Artwork Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Alfonso Ossorio (1916-1990) |
Title |
Untitled |
Date |
1950s |
Medium |
Oil and enamel on Masonite (painted on the backside of Sandy's Baseball Gam |
Dimensions |
22 1/4 x 22 1/4 in. |
Description |
Born in Manila, the Philippines, to a wealthy sugar baron and his wife, Ossorio became an American citizen in 1933 and studied fine arts at Harvard University and the Rhode Island School of Design. During World War II he served as a medical illustrator, an experience that was reflected in the macabre themes that appeared in his later work, which also show the influence of Surrealism and l'Art Brut. He met Jackson Pollock in 1949 when he purchased one of Pollock's paintings from the Betty Parsons Gallery, where they both exhibited. The two artists became close friends, and were inspired by each other's work. In 1951 Ossorio purchased The Creeks, an East Hampton estate not far from Pollock and Krasner's home. Living in close proximity to one another there were frequent conversations and studio visits, encouraging the free exchange of ideas. With dynamic swirling imagery rendered in black and white poured enamel, as well as areas of thickly worked impasto, this painting shows the influence of Pollock's spontaneous method of generating imagery. Explaining his empathetic response to Pollock's approach, Ossorio said: "I realized that Pollock was carrying on exactly in the tradition that I was most interested in… in terms of dealing with forms and shapes dictated by ideas rather than appearance." After Pollock's death in 1956, Ossorio continued to pursue this approach, as reflected in this square painting. It is painted on the back of a game board, the Autograph Baseball Game, printed by Pollock's brother Sanford McCoy in 1948 for the F. J. Raff Company, a commercial board game manufacturer. Pollock made numerous paintings on the leftover boards, and evidently gave some to Ossorio. The printed baseball diamond is clearly visible on the verso of this painting. A related game board painting, Untitled (#5, 1959), is in the collection of Gallery Sam in Berkeley, CA. Gift of Edward F. Dragon in memory of Alfonso Angel Ossorio y Yangco. |
Catalog Number |
1992.002 |
Object Name |
Painting |