Painting Collection Larry Poons Untitled (b. 1937) Measuring more than 14 feet long and 4 and half feet tall, this work is monumental and an explosion of bright yellows, pinks, and lavenders, among other colors. The American artist painted a series of long ellipses that dance and float on the canvas, often colliding and coming together to form ‘X’s. The composition is rhythmic, even musical. Poons has long been influenced by music, as he studied composition as a young man at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston from 1955 to 1957. The following year, he moved to New York and picked up painting, which he attributes to the impact of seeing a show of Barnett Newman’s works. From the beginning, Poons was very interested in exploring the optical qualities of paint and color in his all-over compositions filled with dots and ellipses. While his earlier works are more rigid and mathematical, Poons began painting looser compositions around the time he made Untitled, creating freer arrangements of the long shapes seen here. The Kreegers purchased Untitled the same year it was painted, in 1967, showing their great enthusiasm for the contemporary art of their time. In 1967, the building was also finished, which allowed the Kreegers to acquire and show more large-scale paintings, such as this work by Poons. |
  
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