#13 - 1973 | Smithsonian American Art Museum

#13 - 1973

John McLaughlin, #13 - 1973, 1973, oil and acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin, 2005.5.47

Exhibition Label

John McLaughlin worked as a sailor and military intelligence officer and was a student of Japanese and Chinese art before he began painting at age forty-eight. Working in his garage in Dana Point, California, he explored the possibilities for meditation he associated with Japanese art. The precise alignment, strict symmetry, and carefully adjusted colors in #13 Untitled prompt thoughts of weight, balance, and stability. The surface is intentionally smooth. “I have gone to considerable pains to eliminate from my work any trace of my own identity with the view to making the viewer the subject matter [of the painting],” he said.

Modern Masters: Midcentury Abstraction from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2008

Title

#13 - 1973

Artist

John McLaughlin

Date

1973

Location

Not on view

Dimensions