Mezzo Fist #1

Susan Rothenberg, Mezzo Fist #1, 1990, mezzotint and chine colle on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1991.94.4, © 1990, Susan Rothenberg
Susan Rothenberg, Mezzo Fist #1, 1990, mezzotint and chine colle on paper, plate: 19 1219 12 in. (49.549.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1991.94.4, © 1990, Susan Rothenberg

Artwork Details

Title
Mezzo Fist #1
Publisher
Universal Limited Art Editions
Date
1990
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
plate: 19 1219 12 in. (49.549.5 cm)
Copyright
© 1990, Susan Rothenberg
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums Description
mezzotint and chine colle on paper
Classifications
Highlights
Subjects
  • Figure — fragment — hand
Object Number
1991.94.4

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 (4 items)

Howard Newman, Temptress, 1978, bronze, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1985.30.54
Temptress
Date1978
bronze
On view
Howard Newman, Half Woman, Quarter Bird, 1974-1975, bronze/cast, assembled and screwed, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.68, © 1975, Howard Newman
Half Woman, Quarter Bird
Date1974-1975
bronze/cast, assembled and screwed
Not on view
Howard Newman, Untitled, 1979, graphite and brown watercolor wash on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1985.30.53
Untitled
Date1979
graphite and brown watercolor wash on paper
Not on view
Howard Newman, Winter, 1978, bronze on integral base, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1985.30.55
Winter
Date1978
bronze on integral base
Not on view