Full Circle
Works on Paper by Richard Pousette-Dart
Innis Howe Shoemaker; With an essay by Nancy Ash and Eliza Spaulding

October 28, 2014
148 pages, 9 1/2 x 10 3/4
195 color illus.
ISBN: 9780300207972
HC - Paper over Board
Published in association with the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Richard Pousette-Dart (1916–1992) is best known as an American painter of mid-20th-century Abstract Expressionism, although his work was distinct for its spiritual content and his elaborate layering of materials. His works on paper are remarkable for their varied use of materials and techniques, and reflect the artist’s shift from figurative representation to semi-abstract forms emerging out of free calligraphic drawing, to a form of pointillism, and a return to spontaneous drawing. Pousette-Dart’s later works include evocative graphite drawings touched with white paint, bold black and white paintings, hand-colored etchings, and colorful acrylics on handmade paper. The authors employ close stylistic and technical analysis to trace for the first time the narrative of Pousette-Dart’s career as a draftsman. Generously illustrated with nearly 200 color images, this revelatory publication presents an unprecedented examination of the artist’s works on paper, focused on his dynamic experimentation with media and styles over nearly seven decades.
Innis Howe Shoemaker is the Audrey and William H. Helfand Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, Philadelphia Museum of Art.
EXHIBITION SCHEDULE
Philadelphia Museum of Art
(09/13/14–11/30/14)