Robert Ryman

Robert Ryman Synopsis

The works in this exhibition catalogue record the time when Robert Ryman, then in his early twenties, was formulating his disciplined approach to painting. On off-white and translucent materials including wallpaper, a circular coffee filter, newsprint and mylar, Ryman drew, tooled, brushed and pressed his marks using a flat table to support the work. His decision to use the square as a consistent format for non-narrative work was set, and while he sporadically used color in these earliest works, he subsequently chose white almost exclusively in the process of eliminating all that was superfluous to a painting.