Over the Rooftops, Robert Berkeley Green

Artwork Overview

Robert Berkeley Green, Over the Rooftops
Robert Berkeley Green, Over the Rooftops
Robert Berkeley Green
Over the Rooftops
1978
Robert Berkeley Green
1909–2007
Over the Rooftops, 1978
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: watercolor; graphite
Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 50.8 x 76.2 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 30 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 27 x 37 in
Credit line: Gift of Robert and Miriam Green
Accession number: 1996.0086
Not on display
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Archive Label: “This was in the American Watercolor Society traveling show. I painted it before Miriam’s studio was built; it’s the view looking from my studio over the rooftops of the neighboring houses. This one doesn’t have shadows. I guess the Zen idea is mainly in the Rooftops. “I came across a book in the Spencer Art library, Zen and the Fine Arts, and that’s what got me started. It pointed out that there are only three countries that were oriented to this kind of painting: Korea, Japan and China. What’s different from it being a western painting is just that you didn’t put shadow in it. It’s completely without light and shade. It was an interesting challenge; I wanted to see if I could make a picture with space without resorting to cast shadows. Another watercolor I gave a Zen title, as well. That’s Lofty Dryness.”