Blue in Space

John Ferren, Blue in Space, ca. 1937, pastel on paper mounted on paperboard, sheet: 19 ³⁄₄ x 25 ¹⁄₂ in. (50.2 x 64.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Daisy Shapiro, 1976.130, © 1937 John Ferren

Artwork Details

Title: Blue in Space
Artist: John Ferren
Date: ca. 1937
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 19 ³⁄₄ x 25 ¹⁄₂ in. (50.2 x 64.8 cm)
Copyright: © 1937 John Ferren
Credit Line: Gift of Daisy Shapiro
Mediums: pastel
Mediums Description: pastel on paper mounted on paperboard
Classifications: Drawing
Subjects: Abstract
Object Number: 1976.130
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1976.130

Artwork Description

A pioneer of American abstraction, Ferren created this composition during a seven-year sojourn in Paris. He began his career as a sculptor, but turned to painting after he saw an exhibition of work by Henri Matisse and recognized the power of color. In the mid-1930s he worked at Stanley William Hayter’s printmaking workshop in Paris, Atelier 17, where he was encouraged to imprint his engraved and inked plated on wet plaster. When the plaster block dried, it showed the lines of the plate. He then carved into it to create a bas-relief sculpture of modeled and curved planes. Blue in Space resembles one of these carved plasters, translated into two dimensions with the planes defined by the rich colors of soft pastels.

Graphic Masters II: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2009