Maesta

Sean Scully, Maesta, 1983, oil on canvas, 89 ³⁄₈ × 119 ¹⁄₂ × 9 ¹⁄₂ in. (227.0 × 303.5 × 24.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2004.1A-C, © 1983, Sean Scully

Artwork Details

Title: Maesta
Artist: Sean Scully
Date: 1983
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
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3rd Floor
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East Wing
Dimensions: 89 ³⁄₈ × 119 ¹⁄₂ × 9 ¹⁄₂ in. (227.0 × 303.5 × 24.1 cm)
Copyright: © 1983, Sean Scully
Credit Line: Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums: oil
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Highlights: Contemporary Art
Subjects: Abstract — geometric
Object Number: 2004.1A-C
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2004.1A-C

Artwork Description

Sean Scully says that his stripes "push out into the world, trying to be more than paintings." He thinks of color and light as expressions of life and his thick, multipaneled works are meant to create an experience that is at once physical and spiritual.

Made with bolted canvases and housepainter's brushes, Scully's paintings evoke the solidity of architecture. Yet Maesta also conjures a more transcendent realm. The work is titled after a famous multipaneled altarpiece by Duccio, the late thirteenth-century Italian painter. The power of Duccio's Maestà (1308--11) emanates from the unbroken rows of angels and saints surrounding the Virgin Mary, much as Scully's stripes, in contrasting lights and darks, appear to vibrate outward into the viewer's space.