Black Dice

John Baldessari, Black Dice, 1982, color aquatint, photo etching, soft ground and lift ground on paper, sheet: 16 1219 34 in. (41.950.2 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1993.31.1A-I, © 1982, Peter Blum Edition and Blumarts, Inc., New York

Artwork Details

Title
Black Dice
Publisher
Peter Blum Edition
Date
1982
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 16 1219 34 in. (41.950.2 cm)
Copyright
© 1982, Peter Blum Edition and Blumarts, Inc., New York
Credit Line
Museum purchase
Mediums Description
color aquatint, photo etching, soft ground and lift ground on paper
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure male
  • State of being — evil — danger
  • Architecture Interior — commercial — hotel
Object Number
1993.31.1A-I

Artwork Description

Black Dice is based on a still photograph derived from an English gangster film of that name. The photograph represents a split second from a longer, continuous narrative. The artist divided the image into nine equal sections and developed each as an independent abstract composition in which key elements of the original scene remain identifiable. Baldessari is interested in things exploding and imploding, and being disjunctive. He likes to include the original movie still when the prints are exhibited so that the viewer can better understand the individual parts as well as the whole.

Multiplicity, 2011

Works by this artist (10 items)

Carrie Mae Weems, Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me - A Story in 5 Parts, 2012, video installation and mixed media, color, sound; 18:29 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, 2023.9A-G, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Lincoln, Lonnie, and Me — A Story in 5 Parts
Date2012
video installation and mixed media, color, sound; 18:29 minutes
Not on view
Carrie Mae Weems, Suspended Belief, from the series Constructing History, 2008, archival pigment print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.48.5, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Suspended Belief, from the series Constructing History
Date2008
archival pigment print
Not on view
Carrie Mae Weems, A Woman Observes, from the series Constructing History, 2008, archival pigment print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2022.48.1, © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
A Woman Observes, from the series Constructing History
Date2008
archival pigment print
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Salvatore Mancini, Narragansett Electric, 2000, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Joseph A. Chazan, M.D., 2002.80.8
Narragansett Electric
Date2000
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Salvatore Mancini, Remains of Lock, Millville, 2000, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Joseph A. Chazan, M.D., 2002.80.6
Remains of Lock, Millville
Date2000
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Keisha Scarville, Chair, 2001, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Perkins Center for the Arts, 2002.17, © 2001, Keisha Scarville
Chair
Date2001
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Salvatore Mancini, Eel Fisherman, 2000, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Joseph A. Chazan, M.D., 2002.80.2
Eel Fisherman
Date2000
gelatin silver print
Not on view