Mezzofist #2

Susan Rothenberg, Mezzofist #2, 1990, mezzotint with hand-coloring on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Margrit and Jack Vanderryn, 2007.10.2
Susan Rothenberg, Mezzofist #2, 1990, mezzotint with hand-coloring on paper, image: 17 3413 12 in. (45.234.3 cm) sheet: 24 1419 38 in. (61.749.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Margrit and Jack Vanderryn, 2007.10.2

Artwork Details

Title
Mezzofist #2
Publisher
United Limited Art Editions
Date
1990
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 17 3413 12 in. (45.234.3 cm) sheet: 24 1419 38 in. (61.749.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Margrit and Jack Vanderryn
Mediums Description
mezzotint with hand-coloring on paper
Classifications
Object Number
2007.10.2

Artwork Description

Susan Rothenberg's art is distinguished by psychologically charged images, heavily abstracted but still recognizable as living forms. Best known for her early images of horses, she has turned her attention to the expressive qualities of the human form, often suggesting motion through broad, gestural marks. Through simplification of shapes, she achieves an intensity and directness of expression in which enigma and ambiguity take on psychological dimensions. In Mezzo Fist I the subject appears to be a figure hitting its own face with its fist. Her imagery functions metaphorically rather than literally, with themes of violence, menace, confrontation, and sexuality expressed through contrasts of hard and soft, male and female, movement and stasis, solid and void, order and chaos, and figure to ground.

Multiplicity, 2011

Works by this artist (1036 items)

William H. Johnson, Young Pastry Cook, ca. 1928-1930, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.693
Young Pastry Cook
Dateca. 1928-1930
oil on canvas
On view
William H. Johnson, Portrait of a Man, ca. 1935-1938, oil on burlap, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.814
Portrait of a Man
Dateca. 1935-1938
oil on burlap
On view
William H. Johnson, Breakdown with Flat Tire, ca. 1940-1941, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.587
Breakdown with Flat Tire
Dateca. 1940-1941
oil on plywood
On view
William H. Johnson, For India and China, ca. 1944-1945, oil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.662
For India and China
Dateca. 1944-1945
oil on paperboard
On view