x 91.4cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 55.21. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 55.21_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 55.21_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
© Estate of Arthur G. Dove
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