Untitled

Copied Robert Irwin, Untitled, 1980, mixed media: fiberboard, paper, plastic and fabric, 22 3⁄4 x 22 1⁄8 x 10 in. (57.8 x 56.2 x 25.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, 1980.49.6

Artwork Details

Title
Untitled
Artist
Date
1980
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
22 3⁄4 x 22 1⁄8 x 10 in. (57.8 x 56.2 x 25.4 cm)
Credit Line
Transfer from the General Services Administration
Mediums
Mediums Description
mixed media: fiberboard, paper, plastic and fabric
Classifications
Keywords
  • Abstract — geometric
  • Architecture Interior — civic — post office
Object Number
1980.49.6
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1980.49.6

Artwork Description

Robert Irwin believes that the viewer’s perceptions, rather than material objects, define a place. In 1983, for a General Services Administration commission at the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C., Irwin hung forty-eight panels of translucent fabric in rows from the atrium ceiling. Irwin intended the fabric to alter the way the viewer looked at the whole space. He hoped that because the panels appeared and disappeared, depending on the angle of sunlight coming through the skylight, the viewer’s eye would constantly move between the architecture and the fabric, increasing her awareness of the original architectural details of the atrium.