Le Grotte Vecchie

Michael Goldberg

1924–2007

Le Grotte Vecchie, 1981

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: colored lecture chalk; charcoal; paper

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 111.76 x 76.84 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 44 x 30 1/4 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 45 1/4 x 31 1/2 x 1 1/2 in
Weight (Weight): 24 lbs

Credit line: The Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the National Gallery of Art, with generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Accession number: 2009.0048

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label: "NetWorks: Art and Artists from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection," Mar-2011, Susan Earle, Stephen Goddard, and SMA Interns Drawings are often read as accessories- preparatory works by artists whose primary medium is painting or sculpture. For Michael Goldberg, whose abstract expressionist paintings relied upon instinct rather than forethought and precision, drawings were a physical rather than mental “exercise.” The artist explained, “I can approach paper as a flippant exercise, very quick, da da da. If you don’t like it, rip it up; go on to the next one. That speed and energy are vital components of my art making.” In Le Grotte Vecchie, drawn with chalk mixed with liquid medium, the scattered spray of vivid lecturer’s chalk registers Goldberg’s momentum as he worked on the image. Although the work is abstract, its title is concrete; the Grotte Vecchie, or old grottoes, are part of the sacred Vatican grottoes, a subterranean tomb filled with the sarcophagi of Holy Roman Emperors, popes, and other qualified souls.